WEAR THE PAINT: ALLEN VANDEVER’S HAND-PAINTED JACKET ART SHOW
@ Childhood Fractured's Phygital Art Gallery
1432 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago IL 60613
Opening Friday, October 2nd, from 7PM - 11PM
On view through Thursday, October 8th
Wear the Painting
I have spent most of my life making paintings and thinking about where art is supposed to live.
Usually, we put art on walls. We frame it. We protect it. We tell people not to touch it.
But I have always been interested in what happens when art leaves the wall and enters everyday life.
My hand-painted jackets began with a simple idea: What if a painting could move through the world?
I treat jackets, coats, blazers and other clothing the same way I treat canvas. I build them through layers of color, marks, accidents, abstraction and intuition. I am not decorating clothing. I am making paintings that happen to have sleeves.
Once someone puts one on, the work changes.
It walks down the street.
It goes to dinner.
It gets photographed.
It gets worn to parties.
It gets scratched, stained, folded and lived in.
The person wearing it becomes part of the artwork, and the artwork becomes part of that person’s life.
That relationship interests me far more than keeping a painting perfectly preserved on a wall.
For this exhibition, I also want to remove some of the distance between artist, artwork and audience. People are invited to bring their own jackets or clothing for me to paint during the event, including pieces they are wearing.
That act is important to me.
The clothing already has a history. It belongs to someone. It has been worn, carried, forgotten in a closet, loved, damaged or simply lived in. When I paint it, I am not starting with a blank canvas. I am entering an existing story.
The result becomes a collaboration between the object, the wearer and me.
I think art should be allowed to be precious, but it should also be allowed to get dirty.
It should be allowed to dance.
It should be allowed to walk out the front door.
A painting on a wall witnesses life.
A painted jacket participates in it.
That is what this work is about: taking painting off the wall and putting it back into the world. Bring a jacket.
Bring a coat.
Bring something you have forgotten in the back of your closet.
Leave wearing a painting.
Because this isn’t just an art show.
It’s a party.
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Tags: Allen Vandever, Childhood Fractured's Phygital Art Gallery, WEAR THE PAINT: ALLEN VANDEVER’S HAND-PAINTED JACKET ART SHOW
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