OAK COUTURE as charette

Watching the teams of architects, pastry chefs, fashion designers, & models work together took me back to architecture school.  One day my professor came in with obituaries.  We all had to pick one.  We all had to design a space for that person in 2 hours.  It was a true charette, Aka – quick design.  You didn’t have time to think too hard.  You had to go with your gut, & see what happened.  Ah – this is so in the spirit of Messy Monkey!

In this vein, I took the picture of my guy, Henry, & blew it up 16 times (or so) on the copy machine, not sure what I was doing at all!  I ended up having big close-ups of his face, & some of just his ear.  I started painting his face, with green eye shadow, & red lipstick.  There was a quote in his obituary that said something like, “Real music is dead”.  I put this all over his images, both in large & small fonts.  The “space” I ended up creating for him was more an installation of sorts.  They were almost like gravestones, but much thinner, made of more modern materials like glass & aluminum.  On them were these kooky images of Henry with this quote.  As you walked through, you’d hear someone speaking the quote, again & again.  And, it was all set in front of the Met in New York – which of course feasts on music; real music.  So – the installation ended up being based on irony.

The point being, I loved this project!  I did it almost 10 years ago, but I still have it.  I will never let it go.  And, everyone in my class loved doing this project.  There was something so refreshing about it!  I feast in this space.

Another example is PROJECT RUNWAY, ala Heidi Klum/Bravo TV.  You have 2 hours to make a dress out of artichokes.  go.  It’s fascinating to see what happens.  Your creativity is truly put to the test! Not to say it measures it, because sometimes things just flop.  But, sometimes, this is when unexpected brilliance shines through.  You’ll understand all this and more when you see the final images of OAK COUTURE.  Keep your eyes peeled!