From Nothing to Very Much Something
On the first night of summer, Pharrell Williams put on a fashion show that would make the (striking) writers of the Netflix show Emily in Paris jealous. Pharell, best known for his work as a music producer, is the latest creative director for Louis Vuitton menswear. His first collection debuted in the City of Lights. In fact, he turned the Pont Neuf bridge into a checkered catwalk so large it made the models and the clothes they wore appear insignificant. But the clothes were only one piece of the puzzle. What Pharrell and the menswear team at Louis Vuitton cooked up was more culture show than fashion show.
A show that included a choir, an orchestra, the first spin of a rap diss record, a star-studded audience, a finale walk with the craftspeople who made the designs real, a Jay-Z concert, and for those of us watching from home, an intro video clip featuring the comedian Jerrod Carmichael and the visual artist Henry Taylor. The pair sat together along the Seine for a quick convo tangentially related to creative work.
Carmichael asks Taylor, "Do you admit to yourself how bad you want it?"
Taylor threads together a series of responses that mount to a kind of thesis statement for Pharrell's show saying,
"You know what they say; actions speak louder than words."
"What did I sacrifice to do this? I went from nothing. I wasn't even any good. Like a walk-on, I didn't even get drafted. But I'm gonna go out here, and I'm gonna keep doing it and keep doing it."
"Sometimes you ain't got a choice."
I wanted this meandering conversation between Carmichael & Taylor to keep going but alas, the clothes.
The Artist
The video clip isn't Henry Taylor's only role in the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer show. As the show progressed, jackets, pants, and shirts with miniature embroidered versions of Taylor's paintings made their way down the runway.
It's hard to reduce Taylor's work to one big idea because, as he alluded to in the LV video, he's persistent and prolific. He paints on canvas and on cereal boxes and empty cigarette packs. He makes sculptures from bicycle rims, basketballs, and bronze. A celebrity like Cicely Tyson or Jay-Z is just as likely to be the subject of Taylor's work as his great niece or a guy who tries to make his way hustling on the street. His works can be read as allegories or depictions of reality.
The word equality comes to mind when looking at Taylor's body of work. There's a sense of balance in the way he creates. He paints the Marathon store, a business co-owned by the late rapper Nipsey Hussle, with the same regard as the White House. In a collage painting like Resting, the details in the foreground and background are as alluring as the work's two central figures.
Taylor came to art later in life. He began his studies at CalArts in his mid-30s. Before attending art school, he worked as a psychiatric technician in one of California's mental hospitals. He continued to work there while in art school and painted his patients. You can imagine that experience helping him sharpened his capacity for compassion as an artist and person.
If you read anything about Taylor's art, you'll likely encounter the idea that his paintings are not portraits.
Out of necessity, portraits often show their subjects as dignified and distinguished, which makes a lot of portraiture nice to look at but not relatable. What makes Taylor's work appealing is that he doesn't make the people in his paintings plead their case for why they deserve to be depicted on canvas; he already sees their inherent value, and that's enough reason to paint them.
Taylor paints in thick, visible brushstrokes that don't flatten or soften his subjects. The texture created by this approach to painting mimics the experience of getting to know someone. The more time you spend with someone, the more you notice the quirks of their personality. The longer you look at Taylor's work, the more complex they become.
And while the LV versions of Taylor's paintings are tres petit, Kendrick Lamar has been performing in front of larger-than-life reproductions of Taylor's work over the summer. Taylor posted a video from a Kendrick show with the caption, "Seeing backdrop of my painting at Lollapalooza Paris tonight" Tres chic.
IN LIEU OF VUITTON
For the merch lovers among us
Skateboard T: Hauser & Wirth, Taylor's gallery sells limited edition skateboard decks of his work, including the painting See Alice Jump, which shows Alice Coachman, the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal, in the middle of a high jump.
The Puzzle Place: For a recent exhibition, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles produced a bunch of Taylor merch, including a puzzle of Taylor's painting Cicely and Miles Visit the Obamas. In addition to the puzzle the museum also has an exhibition catalogue, a coffee mug, a poster, postcards, and more on offer.
THE EXTRAS
Did y'all know Pharrell started an auction house called Joopiter? The digital platform recently sold four works by the artist Ernie Barnes to raise money for Venus and Serena Williams's trauma rehabilitation-focused nonprofit. According to the company's About page, Joopiter is here to "embrace the energy that is released when objects change hands." No one, and nothing really dies.
This isn't Henry Taylor's first collaboration with Louis Vuitton. In 2020 he created a limited edition run of Capucines handbags for the brand that featured his painting of his friend, the late artist and fellow figurative painter Noah Davis. If you're so inclined, read Taylor's remembrance of Davis here.
Until next time, keep doing it and keep doing it.
That two seemingly distinct things would tend to occupy the same place in space and time would seem unlikely. That is if one is dimensionally impaired.
Time being the eternal lie that it is - the societal acceptance of said flattening - therefore has morphed its perception to adjust to AI. This Petri dish of couture is only as ubiquitous as the latest electron microscope’s ability to uncover the atomic nucleic jewel hidden in plain sight. The king is naked and afraid as a purposely dumbed down society proceeds at the speed of t(his) information. In this age post capitalism AI’s resurrection of classical couture seeks to do the work of Y. Saint Laurent’s god. AI killed NIpsey Hustle - because isn’t that what happens when resurrected couture fails to recognize his doppelgänger first(?). In this, the city “For Isis”.
The fact of the matter is I don’t blame anyone for wanting to escape this unreal reality. Healthy food and affordable energy are priced out the budget of most full time workers. It’s to the point where, for the majority of the population, indebtedness has become the norm.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I want to see one of Barbie’s pointy stilettoed legs stuck thigh-high up some Hollywood producer’s eye.
Pay writers and working actors a living wage so that they can write and portray life that’s conducive to healthy living for all.
I never liked Ken or G(overnment) I(ssue)Joe.
I watched a YouTube of the artist Henry Taylor at the Art Institute of Chicago. He seemed to genuinely enjoy not wanting to be there.
Imagine having to explain your art. There’s something deeply wrong with this education system.
As always, thank you for such profoundly provocative subjects.
The merch is talking, nee SCREAMING at me. Great post, thank you for keeping me cultured.