“Underground Chic” is an underground art exhibition much of which is about how we give too much energy to designer brands, which comes at a cost.
The exhibition Private View opening was on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year for the fashion industry and their stores. The venue for the exhibition is being held in a showroom in a car park 2 levels beneath the designer brands section of a major international shopping center, Westfields, Shepherd’s Bush, London.
I hope the intentional irony is not lost on you.
They have kindly given over/shared their space and contributing to the art show. Being used as a mixed luxury/collectable car, art wrap work space and art gallery, with more exhibitions to be planned going forward. It's reminiscent of the garage in the GTA games where you save you progress :)
It's a 30 second stroll from the valet reception which is 2 levels below the luxury shops section (The Village) at Westfields, or just drive right up to the entrance, in Car Park A, level -2
On Lux Bags
Most of the artwork produced for the solo show is a continuation and evolution of the OnLuxBags series.
This series is generally about drawing & painting over luxury gift bags as an expression of spiritual defiance. We too easily give in and associate feelings of lust and desire with luxury brands and their marketing efforts. There are also emotions like greed, insecurity, and jealousy that permeate as a by-product.
In Association with Dripp Factory
Thanks to Dripp Factory for putting this together. We have partnered on projects before.
We will have a small range of limited merchandise that we have collaborated on available to pick up in the show.
Mixed Processes & Mixed Media
There were time constraints in filling up the space with artwork for the exhibition opening deadline which meant there wasn’t enough time to do a dozen or so photo-realistic ballpoint pen drawings as might normally be done (this would take over a year to create but only 3 and half months to work with). So a handful of the artworks were a combination of hand painted/drawn over shopping bags and also print collages (with hand finishing) over bags. The prints were created from ballpoint drawings down previously and pasted over the bags, like the above example.
Drawing In Paint
In order to balance the need for large new artworks and the time constraint, a new way of producing hand drawn artworks was deployed.
Underground Chic Meaning
There are also other artworks than OnLuxBags pieces in the show, but all fall under the title “Underground Chic”. This overarching series or theme is about how even some darker expressions in sub culture can be beautiful. How non commercial (or underground), subversive, and rebellious can still be graceful and elegant. A recurring muse in this theme is Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction.
The Opening
The exhibition opened on Black Friday, busiest shopping day of the year, in a bust part of town. Luckily most of the guests found there down to the underground venue. About 150 people came through. There was a DJ, drinks, and also celebrity chef Colin Brown serving up a load of delicious canapés.
A small selection of photos from the opening evening below. To see the full album click here.
Download Press Release: https://jamesmylne.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Underground-Chic-PR.pdf
