ME: The art world has always crossed paths with the fashion industry. 最近你和Jimmy Choo合作了一个项目. 这是怎么发生的? 你喜欢这样做吗?
RP: I love being offered projects like the Jimmy Choo collaboration, 这可能是一个不同于其他艺术家的观点. I can remember the moment I was asked and told some friends about it, the term “selling out” was being tossed around and I thoroughly didn’t get that. 对我来说,这只不过是一个很好的机会. 我试图为我的画保持一些尊严, but borrowing some of the paintings’ iconography and associating it with a beautiful shoe or bag from the world of fashion doesn’t seem like a compromise to me. It seemed exciting for some of the elements of the paintings to break free from the art world and to hit the streets (pun intended). 我也很高兴,因为, 你们可以想象, all the people who work at Jimmy Choo are so good at their jobs. Any chance you have to work with super talented people can be a great experience, 但它也可能具有挑战性. 有很多东西要学,你必须应付自如.
ME: Rebecca and I were thrilled to see your name in the store window while walking down Madison Avenue. 我们认为这双鞋很棒. 她试穿了一双,但不合身. 她被压垮了. 许多艺术家将时尚融入到他们的艺术实践中. I love that photo of you painting the Paris Hilton works in a pair of women’s high heel shoes. 这个想法从何而来?
RP: 我很感激你喜欢那张照片. 我想到的第一件事就是臀部的乳沟. The photo was taken in 2004 when booty culture hadn’t quite descended upon us yet, 所以我认为我在这一点上真的走在了前面.
I’m aware that at the time many people assumed I had picked Paris as a subject to draw a comparison to Warhol’s relationship with Marilyn Monroe, 选择了巴黎, a reigning pop/sex symbol who many viewed as being talentless and not having “earned” her fame, I was trying to make a statement about the degradation of pop culture. So maybe I should just go with that story, but in all honesty, I was more interested in her audacity. The way she accepted the paparazzi’s obsession and thrived on it. I was mesmerized by the way she projected a sense of total apathy and total egomania at the same time, and I began to see her as an emblem of youth - the kind of youth that is irresponsible and self absorbed. I had also just turned 40 and was going through the first of many mid-life crises to come. I thought of being in your 20s when you seem to know everything without trying. In your 30s you know things but that youthful confidence is tempered with life experience and wisdom. Then you’re in your 40s and you still think you know things but you’re less attached and you can see that endless river of pop culture from a distance. I was feeling a bit detached from the things I used to be immersed in and Paris inspired me to dive back into that river.
The decision to wear the shoes was not unlike the way a method actor might remain in character before and after a performance. I really thought that I might be in a better place to channel Paris Hilton if I wore shoes like she did. Besides, it’s just really fun if you’ve never worn 5 inch stiletto heels before – it’s a strange and thrilling experience.
ME: 一想到穿高跟鞋我就心跳加速. 我可能得去买双了. One of my favorite exhibitions in recent years was the Impressionist fashion show at the Met. The show highlighted the importance that fashion played in the compositions of paintings done by the French Impressionists. The Paris Hilton painting that is in the Riverview show has a spectacular floral dress front and center. Did you come up with the dress design or was it taken directly from a photo?
RP: All of the Paris Hilton paintings from 2004 were made from photos of her on the red carpet that I found through a Google search (“Paris Hilton red carpet”).
ME: 设计师是艺术家吗?? 一件设计精美的衣服是一件艺术品吗?
RP: No. 这是一个棘手的问题,因为我讨厌这种规则, but in all honesty I think that what makes art so special is its uselessness. 你可以穿一件华丽的衣服,它有一个实际的目的. A piece of art generally hangs on the wall or sits on a pedestal, and for me, 这是给它注入魔力的部分原因. It has nothing else to do except engage you aesthetically and intellectually.
ME: Last question: if the fashion world were to call what would your dream project be?
RP: Wow. I have so many dream projects for fashion so I’m just going to list them all:
我想为现代舞设计服装. I think that street clothes are great but it would be fantastic to see colors and patterns jumping and moving through space. Also, doing wardrobe for a movie or a television show (either a period film, 或者像HBO的节目那样当代和年轻的东西 Girls). 这可能不被认为是时尚, but Fiat makes a car called “The Panda” and it would be great to produce a deluxe Rob Pruitt artist edition. 我很愿意在J这样的公司工作. Crew on a line of menswear that has very ribald linings to conservative pieces like suit jackets and ties, 我当然可以做更多的鞋子. I use so many patterns in my paintings so it would be a thrill to pattern- clash on a pair of Nike basketball shoes, and maybe even make a hardwood basketball court with a matching graphic.
Also, I want to own a nail salon that offers manicures based on the themes in my paintings, like pandas.
ME: 愿你所有的梦想成真. Thanks Rob.