If you’re going to Carnegie’s Third Thursday party, better wear neutrals
If you’re going to the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Third Thursday party this week, get ready for your closeup.
Beverly Semmes, a New York City-based artist whose work is featured in the 57th Carnegie International, has teamed with fashion design artist Jennifer Minniti of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Pittsburghbased stylist Latika Sewell to create a performance art experience inspired by walking the red carpet.
To make sure your picture pops, the artists came up with a wardrobe color palette for the party — neutrals, particularly beige, gray, white or black. Photographer Bryan Conley will snap the photos, which will be emailed to partygoers.
“Jennifer and I had the idea of a step and repeat, something the public can participate in and have it be accessible,” Ms. Semmes said. “Usually it’s celebrities at an event who get their picture taken against a background of logos. We thought it would be fun to challenge that a bit and see what we could do with it.”
Ms. Semmes’ work is included in the Carnegie International, which opened in October at the Oakland museum and closes Monday. During the Third Thursday event, sculptures and vibrant colors from Ms. Semmes’ works will be incorporated into the step and repeat, hence the neutral dress code, so clothes don’t compete with the art.
Rather than pose with a designer handbag on the red carpet, why not pose with a piece of art?
“I became interested in using pieces of sculpture as replacements for the luxury goods industry,” Ms. Minniti said.
The action — people lining up, being styled, smiling for the camera, etc. — will become a kind of performance art, Ms. Semmes said. “We hope it will be fun to watch.” Ms. Semmes has worked in sculpture, painting, film, photography, drawing and performance art. She’s known for the “Feminist Responsibility Project,” her ongoing look at how the female body is represented. The project includes images from Penthouse magazine that she transforms with paint.
For the past five years, she’s regularly collaborated with Ms. Minniti, whom she met while teaching at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. (Ms. Minniti chairs the school’s fashion design program.) They call their work together the Carwash Collective.