swiss art is huge in ny and more

Well, let me tell you: it must have been one of my favorite nights in a loooong time! You can start kissing my butt, 'cause yeap, I'm hangin' with Pipi!

11/19/2008. MOMA. NYC. Pipilotti Rist. The most well known contemporary artist from my own home country Switzerland, opens the exhibit of her new video installation at this NY institution with about 2000 invited guests. I am one of them :]

So, the art piece is amazing, not to be missed! You will feel relaxed and guided with very tasteful imagery. Huge screens around 3 corners bedazzle you with colorful video footage by the famous artist. Very pleasing indeed. You can take your shoes off and get comfortable....

But you know me, I am always inspired by all the behind the scenes happenings and besides Pipilotti's art, which is mostly flawless to me, it is her own personality and her figure in the art world that interests me.


So, you can imagine, I jump on this opportunity to chat with this lady, which does not appear in my new hometown that often. As I mentioned to Pipi (that is how we call her), I always will remember when she called me years ago, must have been in the late 1980's or early 1990's, begging me to hand over my bras for her art installation... imagine! Well, I thought this was for a good cause and handed her about 3 or 4 of my favorite vintage bras... how could I? Never got those **u**ers back! She was not much of a celebrity, much less an artist you heard of and "only" known for her role in the punk band Les Reines Prochaines and I can hardly explain how proud I am of her since...

We come from the absolute same corner of this world and boy, do I love it when they say, we are a bit alike...??!! It's frankly a bit true. She wears the exact same outlandish clothes as I and we both love uniforms... we also both have clear blue eyes, mouse gray hair (my hairdresser calls it middle European brown). We used to wear the same glasses, until of course I changed to my new frames a few months ago. It all boils down to the fact that it is time to make an Idil Vice outfit for Pipi. She had the nerve to claim that once she had enough money she would buy an outfit from me!! Pipilotti of course is a millionaire.


Betcha, the first thing I am talking to her about is the clothing she is wearing... girl, what in the world?? I said: "O.K. Pipi, explain this outfit, yeah I know it is vintage but..." Pipi: "Oh no, idil, this is not vintage. I had it made in India, I asked this tailor to make me a police uniform with this table cloth" (she appoints me to touch it, and indeed it's probably the roughest thickest cotton cloth you can imagine and so) he supposedly said: "but this will be a crazy outfit!" And she responed: "I like it crazy looking."
I think Pipi would be an excellent fashion designer, one got lost on her, but don't tell her, I will loose business! Arghh! So we chatted about, yes, how this tailor tried to make this outfit less crazy by bringing some sort of order in it by sorting and applying the white blocks on the fabric to specific places, to create some sort of balance, an everyday challenge for a fashion designer, very underestimated...
Man, I love it, you follow, to be able to have this kind of discussion with one of the biggest artists of our generation is priceless.


O.K. just to show you guys what I mean with our similarities especially in garment choices (she may not agree), but look at this outfit... similar, if more refined.... at the very least, the color and graphic theme would be quiet similar... and so on...


Guys, let me just stop talking and show you some images of this truly inspiring night for all of us!



...and off to the after party at Pravda, another - if not as sophisticated - NY institution itself..

Can you believe that I am holding Malcolm McLaren's arm??? It's out of this world!!! Now this must be my absolute favorite and most treasured picture in the whole wide world (already saved it on my external and a bunch of cd rom's).

Did I mention huge?