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(swoosh sound)
Jonathan: I am like 100% postmodernist.
(background music)
I think that in my work I pull from lots of myriad sources,
whether it be mid-century design or hip-hop culture.
I think that modernism hip-hop understood
that you can pull things from all different sources
and turn them into a wholly original new thing.
(modern music)
This artist that I am obsessed with,
Rashaad Newsome, really understands all these disparate strains
that mean a lot to me; pulls them together,
hip-hop, rap, ball culture, high art, low art, New Orleans,
and brings them together in a completely
unexpected, dynamic and exciting way
and creates multimedia extravaganzas.
I'm opening a new flagship store in SoHo.
I would love to get one of Rashaad's pieces on the wall.
I'd love to design a space around it,
because I think it could bring all those exciting worlds
together and make a grande voila, and pow!
(knock on door; door opening)
Hello.
Rashaad: Hey, how's it going?
Jonathan: Good, how are you?
(music)
Look at this place!
Oh, my god, it's incredible!
All this stuff, and the color, and the opulence.
Your iconography and obsession with luxury is ridiculous,
and the excess is out of control.
Rashaad: This piece is really important
because I was invited to do this show in New Orleans
and that's part of the Great Hall series
where they invite you to the museum
and you have a show in the Great Hall
and you're supposed to be inspired by the landscape.
Being that I'm from there, it should be pretty simple.
To be honest, I never really looked at this work
as being really influenced by New Orleans,
because I came to this work through spending time in Europe.
So I went back to New Orleans and while I was there
I realized how much New Orleans did play a role in my work.
Jonathan: The thing I love about your work,
about the ball culture that you celebrate,
and actually about being an artist,
is that it is an opportunity to sort of
be grander than you may be in your real life.
When I look at ball culture, I do think it's incredible
the way it does have this pageantry
and people go in and all of a sudden, within this context,
they are like ruling, and they are queens and just in charge.
That's when think being an artiste, you kind of have that same opportunity.
When it's just you in the studio,
you can be whatever you want to be.
Rashaad: In the ballroom scene, they put a real premium on dressing up
and this whole idea of ornamenting one's body.
That's really where the frames come in for this work,
because essentially the frames are dressing up
and performing for the viewer.
When you go to a show, it's like the show is like a ball
and each piece is competing with each other for the viewer's attention.
Not only the piece,
but the background is competing with the foreground,
the frame is competing with the piece.
Then a lot of times for the shows
there will be elements of the piece that come out into the room
and then back into another piece.
For instance, this one I thought about you a lot
because I was really influenced by 19th century German porcelain.
Jonathan: Like Meissen and that kind of thing?
Rashaad: Yeah, and how it has like the scallopings
and the really soft flowers.
Jonathan: I love that it's round.
Not to get all [unintelligible] on your ***,
but I see this in a very [unintelligible]
twinkly glamour context in my store,
and I think it will elevate my stuff
and I hope it will elevate your thing.
I think it'll become a Gesamtkunstwerk of perfection.
Rashaad: In a lot of ways it will show people how to live with it, right?
Jonathan: Yeah.
Rashaad: Who better to do that than you?
Jonathan: I'm so excited to have Rashaad's work in the store
because his work is about luxury and glamour,
my work is about luxury and glamour,
and I think they're going to come together
and it's going to be an explosion of choppertingling glamour.
(upbeat music)
Jonathan: How are you?
Rashaad: Good, how are you?
Jonathan: So happy to see you.
Voila!
Rashaad: Thanks for having me, yeah.
Jonathan: Welcome.
Rashaad: It looks great.
A little cashmere ju dour.
How perfect your sublime pieces look in here.
Rashaad: Yes, the colors really.
I see how you pulled the yellow out of the flower into the lamp.
It's almost the exact same yellow.
Jonathan: Hello.
Then we have the gorgeous one behind the counter.
Rashaad: This is also the ultimate winter piece.
That's why I had to add it to the three pieces.
Jonathan: But I like how they're still gold tones,
but with the silver for Chrissy, which is just around the corner.
I'm feeling like the pièce de résistance,
and you can agree or disagree,
I'm feeling this is ...
Rashaad: This was the real anchor of the whole project.
Jonathan: I love it, love it, love it.
I hope you're happy with them here in SoHo.
I am!
Rashaad: Yeah, they look fantastic.
I have one more thing to show you.
The Lamborghini art car, AKA the King of Arms float,
is here and it's outside.
Jonathan: Shut-up!
The car is here?
Rashaad: Yes, it's here.
Jonathan: Let's roll.
Rashaad: Let's see it.
(music)
Jonathan: Stop it!
Rashaad: The Lamborghini art car, AKA the King of Arms float.
Jonathan: Oh, my god!
Rashaad: That's like a 3-dimensional collage.
Jonathan: So how's this done?
Rashaad: It's just wrapped.
It's a vinyl.
Jonathan: It's a vinyl?
Rashaad: Yeah, so I designed it.
It was originally a collage that then got scanned,
and then touched up in Photoshop,
and then printed and then we put it on the car.
Jonathan: Are we allowed to get in?
Rashaad: Yeah.
(revving motor)
Jonathan: This is terrifying! (laughter)
Le radical!
Rashaad: I know, wouldn't it be crazy if we like ...
Jonathan: I know, I'm like I can't even think about it.
It's freaking me out.
All right, this is amazing.
Let's go inside and let's party.
(boppy music)
Man in hat: All of them are different.
Poetry and all that kind of plays a part.
It's a kind of a ***.
Jonathan: We have the watch, we have the dome,
we have the rim and then the sky.
Female: [unintelligible], exactly.
(music)
Jonathan: To have Rashaad's work here in my brand new SoHo store
and throw a party is like the perfect way to communicate
that we should all have fun and be flashy
and live while we're still young-ish.
(piano chord)
(***)