Halloween always catches me off guard. I spend months looking forward to the holiday, to the opportunity to get creative with costuming. And yet, when the special day finally arrives, I am caught off guard, usually costume-less.
Luckily I was able to improvise with glow-in-the-dark necklaces this year. Neon instantly adds an element of fun to any get-up.
The Whitney Museum provided the colorful necklaces at their opening party for "Rituals of Rented Island," on view through February 2nd. A Halloween celebration followed the exhibition viewing.
"Rituals of Rented Island" focuses on the radical performance art that took place in downtown Manhattan during the 1970's. Artists in this group performed anywhere and everywhere - in private lofts, on the stage, in store fronts. Some performance pieces lack any film documentation; photos and posters are left to tell their stories.
The show was quite fitting for a Halloween opening night as I found much of the work on view somewhat eerie. Jack Smith's monstrous bras for men (from his performance "Irrational Landlordism of Bagdad") were captivating but left me uncomfortable. The crazily patterned props looked as if they may come alive at any moment and crawl toward me, bra straps threateningly raised.
Squat Theatre's area showcased a hanging severed head amongst posters and photographs documenting the group's plays. As someone with a bit of a dummy/doll phobia, this mask will leave me haunted for weeks. A large-scale mural of a demonic child played a film of a naked woman contorting her body into impossible positions - through its eyes. A Freudian reference?
While I did not understand much of the exhibition, I was at the very least relieved that the quirky art in the show stood out much more than my lack of a costume.
Shot at The Whitney Museum of American Art. Photos by Rachel Kozin and Nicole Weiler. Wearing {a somewhat festive Halloween pick... black seems to always do the trick!}:
Phillip Lim sheer black silk top, mandarin garnet yellow gold ring, stacked yellow gold diamond pinky rings, diamond solitaire necklace {my design}, dangling diamond/blue sapphire/tanzanite yellow gold necklace {my design}