I made a series of 3 sand paintings for the Designer Prabal Gurung during Fashion Week New York 2018. Fashion week is an intense production culminating months of work put into garments all for a 10 minute presentation. I was part of that production for just 5 hours of intense painting, while the models dressed and the seats were arranged, I was crawling on my knees pouring colored sand onto the floor.
I arrived early but could not start as there were several managers who scheduled the space and timing of everything, as timed ticked away I just had to be confident in my ability as I would be left with only 5 hors to complete 3 paintings approximately 10 feet in diameter. I met with the production director, finalized where exactly the paintings would be placed and just hit the ground running.
I have made over 1000 sand paintings over the years but to make 3 in such a short period of time is a bit insane, it's where you need to just forget about what you are doing and let the energy flow, let your instincts take over.
I started at the head of the runway as the production crew was assembling a large set of mirrored plexi on the opposite end that would eventually reflect the sand paintings on the ground for all the audience to see. As I continued the lighting designers were working to place the lights and spots on the various locations where the paintings would be. If you have ever seen this process, there is a lot of flipping the lights on and off, testing, repeat that happens. Needless to say trying to paint in the dark is not easy, so my instincts acted as my guide under low light situations. The show must orchestrate all of these pieces to go on in less than 5 hours. They had to do their job and I mine. Occassionally, I would have to just stop and wait for a glimpse of light to identify what color i was using, I could see my patterns to draw, but had to focus on color to make things pull together.
As I worked my wife Deborah made video and took still photographs of the process and generally kept time as we had to complete all the paintings in the time allotted.
I had met with Prabal earlier in the week at his studio to get inspiration from the garments and was happy that he gave me a full artistic license to create. I chose a few color schemes and abstracted patterns and was particularly inspired by the white wooly fringes on some and the sequined patterns on others.
I continued on and finished the first painting in just under 2 hours with a color scheme of peach and reds and off white. By this time the mirrored backdrop was up so I moved on the the area nearest the backstage. I started on a more angular diamond shaped design using blue's and black's and several bluish tones matching the sequined garments.
The third and final painting was done in the center. A bold red and purple design with two opposing triangles of color outlined with accented gold. Prabal sat nearby chatting with the reporter from the NYTimes who interviewed him for a larger article to be published later that week.
As things finished up we swept away excess sand and the crowd started to filter into the room. Some notable celebrities in the crowd were Whoopi Goldberg, Cardi B and Offset, Huma Albedin, Tarana Burke of #meetoo jsut to name a few.
As the lights dimmed, people were seated and over 40 models emerged from backstage in some fabulous garments. Gigi Hadid opened the show and her sister Bella was the last to walk the runway to close. In the end all models joined hands and walked out with bouquets of flowers, walking over the sand as a reminder of the ephemeral nature of life.
I'll leave it there.....take a look.
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