Photos / Cristina Leiva
Story / Gina Tron
Vice held their 2012 Photo Issue exhibition at Black and White Gallery in Williamsburg Wednesday night. It was a Vice party, so naturally I expected to be knee deep in vices. I didn’t get exposed to any illegal ones however, there was no shortage of free alcohol. And no shortage of boundary-pushing art either. My favorite was a photograph by Nick Haymes which depicted an androgynous man named Edward smoking out of a gun. All the art was interesting, some genius, but all very much Vice. I also really dug the Lisa Frankified painting.
The Photo Issue magazines, which were on hand at the party, were oversized. So much so that it was a pain in the ass to hold the issue while in the packed back lot but with good reason since the layout and the way the images looked in the book were STELLAR. Definitely one of my favorite VICE issues yet I put my copy down on the ground so that I could have free arms to drink and socialize with. The magazine kept getting damaged, getting stepped up or ashed on by various party goers, all of which were appropriately aggressively fashionable. Red lipstick ran rampant, and one of the chicks sporting the color was nice enough to notice that my magazine was damaged, so she gave me a spare one she had in her bag. And I shall treasure that booklet which is packed with printed offensive art.
Tatiana, who runs Black and White gallery told me that she was happy to host a Vice party as “they are a very contemporary on the moment magazine. I’ve never seen this many young hip people!” I then asked her input on the clothing styles for the evening. “It goes with the territory.”
Aggro-fashion people. Aggro-art. And aggro-hot weather. It was quite a time.
For more pictures go here.