The Missoni store on Madison Avenue is a place to buy colorful knit clothes, but lately, it’s also a great place to go look at art installations. For the latest iteration of Missoni’s Surface Conversation project, the brand invited Cheryl Donegan to create a series of art pieces to display in the store until January 31. But who is Cheryl Donegan? A wild ride awaits.
The conceptual artist painted self-portraits while wearing a diaper when she was pregnant, and in her most famous work, Kiss My Royal Irish Ass, she dipped herself in green dye and sat on a canvas to paint a shamrock . For her (more tame) Missoni installation, Donegan lined the store’s massive windows with long sheets of cotton that she printed with photos of jackets and swatches of fabric. Upstairs it gets a little crazier, with undressed mannequins wearing funny masks in the style of her series, The Janice Tapes.
Donegan said she liked the mix of combining her work with the rich history of Missoni, especially in the banners filling the windows. “On both sides though, there’s an optimism that bridges both — with the colors and the constant variations,” she said. The installation, curated by Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, will be up through January, leaving you plenty of time to pop in, buy a holiday gift, and see the art. The cookbook is pretty good, too.
