Deliverance is one of my favorite exhibitions ever, I came across Brittany on the internet a few years ago When I was in London last month, I walked all the way to Mamoth Gallery in the rain bc I thought it was showing,,, turns out this show was there in October 2022 not 2023 lol Anyways, I don’t even care. I love this show so much that I would walk that again happily bc the thought of getting to see it IRL was so epic, like how’d I’d imagine the final mile of a pilgrimage feeling Long winded press release excerpt for ur reading: “Remote from the cerebral desires of the vaniteux, the fetishist-as-artist pursues gratification not through passive, mimetic consumption, but through the creative act of automatic transfiguration, a process that sees the mundanities of everyday life – wearing a raincoat, spilling chocolate syrup or traipsing through a muddy field in woefully inadequate footwear – imbued with limitless erotic potential by the fetishist, and limitless poetic potential for artist Brittany Shepherd.”
My friend Carly Mark is a genius artist, making work about the female gaze, body horror and conspicuous consumption. But now you can conspicuously consume Puppets and Puppets, the high meets low endless design experiment she’s running like it’s Gucci in the Tom Ford era only EVERYONE is invited. Gender, size- she’s blowing up all the binaries of fashion. It ain’t cheap, but the prices reflect couture level production, fascinating fabrics and playfully sinister details (a demure Mary Jane with a wooden wedge of cheese for a heel, a chic little purse with a resin black and white cookie slapped on its front in place of logo hardware.) This is high fashion for the kid who liked to layer macaroni necklaces, for the former Emily The Strange who now works in branding, for any person who wants to add “art witch” to their resume. Carly has made me a few dresses and whenever I wear them, I feel like I can change the world with the power embedded in the layered skirts. It’s also so genderfluid that my husband can (and does) steal.
An Austin-based designer and a member of Bloodbath Studios, she is a true couturier. Her work is absolutely refined. I recently featured her in the lineup for the first runway show I produced (via Glaze Zine), and everything she brought was either covered in ostrich feathers or crafted from wigs and hair extensions. Every piece was fully lined, and every detail was flawlessly finished. I cannot recommend browsing her work enough.