NEW YORK — Online art/design hybrid Grey Area opened its new showroom in SoHo last night, giving New Yorkers a physical space to fondle (or just take an up-close look at) the artist-designed jewelry, objects, clothing, and furniture that until now they had only been able to browse on the Internet.
In addition to what we’ve already been ogling on the site — like the Art Production Fund's Works on Whatever artist towels, which include beach-ready versions of works by Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, and Barbara Kruger (although at $95 a pop, you may want to keep them off the sand) — Grey Area introduced its 50-piece collection of Artist “VIP” (that’s “Very Important Piece”) badges, hanging from grey lanyards in the showroom. They’re not passes to any particular even in an actual place, but serve as a reminder of “why we are here in the first place, the art,” according to co-founder Manish Vora. The likes of Dustin Yellin, Jose Parla, and Orly Genger contributed tongue-in-cheek work, like Yellin's collage on real-life currency. Kathy Rudin's piece paid homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, while Elisabeth Koch's made nods to Chairman Mao, and John Gordon Gauld's was particularly cheeky. ARTINFO was given the choice between two very self-aware pieces, the first being Hank Willis Thomas's enthusiastic yet spare "I AM. AMEN." badge. Instead we walked away with the one by Tim Biskup, which, on a colorfully geometric background, very dryly proclaims, "IT'S ME." It was irrepressibly cheerful.
Other objects worth the trip to see in person include Ryan Humphrey’s trompe-l’oeil, stackable steel ghetto blasters; the terminally shredded "Best Friends" skateboard by Carlton DeWoody; and the white-lacquered shelves that look like they were broken off a block of Styrofoam, designed by Snarkitecture, our favorite local duo of irreverent designers.
Grey Area SoHo is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10-6. To see a selection of these Very Important Pieces, as well as the interior of the showroon, click on the slide show.