I believe everyone will not object to the proposition that "the relationship between fashion and art is inseparable now". When a fashion brand is stained with artistic flavor, it can become an explosive topic news for a period of time.

But on second thought, how many people can really understand the trend art when it is on the rise?

Max X Mike Kelly (Photo: Icon Magazine)

Taking photos at the exhibition of trendy artists and sending them to a circle of friends to say that they like this artist for a long time is it a "punch card"?

Will you buy a work that you think is cool at a high price without knowing anything about the trend artists? Or put on a posture of "everyone is drunk and I wake up alone" and sneer at the stick figure in your eyes like graffiti?

(Photo: ubies.net)

For "trend art", it is true that most people are still squinting. To this end, the Steppy task force came to ComplexCon, a trend exhibition recently opened in California, USA, and had a "passionate collision" (exclusive interview) with artist Steven Harrington ~

Fish will take you to make up for Mr. Steven's achievements first. If I had to describe him in one sentence, I would first say that he is "a man with KITH in one hand and Nike in the other". Just last year, they came to a wave of tripartite joint names.

(Photo: stevenharrington.com)

In addition, Nike is also a good friend of Steven, and the two will "do something" from time to time.

Steven Harrington x Nike air Jordan 1 displayed in Steven's studio

(Photo: stevenharrington.com)

There are also familiar Colette, Converse, Nixon, IKEA, Crocodile, Coca-Cola and so on. Dozens of brands have shown a more lively side under Steven's colorful and lovely cartoon image.

Steven has made murals for Colette, held exhibitions in Colette, and launched joint products with Colette. The last two pictures are candles and mugs jointly launched by both parties, which are still displayed in Steven's studio (photo: stevenharrington.com).

(Photo: stevenharrington.com)

Nixon x Steven Harrington watch is displayed in Steven's studio.

IKEA x Steven Harrington tray displayed by Steven Studio.

Steven shared some of his stories about the public's narrow understanding of "trend art", and at the same time, it also gave us a deeper understanding of the real thoughts of trend artists and how we should understand "trend art".

Fashion artists will only co-sign with fashion brands?

When an artist takes "trend" as the prefix, people will naturally take it for granted that "Oh, he will only touch street trends", but after Steven became a "trend artist", he chose to cooperate with the home furnishing giant IKEA to launch a series of home furnishing products.

People are often limited by the word "trend" but ignore the essence of "art". In fact, art permeates our lives, which can be reflected in eating, drinking and wearing, not only in the creation of clothing and shoes, but also in the joint name of fashion brands.

Carpets in IKEA x Steven Harrington cooperation series (photo: stevenharrington.com)

Fashion artists can do it as long as their works are cool enough?

The value of a work of art does not necessarily lie in its visual effect or material, but in the concept it wants to express. For Steven, the best moment is that a person who doesn't necessarily know so much about art can stand in front of his works and try to seriously think about his creative ideas, and then he can study who he is and his other works.

Contemporary young people often lack the ability to think and explore actively. Instead of simply thinking about "cool" or understanding something by lengthy explanations, why not take the initiative to turn the "period" in your mind into a "question mark" and then break it one by one? You can get more than you think.

Trend artists can create freely under the banner of "art"

"Art is lonely", the ancestors naturally felt it, because as an artist, it is not easy for others to understand your thoughts. Behind those paintings that are ridiculed as "incomprehensible" and "too simple", there are often hidden meanings that artists want to tell you most, but they don't want to be too straightforward. This is ... the legendary Jiao Jiao? )

Steven's paintings represent that many bad things from outside are entering the United States (inside the window). These things that were once blocked, but now they can't get rid of them.

In the works of most "trend artists", there are not only visual effects, but also stories that artists want to convey. In Steven's paintings, he prefers to think about serious problems with a relaxed and positive attitude. Almost every work "really has a story".

Steven's second sculpture, wrapped around his dog with palm trees representing life, vividly named this work "Gotcha", which is very suitable for this artistic conception bound by life.

Fashion artists began to simply "circle money" after their success?

I heard that when a person/brand becomes popular, you can make a lot of money by submitting the brand Logo.png when co-signing. Over time, everyone's enthusiasm for this joint approach will also decrease.

In other words, maintaining creative independence is extremely important for trend artists. When IKEA wanted to launch more co-branded products with Steven, Steven refused.

There are two completely different paths in artistic creation, one is conformity, and the other is being yourself. Trend artists may not only make "explosive" works of art that cater to fashion trends, but also find their soul mates while maintaining their creative independence.

Trend artists only create, but have no goals?

Although most fashion artists are active in their personal capacity, it doesn't mean that they are working hard again and again, and they will also look for self-breakthrough. Take Steven as an example, he is trying to make a bigger sculpture, which can be confirmed by the artistic installation he showed for Changsha IFS earlier.

Steven's "Gotcha" exhibition in Changsha (photo: ICON Magazine).

Because the size of each sculpture is different, the proportion of the sculpture is also different. This feeling can be intuitively reflected on everyone, so it needs constant creation.

In fact, trend artists are not simply creating, they have been breaking through their comfort zones and pushing trend art to a new height.

After talking with Steven, of course, we can't miss his latest carpooling plan-AAPE X Steven Harrington, which was announced on ComplexCon that day. Then let Steppy task force take you to explore the road ~

When we arrived at the scene, we saw a circle of camouflage chandeliers hanging at the top of AAPE's booth. It is reported that the booth design is inspired by an alien flying saucer, and the booth and LED TV are arranged in the feeling of a time machine, full of futuristic feeling ~

A group of fans have been waiting for Steven to appear here. Everyone not only got the special edition sticker of this cooperation, but also enjoyed a special hamburger.

Throughout the interview that day, Steven talked with us in a very friendly and natural way. Unexpectedly, on the crowded ComplexCon, he didn't have the "pride" of an artist. He has always been very enthusiastic and active in interacting with everyone, taking the initiative to chat with everyone and signing autographs at the scene!

In addition to Steven's appearance, AAPE also prepared a special link for everyone-providing DIY service on site, so that fans can enjoy DIY fun.

For example, on the booth, we saw NBA star nick young, creative director and founder of colette Sarah Andelman, and Hidefumi Hommyo, founder of Japanese sports shoes brand company atmos, who all showed their love for this joint project.

During this trip, we first saw several projects in this joint project, such as short-sleeved T-shirts and hooded pullovers, all of which reinterpreted the logo of AAPE brand with Steven's signature palm tree (its name is "Hello Mello").

In addition to costumes, there are two sculptures about 10cm and 30cm high respectively. It is said that singers Pusha T and Trinidad James also got this sculpture at the scene ~

(photo: ins@s_harrington)

As for the design of this toy, it can be seen that Steven put AAPE's brand-new iconic image "AAPER" on Hello Mello, and the banana that AAPER left on the ground seems to point to something.

Maybe Steven wants to send us some information with this toy again? Why don't you guess? By the way, isn't it the coolest thing to get what the artist really wants to express?

Tips: These design elements represent something/something respectively ~

In this era when people's basic living needs have been met, people begin to explore the spiritual level to meet their pleasant and beautiful psychological expectations, and the consumption of culture and art is exactly the fashionable lifestyle that most people want to pursue.

At the same time, because the height of art was once beyond the reach of ordinary people, when its foothold became lower, everyone scrambled for a piece of it, and naturally it was easy to have a very superficial and narrow understanding of it.

But when you can really calm down your impetuous heart, spend less time thinking about "what to eat today" and spend more time thinking and exploring, "trend art" may not be as superficial as you think, and "trend artist" may not be as eager for quick success as you think.

If you love a culture, you don't want it to be polluted by dust. As for me, I hope fewer and fewer people have a narrow understanding of "trend art"

(Photo: stevenharrington.com)