marcel duchamp

Lady Gaga's Urinal Prop Becomes Art

Lady Gaga has made many unexpected things trendy lately but can she work her magic on urinals? The pop star made a surprise appearance at the private preview of Inside/Out an exhibition at the SHOWstudio.com Shop in London late last month and presented her own piece of art, a urinal. She put the urinal on its side next to Terence Koh's bronze casting of a head. The back of the bowl reads: "I'm not f**king Duchamp but I love pissing with you." An obvious reference to Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, one of his "readymades" that were presented as art in the early 20th century. The piece has been named Armitage Shanks and is not for sale. The urinal was a prop from the recent infamous Vogue Hommes Japan photoshoot in which Nick Knight shot Lady Gaga as a man. The images of the model billed as "Jo Calderone" will appear in the magazine's September issue.

[via Vogue UK]

Tags: jo calderone, lady gaga, Marcel Duchamp, urinal, vogue hommes japan

Alchemy Goods messenger bag

by Anne Metz (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Handbags

In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp -- who turned a urinal into one of the twentieth century's most famous works of art simply by signing his name on it -- Seattle's Alchemy Goods is turning junk into bling.

Alchemy, as all fashionistas who paid attention in Western Civ know, was the Middle Ages' primary fascination: the quest to turn something worthless (lead) into something precious (gold).

Alchemy Goods designer Eli Reich takes this basic theme and runs with it. He scavenges the bike shops and junkyards of the Pacific Northwest and produces some very cool bags. From the bike shops, he gets old inner tubes and builds tough, waterproof sacks that are guaranteed for life. From the junkyards, he gets old seatbelts that become the straps for his bags.

The best part? He keeps all the writing, patches, stains and logos that were orginially on the tubes and seatbelts. That way, you know you've got a one-of-a-kind.

It's $148 for a messenger bag, by the way. Can medieval alchemists compete with that?

Tags: Alchemy, Alchemy Goods, AlchemyGoods, Eli Reich, EliReich, inner tube, InnerTube, Marcel Duchamp, MarcelDuchamp, messenger bag, MessengerBag, Pacific Northwest, PacificNorthwest, seatbelt, Seattle, Western Civ, WesternCiv