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Fairground
Fairground
From SXSW to art shows on both coasts, creative forces disrupt the status quo in style
Fairground
Fairground
From SXSW to art shows on both coasts, creative forces disrupt the status quo in style
Since its launch in 1987, South by Southwest has evolved from a humble music showcase into a recipe for maximum pop: one part tech nerds, one part cinephiles, and a dollop of hip-hop scene-sters. Season with barbecue sauce, bake in the Texan sun for 10 days, and garnish with Bill Murray in a bucket hat. This year's festival drew the stars of music's new guard, including Kelela, Billie Eilish, Crush, and Noah Cyrus, to Austin for a spectacle of talent. Every niche and subgenre was represented, from neosoul and shoegaze to Caribbean and electro-funk, each bringing its own trends. Vintage tracksuits, punk tartan, frayed denim, and, of course, cowboy boots all made for a polychrome parade of individual style throughout the festival. The pros networked, while fans hopped between indie-punk performances and the red-carpet premieres of Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs and Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One.
On the coasts, the art world was ablaze with the Armory Show in New York City and the opening of Damien Hirst's exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills. No sharks in formaldehyde to be seen—Hirst showed off a series of large-scale pointillist confections titled "The Veil Paintings." The multicolored canvases sold out immediately—perhaps because they were painted by Hirst himself, rather than a cadre of assistants.
Or perhaps because the artist was getting back to basics: "I need to go back to my original feelings about color and forget the grid and to hell with the order."
