Admission: 
$10 online (limited, seated tickets $15), $12 at door
18 and under, FREE with Student ID

SDAI presents the third installment of Julian Klincewicz’s ongoing body of work: Hey, I Like You. Join us Friday, September 23rd, for a runway show that investigates the complicated relationship between “high fashion” and art in San Diego.

*PRE-SALE IS OVER, TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR

Hey, I Like You is Klincewicz’s exploration of the relationship between people and precious objects. Klincewicz investigates how those objects work as both surrogates for human connections and tools for empathy. In the first two iterations of the work silks with gold foil text were used to explore the idea and process through which objects can (and often are implemented to) work as surrogates/substitutes/intermediaries for human relationships and connections, specifically in the context of intimacy and vulnerability. The work as a whole is also a response to the concept of irony, and seeks to promote connection and empathy.

The first two installments of the work were shown in Encinitas and Tokyo, respectively. Medium, material, and form for each presentation of the work are site specific.

For the third installment of the work the focus medium shifts from Silk flags (LUX Gallery, Encinitas) and handkerchiefs (S.O Gallery, Tokyo) to that of clothing and performance. The presentation of the work—A fashion show/catwalk—is meant to emphasize and explore the relationship (or lack thereof) between the atmospheres of “high fashion” and art in the context of San Diego.

Says Klincewicz:

“I want to create something fun and something foreign to what people associate with San Diego and experience from day to day here, but something which exists very intrinsically within my world and my work—‘fashion.’ So doing a runway show—re-contextualizing my experiences of New York and Paris—and putting it in the middle of Balboa Park for an audience that might not necessarily have access to those shows every season—I think it can create a unique and special experience. It’s just as much about the clothing and the physicality of the work as it is about creating a very specific experience for people in San Diego, a ‘Runway Show’ creates a certain kind of energy that ‘Exhibition’ does not.

“I’m also thinking a lot about the context & medium in which the work will be received, so for the photos and videos that will go to magazines and media outlets to recap the show and the looks, the focus will be more on the clothing, the make-up, the cuts, etc., but for people here in San Diego who are attending the show it will be more about creating a sense of magic. It’s about the excitement & experience.

“When I think about ‘Fashion’ or a ‘Runway Show’ and what some of the natural associations are for me and then compare that to my everyday experience of San Diego, they seemingly live light years away from each other. For this project however, I think that the perceived space and separation are where the strength lies. What fashion means at this very moment is changing and becoming very utilitarian—you see this huge cross-pollination & fetishization of skate culture for instance, which is Very San Diego, within ‘High Fashion.’ I think the ultimate example of that would something like ‘Skate Week’ on Vogue.com—and so examining that cross-over and highlighting parts of it in a sincere way, in a place that is authentic to that culture, seems important to me. I hope it can also create something of a response to the sense of Irony that might be associated with holding a Runway show in a place like San Diego, that doesn’t have a lot of ties to that world. With the first installations of the work, the response was more direct as part of the medium—each phrase on each silk speaks very directly of caring & empathy, ‘hey, I like you’ ‘to me you are so precious’ etc. But this time it’s a bit of a shift where that response comes in the form of the presentation—the context, performance and action.

“I also know that a lot of people in my generation, in San Diego, have some experience and connection to the Fashion world from places like Instagram and Tumblr, where it is constantly portrayed as ‘cool.’ And that it can mean something substantial to them. So to do a runway show here—I want to put that world and that kind of energy on display very directly, and give it to people who don’t necessarily have access to a New York Fashion Week Runway Show.”