Don’t worry about maxing out your sleigh miles this December to experience Christmas cheer at Santa’s North Pole workshop. Now us New Yorkers can capture that very workshop spirit with Gaga and her little monsters at Barneys on Madison. The iconic New York department store joined forces with cutting edge, pop-nouveau artists
Eli Sudbrack and Christophe Hamaide Pierson of art collective, assume vivid astro focus (avaf) to create an unforgettable holiday experience. The “Gaga Workshop” on Barneys 5th floor outshines the Rockefeller Center Tree, The Radio City Rockettes, and the famous 5th Avenue windows. Her Campus Barnard sat down with Eli Sudbrack, the visionary behind the project, to tell us how it was “born this way.”
Her Campus Barnard: What were your initial thoughts when you began this important undertaking to create the Gaga Workshop?
Eli Sudbrack: I was never a fan of her, you know? Like of her music, or anything. I admired her and that she was there and doing all of this outlandish stuff. The way she was dressing up, and how she was very outspoken about gay rights, so I really appreciated her. But I didn’t connect with her music necessarily. So what was interesting was that I was doing this project that was inspired by her. It was incredible because at the beginning, I had to somehow blend her and me, who she is with the stuff I do. But it was something for her; it was not something for me. It was a Lady Gaga installation. So I had to bring in her world into my world, which was incredible because it pushed me to do things that I hadn’t done before. Also the functionality of the project was really unique. It is supposed to be a workshop, a gathering workshop, it’s supposed to sell the products. The idea was to create these stations that would be related to her imagery or her, so it was a different context for me.
HC Barnard: Was this unlike something you had ever done before?
ES: The process wasn’t really different from the art process that I do: digging inspiration, thinking about space, how I’m going to occupy the space, how people are going to use the space, how it’s going to function in these very strict guidelines. People had to go in, turn right and go around the centerpiece. So I had to create the stations that would fit all of the different products, but also follow a route. There were some restrictions, but I always see these as challenges and what inspires me to do the work I do.
HC Barnard: Was there something about the project that really surprised you?
ES: I had a lot of freedom, I was actually quite impressed by the amount of freedom I had. Of course in the beginning, there was a bit of back and forth because the very first thing I had to create was the logo.
HC Barnard: How did you work to capture Lady Gaga and all of her different personalities?
ES: When I began, I was digging more into the monster imagery that she embodies, but she was in a different phase; she was going into different phases, which was actually quite interesting. She wanted to be more chic, the Chanel girl, which is the figure she became this year—very recently actually. So there was this transition she was going through; she had it in mind already but she wasn’t fully embodying it at the very beginning when we started talking. I started seeing that transformation in the past six months when she actually became more of a high-fashion spokesperson, but back then she was still an eccentric, monster-type. It inspired me to do something else. It pushed me to do something I hadn’t done before like high-end sculptures. I changed with her.
HC Barnard: What do you find most captivating about Lady Gaga?
ES: This outlandish representation of herself. You can never see her not dressed up. She hides herself behind this dressing up and masking attitude. You can never see the real Lady Gaga, without makeup and without crazy dress. I once saw this picture of her in a magazine and I could barely recognize her. Her hair was pulled up, she was wearing this ordinary denim top. I thought, “Wow…this is Lady Gaga?”
I’ve always been interested in masks, made masks for exhibitions I’ve done in the past. So I feel attracted to that sort of thing. You create different personas, and then you put your fantasies before that. You’re speaking out to people and the idea behind [The Gaga Workshop] is that everyone can dress up and become someone else. And people freak!
HC Barnard: Were you working closely with Lady Gaga?
ES: I was never dealing directly with her. I was dealing with Nicola [Formichetti], her stylist, her creative director, etc. So it was always through him that I was speaking to her. The only time actually I encountered her and had a real exchange was right before the opening when she came to see the installation for the first time.
HC Barnard: Did you see her reaction? Did she feel like the workshop was very her, very Gaga?
ES: Well before she came into the space, it felt more like me than her, more like my company, avaf than Gaga. But then when she walked into the space, it was her form. It was made for her. I feel like I have made this child for her.
HC Barnard: If you could run around the workshop for 24 hours, what would you do? Where would you spend the most time?
ES: I guess in the library (laughs). I’m not eating the candy, I don’t wear the hair-bowl stuff. So yes, the library. But talking as a regular person, and not as the one who produced it, I would actually like to have all of these things in my house.
HC Barnard: Which part of the installation in particular would you like to have?
ES: I would like to have the centerpiece and the hanging hands; those are definitely my favorite things.
HC Barnard: When many people walk into the Lady Gaga workshop, they are usually blown away by the space with all of its colors, eccentricities, nooks, and wildly imaginative sculptures. It makes me wonder, how did you get so creative for this project? Do you have a ritual or something?
ES: Of course I had to research a lot, I was reading a ton of books. I was researching things online and things on Twitter, her on Twitter and her fan-sites. Through that research I started getting her imagery inside mine and then I started mixing it. But of course the creation started from functionality. I was presented something. It was more than, “Oh you have to do something for Lady Gaga,” but I also had to create stations to sell products. [Barneys] presented each station to me with a theme. For example, “Topiary,” some kind of forest. It was supposed to be a place to sell ornaments for Christmas. So I proposed, “Why don’t we do it as a topiary with Gaga words? Barneys then said, “Lets have a station to be like a boudoir where they’ll be makeup” So I said, “Why not make it a giant wig that would hold these things?” It was that type of dialogue. I had presets and things I had to follow like the boudoir, the library, the gallery, the closet, and the train to sell plush animals. So those things were presented to me, I took those and then I got creative.
HC Barnard: So lets talk about you and your influences. You grew up in Brazil and you walked the streets of your cities and towns…what really spoke to you and launched your artistry?
ES: Landscape. It was always the landscape. Even nowadays, it’s something that I am attracted to.
HC Barnard: Not abstract art?
ES: No…Yea, I like that too. Of course, I have tons of inspirations. That’s a tough question. People are always like, “Who do you like?” “Who do you look at?” That changes everyday and all the time. But something that I am attracted to in general, wherever I am is nature. Somehow whenever I go and see this amazing sunset or that amazingly beautiful forest, I always want to replicate that picture. It’s the supernatural that is still part of this world.
HC Barnard: If you could give one piece of advice to college students (especially artists) what would you tell them?
ES: Be yourself. That’s such a Lady Gaga thing! (laughs). Do whatever you love the most. Go after whatever you like the most. That’s your ingenuity. What was really great for me when I first came to the states was this basic belief that you need to be whoever you want to be, especially in New York too. People really praise your ingenuity.