Kidult. Using graffiti to shame luxuy brands.

trendlab (25)in #art • 6 years ago

Following Philipp Plein's recent collaboration with graffiti artist Alec Monopoly, Kidult vandalized the German designer's Paris boutique.

He describes himself as a vandal, a tagger and a writer. Half kid, half adult. Armed with his paint extinguisher he has made an image of himself by confronting the brands that exploit the concept of graffiti using their marketing strategies against them.

“My work is a battle against commercialism and a way of actively rejecting materialism and society’s hyper consumption. It is a game of action and reaction, I strongly react to the (re)appropriation of both the graffiti aesthetics but also to the hijacking of graffiti and graffiti artists by luxury brands for profit-making”

His modus operandi is very particular, with no aesthetic value, his creative vandalism is aimed at Designer labels, shaming and exposing them for their hypocrisy. Louis Vouitton, Chanel, Dior, Kenzo, among others. Are some of the brands targeted by Kidult. His narrative aim to expose the reapropriation of street culture by big fashion houses. His first strike was in Paris, on the name sake store of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac - JC/DC. The usage of graffiti for capitalist gains in the designer’s collection pissed Kidult off. “ In general, they misunderstood my “hellos” on their boutiques. JC/DC quickly posted on Facebook that he preferred tags done in chalk. He figured out afterward how to profit from tagging on riding the graffiti wave one more time, making people believe it was orchestrated.”

Then came the intervention in the store of the luxury brand Celine where he added SK8 in the stores façade, after the brands spring summer campaign featuring supermodels posing with skateboards. Later he moved to New York to tag the brand Supreme leaving his name In the store as a remark “Supreme likes the streets and graffiti ? I put them the test. Graffiti, street culture, is taken out of its context. Today, these brands make it luxurious and superficial, pointless. They try to intellectualize the practice by eliminating its crude essence, and that’s too bad.” He also designed and produced a T-shirt to sell on his blog only, with the Kidult x Supreme tag.

He reappeared on Paris in 2013 to slam the Traditional fashion house Chanel for their Spring-Summer collection featuring graffiti embellished gowns. He used a comic book font to write on the stores windows “50% off Crisis day sale” in bright red paint that dripped like blood down the windows. Later in 2015 he hit the French brand ACP tagging the storefront with the grandiose “Niggas” after ACP founder Jean Touitou expressed about his Fall/winter collection “I call this one Last Nggas in Paris. Why? Because it’s the sweet spot when the hood meets Bertolucci’s movie Last Tango in Paris” Kidult went after him stenciling the store with “colored entrance only” and the definition of the world Niger on the storefront of the brand. Later he posted a picture with the hashtags #whiteprivilege #openyourmind #youaretheslave.