IN Conversation with Fine Artist Oscar Chavez

Oscar Chavez, 24, is a painter, performance artist, and designer from the South Side of Chicago. Before he made a very conscious decision to pursue painting in college, Chavez was your ordinary millennial on Myspace deciding on a profile song. “I was scene so every once in a while I had a Millionaires song on there,” says Chavez. “But I was like, fake scene. I was surface level scene so all of those [bands]. It was like Metadriod or something like that.” During a two month performance piece leading up to the

premiere of his latest solo exhibition Fashion Nova Presents: Carpe DM, Chavez used his image for self promotion. Today, we bring you up close and personal behind the labor and love of the show.

Hannah Black: You're deemed art historian of one outlet. Do you choose Vine, Youtube, Tumblr, Twitter, or Instagram.

Oscar Chavez: “Vine, hands down. Always.”

HB: What are some historic vines you would include?

OC: “He needs some milk, I smell like beef, obviously. Country boy I love you, of course. Oooh there’s so many. Too turnt, when she falls down the stairs. Lebron James. I could go on forever.”

HB: Fashion Nova sponsors you and allows you to make merch. What would it look like, and what influencers would you want to wear it?

OC: Lots of bandage/bondage dresses, silky two-pieces, a robe… I’d get that girl Lala on Instagram who makes those funny videos. There’s so many! I’d definitely choose someone super young, someone like 14-years-old or something because they’re so cool. And then Kylie Jenner.

HB: If Cher Horowitz came to your show, which piece would you pick out for her?

OC: Oh god. I’d probably have her try on the tulle dress. I feel like she’d like it. I think the lime green would be fun on her. She’d look great in the clothes.

HB: It’s really fun to experience your work in a physical environment, rather than online. It’s like a playroom. Show attendants were encouraged to try on clothing and jewelry and take selfies in the mirrors. If you could have a show in any environment, where would you do it?

OC: Well I am kind of obsessed with the Whitney Museum show that just opened with Eckhaus Latta which features a store. I love the idea of being in an institution. I know that’s tied to traditionalism, which I think annoys people, and it annoys myself. Sometimes it’s fun to get into those traditional space and kind of like fuck it up. I keep looking at that like "That’s so sick." It looks so fun. I really wanna visit and see it.

HB: Your figures are purple and green and you have a lot of imagery featuring Shopkins. How do those colors and the concept of plastic children’s toys and offline objects connect to your inner child?

OC: I love Shopkins. I think they’re the language of the future for sure. We’re gonna get to a point where we stop using language all together. And I joke that I’m excited for that time. I love the idea of being able to draw any imagery that I need and have a Shopkin of it. [For example] if I wanted to paint a chair, I could always find a chair Shopkin, or any [object.] Even that martini glass, there isn’t a real Shopkin, but I just made it, and it makes sense. You would believe that [it] exists. I’ve always loved them and connected to them because of its visual language.

HB: Do have a relationship to cartoons in any way, or what cartoon character would play you in a movie?

OC: The Powerpuff Girls are essential to my color scheme and my practice altogether. [Green, Blue, and Pink] always follow me. They’re very essential to my visual language for sure.

HB: What was on your playlist while creating Fashion Nova Presents?

OC: It started subconsciously and then it became conscious. I was listening to a lot of artists’ first albums. Lykki Li’s first album, JunglePussy. Albums where [the artists] were like, “I’m gonna say everything I wanna say and be really good from the start.” And Charli XCX always. I was really interested in what it means to create your first [body of work], and be really confident and do what you want to do with it.