Summer may be nearly over, but the hottest shades of the season have finally arrived. Barbara Kruger’s collaboration with Freeway Eyewear — artist Alex Israel’s sunglasses company — is among the limited edition art objects that will be available in ForYourArt’s new pop-up store, Give Good Art, which will open in Los Angeles at 1027 Westwood Boulevard on November 1st as part of the Hammer Museum’s “Arts ReSTORE LA: Westwood” project. The sunglasses — which can be pre-ordered online as of today, and will retail for $200 — will be one of several editioned artists’ objects available in the store, sales of which will all benefit the art organizations involved, including LAXART, the Art Production Fund, LACMA, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
The Kruger sunglasses feature the text “Your gaze hits the side of my face” emblazoned, appropriately, on the arms of Freeway Eyewear’s classic L.A. RAYS design. That sentence first appeared in the artist’s work in the early 1980s, in one of her classic pieces combining found images and text, alongside a photograph of an unspecified classical sculpture bust.
In addition to the Kruger-Israel sunglasses collaboration, Give Good Art will have a line of cups, bowls, dishes, and other stoneware vessels by Matthias Merkel Hess that he created by pressing clay against his knee. The series of dishwasher-safe receptacles, dubbed the “MerkelWare Knee Bowls,” are sure to make a surreal addition to any kitchen cabinet. Other artist-designed objects, including a mystery project by Kenny Scharf, will be added to the shelves of the Give Good Art store during its run in Westwood.
The Give Good Art shop will also serve as an information center for arts organizations and initiatives in the area throughout the Hammer’s project there. Additionally, it will house an exhibition of works from LACMA, the Art Production Fund, and editions manufacturer Gemini G.E.L.
As for the Kruger shades, they are currently available in three styles — tortoiseshell and red, red and black, and a super-sleek, all-black design. But, if you’re starting to plan your holiday gift shopping, we recommend holding off until December 1st, when an extra-special all-red edition will be released.
— Benjamin Sutton
(Image courtesy ForYourArt, Barbara Kruger, and Freeway Eyewear.)