Art Through Vintage: When Art and Fashion Are One

Sep 29

Lecrue Eyebrows, painted denim jacket, Art Through Vintage 2020

In the East Village, where the line between art and fashion barely exists, a vintage store is teaming with dozens of artists to create original works of art that will be up for auction in time for Christmas.

Art Through Vintage, a COVID-19 era project in which 75 artists created original pieces from items selected from East Village Vintage Collective, 545 East 12th Street vintage store, is like repurposing squared.

Everything at EVVC is already pre-owned and ready for reuse, but during Art Through Vintage certain items are being repurposed again as art. Think hand painted denim jackets and jeans, or kitschy items turned into media for artistic interpretation.

“We’ve already gotten an amazing response from the artist community for the return of Art Through Vintage, so we expect some really great original art to be created. We can’t wait,” said Maegan Hayward, who owns EVVC and runs it with Alex Carpenter.

The 2024 edition of Art Through Vintage is being curated by a pair of Lower Manhattan’s most respected artists, Lecrue Eyebrows and Ethan Minsker. UP, the leading magazine of street art, did a piece on the project in 2020.

The online auction is slated for early December 2024, and artist applications are currently open until October 2nd. Interested? The entry form is here. More about the inaugural Art Through Vintage can be found on the EVVC website.

Below are some works from the 2020 version of Art Through Vintage by Ohio Mike, Sean Slaney. lifeafterdeath and Laney Chantal, Frank Ape, and Jim Tozzi.