Swoon Taps Swizz Beatz and Shepard Fairey for Artist-Run Beauty Salon

Beatz even made a painting for the occasion.

Swoon, Pearly's Beauty Shop (2016). Courtesy of the artist.

“How can we use creativity to problem solve?” the artist Swoon said in a phone conversation with artnet News.

In the coming months, the street artist’s community-based nonprofit, the Heliotrope Foundation, will be involved with a sustainable building project in Komye, Haiti; a ceramics workshop in North Braddock, Pennsylvania; and the creation of a musical village in New Orleans, Louisiana. “I think culturally we’re waking up now and we’re realizing that we’ve created a monster,” she says, “and I’m trying to cheerlead for programs that are trying to change things.”

To raise funds for her foundation, she is organizing an annual event called “Pearly’s Beauty Shop,” which is billed as “part exhibition, part live auction, part dance party, and part pop-up artist-run beauty salon.” Artists will be paired with salon technicians to recreate their designs in the form of manicures, body art, and apparel. Admission will set you back anywhere from $50 to $2,000.

Swoon

From left: Swizz Beatz, Swoon, and Shepard Fairey. Courtesy of Patrick McMullan.

For this year’s edition, Swoon told artnet News that she turned to her “extended community” of friends and artistic contemporaries, enlisting the musical assistance of fellow artist and occasional DJ Shepard Fairey (who has spun sets at the Highball and Coachella); as well as musician and art collector Swizz Beatz.

Swoon and Swizz Beatz are actually making a collaborative work for the occasion. “I’ve known him for a while, and I asked him if he wanted to be on the board,” she explained. “Since then he’s helped out in whatever way he can.”

Participants can also look forward to a live auction of works by RETNA, Beatz, Fairey, and Kiki Smith, among others.


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