If you are lucky enough to be in London on December 12 or 13, you would do well to head over to the Taint—oops, we mean the Tate–where incredible artist Rob Pruitt is having another one of his incredible flea markets. You can do all your holiday shopping in one fell swoop, especially if you head over to Jim Krewson’s table, where he’ll be hawking the finest-lookin’ collection of Xmas-wear we’ve ever seen. For a swell holiday ensemble, why not try one of his hand-painted t-shirts under the reindeer-and-rhinestone cardigan Gran-Gran knitted for you last year. Ooh la la, c’est magnifique!
Here, we asked Jim a few questions about these magical t-shaped garments worn over one’s torso:
Vice: What was the inspiration for such Christmas blasphemy?
Jim Krewson: I really wanted to do something that would stand out at Rob’s flea market because there’s always so much good stuff there. I think a little of my erotic-cake background came out. [Jim founded a New York-based erotic-cake company called Masturbakers -ed.] There were always bad sex puns for the sayings on the cakes. But with these t-shirts I just gave myself license to push it as far as I wanted. I’ve been really down on religion lately too. The shitty artspeak answer would be: “I’m really into exploring the contextual disparities between religion and the perception of societal tradition.”
What do you have against Santa?
I remember somebody years ago saying that in Japan they saw a window display that had a crucified Santa with dwarfs praying to him all around the cross, which made me laugh for like an hour. But it could just be an urban legend, like the Mexican restaurant with the midget wearing a sombrero with chips on the brim and salsa in the top going from table to table and stopping to let you eat. I can’t remember who it was but somebody SWORE they went there while on tour.
What did Santa do to that poor reindeer?
Hij deed een kleine snuifjeroutine!
What’s your favorite thing about Christmas?
Smelling pine trees.
What’s your least favorite thing about Christmas?
Seeing uptight relatives, having a little too much hooch and getting obnoxious, then swearing in front of my niece and nephew. This replays every year and I always feel bad about it afterward. But that’s kind of what uncles are for, right?
And hey, even if you’re not in London, you can order these masterpieces online right now at jimkrewson.com. Do it!
Tags: art, christmas, Fashion, green penis, jim krewson, London, nacho hat, santa crucifix, shirts, siouxsie sioux
