Brian Vu is a young artist living in NYC and figuring out his place in this world. In his new collaboration with Print All Over Me, he explores the theme of transformation by combining the natural and the artificial. And by using multistep methods while working, he transformed his ideas about energy and movement into digital prints, and then turned them into a 13-pieces genderless collection. In his third collaboration with PAOM, Brian is working to always turn everything to the best. His work is a reminder to make the best possible future.
Brian, please tell us a bit about you.
My name is Brian Vu and I’m a 25-year-old artist living in NYC. I still am figuring out who I am and my place in this world. It’s been challenging because I don’t know what I’m working towards, I just make work and go from there.
You’re a New York-based photographer and multimedia artist. What are your favourite objects to photograph?
I tend to take pictures of things such as crystals, minerals, flowers, and insects; very pretty things. Along with that are synthetic man-made materials such as plastic or metal. I combine the artificial and the natural in a way that makes the most sense to me.
You have done previous work with PAOM on two occasions. You must feel honoured to be doing a new collaboration!
It’s been the best. I met Jesse at the first Tumblr x Print All Over Me collaboration during fashion week. He was wearing my art on a jumpsuit! It was crazy to see my image on a jacket, a pair of pants… And a pair of shoes even. I’ve always been into fashion and to be able to have such an opportunity to expand into a full collection was a dream come true.
What is different in this collection from the previous ones?
The previous prints were made for specific collaborations, one with Tumblr and the other with Working Not Working. For those collaborations, the two teams chose an existing image that was online. For this one, I was fortunate enough to have full control so I decided to make completely new pieces. I also approached this collection with various methods.
You have printed your photographs onto fabrics, and afterwards bleached and dyed them, to finally turn them into digital prints. What inspired you to follow this multistep method of working?
Once the images were printed on the fabrics, I took them up onto my roof where I bleached and dyed them. I only had one chance with each print so I was insanely nervous about it. The dyeing was all freeform. It was fun to destroy my own pieces (laughs). I was inspired by my friend Natalie who does Obra Obscura. She is so talented at dyeing fabrics and makes beautiful paintings out of them.
“All articles of clothing should be allowed to be worn by anybody who chooses to.”
Was it a conscious choice to do a genderless collection?
All articles of clothing should be allowed to be worn by anybody who chooses to.
Can you talk a bit about the choices of color?
My use of extreme color is to catch people’s attention and, hopefully, to create an emotional response whether positive or negative. I feel like so many people out there are afraid of color. They’re a bunch of bummers!
What’s the real concept behind the collection?
The main idea behind the collection is transformation. This is what I’d imagine it to look like... I wanted to create prints that had energy and movement. For me, it was a reminder to myself to change for the better. To make the best possible future I can make.
