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7 Heron St, SF CA

Hours and appointments vary by exhibition, please check the specific event listing.

Exhibition Series

Open Color presents Bok Joy

Christian Joy

Saturday November 12th, 6-10pm

Coming to San Francisco for the first time ever is Christian Joy's Bok Joy series. Composed of larger-than-life hanging soft sculptures and inspired by children's bop bags and the work of Japanese film director Hayoa Miyazaki, these "characters" are constructed from vibrantly colored fabrics and incorporate textile designs, drawing on Joy's experience as a costume designer. With this installation, her focus is on the independent movement of fabric. The opening event will also serve as the launch for the new San Francisco-based arts collective, Open Color - founded to bridge the divide between both underground and established creatives and the growing tech sector in the Bay Area.

As a costume designer Christian Joy is best known for creating the stage attire for Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes. Since 2003 Christian has been the exclusive designer to Karen O, contriving outlandish stage looks that mix paint, print, rhinestones, newspaper, vinyl and found objects. In 2012 Christian acted as costume designer for Karen O's "Psycho Opera" Stop the Virgens. In 2016 Christian created Brittany Howard's white gown and cape for the band's performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards as well as two original hand printed looks for Coachella.

In addition to live music performance, Christian has conceived looks for choreographers Anna Sperber, Jillian Peńa and Mariangela Lopez of Accidental Movement for their dance projects. In 2015 Christian Joy collaborated with directors Ioulex to make costumes for their film Today/Yesterday with Isabella Boylston, principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre.

In 2012 Christian Joy had her first exhibition of original textile and poster prints alongside costumes created for Karen O at the Diesel Gallery in Tokyo for her show Do Androids Dream of Electric Shrimp?

In 2013 Christian Joy had her first non-costume exhibition, Bok Joy at Secret Project Robot in Bushwick, NY where she experimented with creating oversized stuffed sculptures. Each character was constructed using brightly colored hand printed fabrics and cut heat press vinyl. The show was seen a second time in 2014 in an expanded version through the Clocktower Gallery for Anxious Spaces: Installation as Catalyst at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn.

In 2015 Christian was invited to show 10 new costumes at the Walker Art Center during Pop Remix as part of International Pop exhibition. She also designed Childish Gambino's costumes for his Pharos show, including glow-in-the-dark tribal paint and a pink and yellow grass skirt.

More about Open Color →