Patrick Church launches at Opening Ceremony

Artist Patrick Church has been continuing to make a name for himself in the fashion industry. While Church is not a designer in a typical sense, he's found an audience and customer for those who wanted his custom artwork on their clothes, shoes and accessories. Last year, Church launched his own e-commerce store on his website, and now off the heels of New York Fashion Week, his collection has arrived at Opening Ceremony.

At a presentation this week at Opening Ceremony's store on 35 Howard Street, Church decided to do a live format of him painting a single bias-cut slip dress on a live model that would be part of his new collection. As the first store in the U.S. to house his pieces, the entire experience was truly one-of-a-kind.

Multimedia artist Patrick Church debuts at Opening Ceremony with live presentation

Beginning at 6 o'clock, Church with paint materials, white dress and model in hand went to work to create one of his unique designs. He opted for this original presentation format because he wanted to do something intimate, heartfelt and simple, as though you were watching him paint alone in his bedroom. As part of the presentation he got a live opera singer to perform arias including Habanera from Carmen and O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi.

"The opera music heightened the experience for both me and the audience. We each shared this experience together," Church said. "It felt empowering to be so vulnerable whilst people watched my often private process of working. It was though time stood still for an hour whilst this performance was happening, which I think is a remarkable thing to do in a city as crazy as New York."

The artistic process is a difficult and technical one for artists, and when the presentation first started, Church had to get used to the idea of people watching him work. "It was completely terrifying at first," he said. "But, as that began to subside it began to feel powerful and exciting."

For the entire hour, Church became enthralled painting his signature exaggerated feminine faces on this dress, lost in translation as he was absolved with his work. "I was solely focused on the process, I tried to completely block what was going on around me and focus on the act of applying the artwork onto the garment, any distractions would have interrupted the flow of my work," he said.

Although he's found his first official retail partner, Church is more focused on staying true to his work than expanding to more retail doors. "I just want to keep pushing myself creatively, but still staying true to the essence of my work, and to have lots of fun with it," he said.

As Church continues to operate on the boundaries between art and fashion, his audience is expanding. Opening Ceremony won't be the last retailer to recognize his talent.

photo credit: Ross Collab