Cool to revisit this article in The Architect's Newspaper featuring our architect Ben Warwas. As "New Seagull" turns eight, we're having fun looking back and getting 1/2 way to vintage!
Since its founding more than four decades ago, Seagull Hair Salon has been a haven for queer culture in Manhattan’s West Village. The first unisex barbershop in New York City is the place to lounge, gossip, and unwind.
In September 2015, its latest generation of co-owners, veteran hairstylist Shaun “Surething” Cottle and former Le Tigre band member Johanna Fateman, moved Seagull to a larger, brighter shop around the block, commissioning Los Angeles–based architect Ben Warwas to design a space that would preserve Seagull’s signature campy irreverence.
“Those colors are very riot grrrl,” Warwas said, referring to the palette of black, white, and bright pink taken directly from the ’90s feminist movement. Postmodern flourishes abound in what the salon’s owners have described as an “upscale glam feminist Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” mainly in the form of allusions to the original space’s signature architectural features.
Composer Julia Wolfe stopped by Seagull Hair Salon to try some scissor sounds for her new oratorio. “Fire in my mouth,” is about the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire. She scoured New York’s garment district for the right sounds as well as gracing the salon with her presence to check out the sounds of hair scissors that she included in her new work presented by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Below are some excerpts from The New York Times Article, "Arming a Chorus of Women With Scissors".
Ms. Wolfe was in the market for scissors to be wielded by the women of the chorus in her new oratorio, “Fire in my mouth.” The work, which will be given its premiere on Thursday by the New York Philharmonic, explores the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911, which killed 146 garment workers, mostly immigrant women, including many who were trapped by locked exit doors. Their deaths helped change the way New York and the nation thought about safety, the labor movement and the struggle for women’s equality.
Ms. Wolfe’s previous oratorio about labor in America, “Anthracite Fields,” about the hardships faced by Pennsylvania coal miners, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015. She is known for her evocative orchestrations and varied sound palettes, and in parts of “Fire in my mouth” she wanted to suggest factories.
She wrote string parts that recall sewing machines, and at several points in the score she included the sound of scissors opening and closing. She imagined the effect as more of a slow, resonant “swoosh” than a staccato, castanet-like “snip.” But she had to find the right ones for the job.
Last week Seagull color genius Jeanise was down in Florida at the Tampa Museum of Art for the opening of their newest exhibit Susanne Bartsch: Art-a-Porter, celebrating the beloved New York City fashion and nightlife icon. Collaborating with UK-born NYC-based designer Ben Copperwheat, Jeanise designed some colorfully amazing wigs for the exhibit's opening. Conjuring acid flashbacks of bright cotton candy, these dream hair creations are delightfully whimsical---just like Jeanise! And they go so well with the knitwear pieces she created for these looks.
From the Tampa Museum of Art:
"Susanne Bartsch: Art-a-Porter presents the couture designs and looks worn by Susanne Bartsch, New York City’s famed “Queen of the Night.” The exhibition highlights her celebrated career in fashion, from her early days as a boutique owner in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood to her legendary parties in New York City’s underground club scene. Bartsch has been a muse to several designers, including Thierry Mugler, Zaldy, and the esteemed corset maker, Mr. Pearl. Her boutique was one of the first American stores in the 1980s to feature emerging British designers such as Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, who are now amongst the most influential designers in the fashion industry. Susanne Bartsch: Art-a-Porter will feature 35 looks spanning Bartsch’s extraordinary career, including designs by Alexander McQueen, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Zaldy, and the Blonds."
It's refreshing to read an issue devoted to queerness in such a widely-read NYC publication, clarifying the difference between "gay" and "queer". "To me, being queer is a state of consciousness rather than an identity," quotes the article. Very true words. It's a very Seagull-(and West Village-) appropriate issue to have on our coffee table: fabulously gay and inherently political.
Grab a copy before it's too late---and be sure to book your next amazing haircut with Topher!
Topher Gross is a freelance hairstylist with 10 years of experience in the beauty industry. He specializes in precision-based scissor and razor techniques which are designed to create beautiful, versatile, wearable hair for clients. He is known for cutting and styling curly/textured hair, short-edgy looks and tailored, masculine/barber-styles.
Previously a Top Stylist at Arrojo Studio, Topher cut thousands of clients, was an in-salon educator, a part of the show and seminar team for 9 years (IBS, ABS, Premiere) and worked on editorial and video shoots.
He has traveled to cut and style hair for clients all over the U.S., London and Berlin. Topher has been featured in Time Out NY, about.com, intothegloss.com, on various fashion blogs, DapperQ, GO magazine, and behindthechair.com. He was the lead hairstylist for the Brooklyn Girls Calendar series.
A native New Yorker, Topher is always inspired by the unique styles and fashions on the city streets. He believes that hair can be opportunity to express creativity, show a window into someone’s soul and bring out the inner beauty of each client.
Topher travels coast-to-coast for clients from Brooklyn to the Bay Area (Oakland, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz).
On my last trip to Puerto Rico, I happened upon an odd little antique store. I'd seen it before, but it seemed way too expensive for me to bother with as it was in the highly populated tourist area of Old San Juan. Thankfully we were bored and wandered in. There was a lot of cool stuff but nothing we were very interested in hauling home until one of the owners led us to a few large portfolios full of prints and original works mostly of local artists both antique, vintage and modern. We were flipping through as the owner was giving us info on artists and pieces when this popped out at us:
Of course we wanted it real bad and it happened to be a lot less pricey than we thought it would be, so we snatched it up, had it framed and shipped back to New York City. Fascinated by the kind of American post pop-art that found its way into a kind of time capsule of an aesthetic that found it's way into children's cartoons and illustrations from the late 1960s though early 1970s, we wanted to learn more. Naturally art whose focus is on the discussion of politics surrounding women's bodies from the '70s is a pretty perfect fit for Seagull... The bonus as you'll see in the pictures below is that not only is her work directly aligned with Seagull's sensibilities, but the color story was an EXACT match especially once we had them framed. Here's the little bit that can be found on a Google search about Suzi Ferrer:
Suzi Ferrer was born in New York in 1940. She earned her BA in Fine Arts from Cornell University in 1975 and her MA in Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico. She has exhibited her works at: West Broadway Gallery, New York; The House of Art (1966), Hummingbird Gallery (1973), and the Museum of Art in Ponce. She has participated in several collective exhibitions in places such as Puerto Rico, New York, Connecticut, and Copenhagen. Her work has been included in two Latin American Biennials of Engraving at San Juan, the XII Bienal de Sao Paulo and IX International Biennial of Menton, France (1972). She was included in the Portfolio of Puerto Rican Artists by the Hummingbird Gallery.
Here are some pictures of what the work looks like in what we call the "second salon". Although now that we have a couple of Ferrer's prints (they are both a limited run of 100) we are now referring to the second salon as The Womb Room. And in an serendipitous turn of astonishingness, all of the prints were made in 1971, the year both Seagull Hair Salon and Shaun SureThing were born. Who could ask for more?
This year Seagull Hair Salon was proud to sponsor the annual art auction at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project alongside Cooper Union, Bitch Media and many more. The auction, Small Works for Big Change, is always very exciting because it is for a really good cause:
In case you are not familiar, below is a description of what SLRP works to do and you can find more info here: THE SYLIVA RIVERA LAW PROJECT.
"The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. SRLP is a collective organization founded on the understanding that gender self-determination is inextricably intertwined with racial, social and economic justice. Therefore, we seek to increase the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming. SRLP works to improve access to respectful and affirming social, health, and legal services for our communities. We believe that in order to create meaningful political participation and leadership, we must have access to basic means of survival and safety from violence."
Like every year, a bunch of super rad artists donated small pieces, including works from Leidy Churchman, Nancy Brooks Brody, and A.K. Burns. One of the coolest things about this particular auction is that it does not exist online, which means if you want to purchase a piece of art you actually have to be there IRL. By doing away with online bidding and limiting the geographical scope of people who can bid, this auction allows for people to bid on work by artists that otherwise would be monetarily out of reach. And that's pretty cool! I personally managed to nab a small painting by Andrea Geyer, who I wrote about earlier this year due to her huge contribution to the opening of the new Whitney Museum, "America is Hard to See".
Andrea is a longtime Seagull VIP and I'm really stoked that I get to add her piece "Scratching the Surface From Below" to my mini art collection.
The Kitchen Spring Gala After-Party is my favorite event of the year by far!
This year I'm happy to get to co-host with my bestie and business partner at Seagull Salon Johanna Fateman alongside BCALLA, Lady Bunny, Eckhaus Latta, Pati Hertling, Ryan McNamara, No Bra, Ellie Rines, Jacolby Satterwhite, Thor Shannon, SSION, Emily Sunblad, and Stewart Uoo.
This year The Kitchen is honoring pioneer video artists Dara Birnbaum and Charles Atlas.
Dara Birnbaum is best known for her iconic video Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, which she made using pirated footage of the wildly popular 1970’s television show of the same name starring Linda Carter.
Aside from showing Wonder Woman at art venues and clubs all over, we at Seagull Salon are obsessed with the 1980 pop-up installation of Wonder Woman at the storefront windows of an old SoHohair salon called H-Hair Salon de Coiffure, Inc. Birnbaum’s Wonder Woman replaced the only VHS tape the salon owned at the time, an Italian version of Woodstock that had been on loop until Birnbaum approached the statuesque Linda Carter look-alike salon owner and asked if she could play Wonder Woman instead---to which the salon owner happily obliged.
Dara Birnbaum: Please, can you show my tape in your window, especially on the weekends?
H-Hair: What is your tape about?
DB: Wonder Woman
HH: Oh, I love Wonder Woman. I’ve been told I look like her.
DB: (She did)
Charles Atlas has been a favorite of mine for a long time, but I was re-introduced to a lot of his work by Johanna, who worked on his eponymously titled retrospective artist book. My favorite work of Atlas' is the 1984 film Hail The New Puritan, a collaboration with choreographer Michael Clark and Leigh Bowery with music by The Fall.
The Kitchen Gala after-party is super fun! I've gone for the last nine years and am happy to be included on a list of luminaries. Good DJ's, open bars, cute snacks and gorgeous people. It's always a great time. PLUS they always have the awesome photo booth by Bosco, which is where I'll be all night snapping up the universe's best selfies.
Seagull usually doesn't get involved with electoral politics, and has not officially endorsed a candidate since 1992 when Myles threw her hat in the ring and, before that, 1972 when we stood proudly behind the unbought and unbossed Shirley Chisholm.
But, today, I read in the New York Times Magazine that Eileen Myles would consent be the POTUS if called upon by the American People. My heart filled with hope. Myles states, "I mean, if the voters rose up with a write-in campaign, then of course I would serve."
Here is an inflammatory highlight from her interview:
While men should go on vacation, Myles has not had time to. This has been a busy year or so, full of literary and political accomplishments including the celebrated reissue of her canonical iconic Chelsea Girls, the publication of her poetry collection I Must Be Living Twice, and her totally postmodern cameo on Transparent in which she played witness to her fictionalized character performing her real poem. Speaking of Transparent, I am officially forecasting "Goth Moppa" as a 2016 fashion trend as well as the "Ali blouse," (any weird blouse) as a wardrobe staple. Oh, and I also recently learned that Myles is a 2016 Creative Capital awardee. Not to brag, but I got one of those grants—to write about art—last year. Plus I made it on Holland Cotter's top ten, NBD. Anyway, thank the goddess we can look forward to a collection of travel essays from Myles. Our bestie Laura Parnes got a Creative Capital grant,too, to continue production on her very exciting new "multi platform" film Tour Without End which promises to prominently feature Seagull staff and other VIPs, notably K8 Hardy. Which brings me to some crucial news about our muse: K8's Outfitumentary is eligible for the Bright Future award at... ROTTERDAM! And on that high note, I'll sign off. HAPPY NEW YEAR! xoxo Johanna
Welcome to 2016! The whole Seagull staff is ecstatically grateful to start the new year fresh in a new salon---a much, much bigger space to accommodate more clients/stylists than we ever imagined. We also needed space to hang more art! If you recall, Dead Seagull (our old location's unofficial name) could only hold one painting at a time, which was pretty limiting since there was so much more we wanted to hang.
We knew when we opened the new Seagull that we needed a very bold piece to greet our clients right when they walked in the door. What better choice than one of Kathe Burkhart's (in)famous Liz Taylor paintings:
Shaun took this photo of me at the front desk on our first day open for business, and as you can see, I'm ecstatic and honored to work along side a Burkhart piece:
Burkhart's work is intimidating and alluring. While this piece reads "Fuck You" if you read between the lines, it's saying "Get on my level."
Another score is this print by Alice O'Malley photograph that hangs out near our lovely new product shelf:
It's very Seagull meets Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. I love it so much.
We also got this A.L. Steiner print that is the perfect summation of the Seagull aesthetic: very queer and New York with a knowing wink to the West Coast.
Seagull thrives off the art and the energy of downtown NYC, so these newest additions to our collection make us incredibly happy. Definitely looking forward to future acquisitions from our favorite NYC artists.
We hope you have had a chance to come see new Seagull, and, if not, please come see us soon!
We only have one word for Nicole: CONGRATULATIONS!
This award is rightfully earned by her. Her inventiveness and keen eye are pushing the boundaries of figurative painting. Seagull is honored to call her a VIP client and a friend.
