Bonanza: Mode Brut Spotlight
Models wearing garments created by Bonanza and CE artists for Mode Brut at Museum of Craft and Design. Photo by Rob Williamson
Meet the artists behind Bonanza
Bonanza is the collaborative practice of Conrad Guevara, Lindsay Tully, and Lana Williams. Their work strategically challenges the fixity of identity through different forms of signaling, posturing, flexibility, and resilience.
For their Mode Brut collection, the group was inspired by working at home and wanting to dress a little “extra.” Bonanza’s collaboration with Creativity Explored artists Kathy Wen, Kevin Chu, and Joseph Omolayole resulted in a collection entitled Sewn by Spiders. The collection includes cozy but vivacious day pajamas and neon gardening wear.
Many of the designs combine bold colors and cascading patterns, drawn from Kathy Wen’s faceted paintings. Other garments incorporate digital collages created by Kevin Chu featuring dogs – Chu and Bonanza connected during dog walks during the lockdown. Artist and designer Joseph Omolayole created original garment designs and fashion sketches, which Bonanza constructed in partnership with the artist for their line.
CE artist Joseph Omolayole shared, “My experience working with Bonanza is very amazing because I actually create my designs and illustration on paper, and then I actually build drawing illustrations, then they create it.”
Bonanza gardening outfit made in collaboration with CE artist Kathy Wen. Photo courtesy Bonanza
The Great Wall in China by Kathy Wen, 2017
“We wanted to make a pajama-like outfit that looked like something Billie Eilish would wear while working in the community garden. These are outfits created in Shelter-in-Place and we wanted to reflect how SIP has changed our sense of personal style.”
Unable to collaborate with CE artists in person, Bonanza set up virtual drawing sessions with Kathy Wen, and chatted over zoom with Kevin Chu about his “hound dog aesthetic.” Using fashion practice to process this strange time living through a global pandemic, Bonanza created a collection of playful and flexible garments.
With a renewed interest in our own backyards, long strolls down empty city streets, hours staring out into the ocean, a freshly planted garden, cocktails over zoom, or carefully monitored sourdough starter, Bonanza’s collection represents the new “quarantine fashion.” With the barrier of distance, their partnership with CE artists focused on ideas and concepts with production taking place independently. Bonanza’s collection mixes coziness and comfort with vibrant, bold colors - depicting a world of shifted fashion in response to Shelter-in-Place orders, distanced park get-togethers, and looking inward.
“The look for the work from home zoom meeting - business tops, casual bottoms. The look for the everyday - body comfy, cozy, easy. Big and bold fashion acting as a physical barrier. The sweep of a kaftan’s cape, hoodies to protect, and eccentric patterns to signal from afar.”
Bloodhound by Kevin Chu, 2013
Year of the Dog by Kevin Chu, 2018
Bonanza shorts made from Kevin Chu’s digital collage, inspired by his animal patterns and drawings.
Bonanza's work has been exhibited at Gallery 16, the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, and the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art. Their work has been written about by VICE, SFAQ, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, and East Bay Express. They were selected for the San Francisco Recology Center artist in residence program in 2018, and recently finished their fourth film – a gig comedy that satirizes the so-called sharing economy and the excessive demands it makes on its workers. Read “How Artists Transformed San Francisco's Trash into an Audacious Runway Show” in KQED to learn about and see fashions from their Recology residency.
To experience Sewn by Spiders, Bonanza’s collection produced in collaboration with Creativity Explored, visit Mode Brut at the Museum of Craft and Design, on view through January 22, 2022. All garments are available for sale, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the artists and CE – download the price list.