Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Every week we share things that we now eat, wear, listen to or covet. Register here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday. And you can always reach us at tlist.†
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Provocative portraits of Geoffrey Chadsey
For many people, the erratic isolation imposed by the pandemic has led to a crisis of self-presentation: What should I wear now? How do I want to be seen? Artist Geoffrey Chadsey’s new show in Jack Shainman addresses this conundrum in a series of larger-than-life portraits done in watercolor pencil, though his research into these questions took decades. His latest subjects are compositions caught between identities: a black man in a cowboy hat sprouting extra white limbs, an androgynous figure in a bold red suit pushing their chest into the cleavage, John F. Kennedy in football boots. “The drawings are kind of about photography,” Chadsey says, “how men project a sense of self through online self-portraits. And then I like when I can recombine them and accidents happen. He builds his sketches in Photoshop with using found material, from magazines to archival medical photos to mugshots, before drawing each figure on mylar or putting together old drawings. The fluidity of his process and materials reflects the smoothness of the subjects themselves, which the artist jokingly compares to paper dolls.” There’s something about that frontal view,” Chadsey says, “this lone figure projecting a self out into the world. There’s a desire for involvement that the viewer is a little unsure about whether they want to pick it up or not.” “Plus” can be seen until June 18th jackshinman.com†
“The more I travel, the more often I go back to the same kind of restaurants: iconic steakhouses,” says Canadian chef Matty Matheson. The rambunctious food personality, who rose to fame on Viceland and YouTube, taught the public how to baste steaks or go duck hunting, learned how to cook in Toronto’s French bistros and co-owns four restaurants in Ontario. His latest, Prime Seafood Palace, is inspired in part by old-school stalwarts like New York’s Peter Luger and a childhood sweetheart for Canadian chain The Keg, but there’s no red leather booths or dark paneling in sight: instead, Matheson asked the dynamic architect Omar Gandhi to build an airy wooden cathedral in Toronto’s bustling Queens Street West. A louvered ceiling of locally sourced white maple arches to meet vertical copper screens, creating the feeling of being nestled in an ark (or perhaps a very luxurious lobster trap). Custom peach leather booths from Coolican & Company circle tables with hidden drawers that hold gleaming Perceval steak knives until the porterhouse arrives from the open kitchen. There, Atlantic seafood, Ontario beef and produce from Matheson’s own Blue Goose Farm near Lake Erie are cooked over cherry wood coals. He recognizes that the elegant environment is a level above his early days as a goofball fencer. “It’s a juxtaposition between what people see me and what they encounter,” Matheson says. “I’m 40 now and Prime Seafood Palace is a very mature, beautiful, attentive restaurant.” primeseafoodpalace.ca
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A vibrant bag from the artist Nick Cave
SoHo-based bag brand MZ Wallace has collaborated with high-profile artists such as Raymond Pettibon, Kerry James Marshall, Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Glenn Ligon for over a decade. Next up is Nick Cave, the Chicago-based artist known for creating Kinetic Soundsuits that blend sculpture with performance art. “These patterns aren’t just reproductions of my work on fabric,” says Cave of the lavish flowers, sequins and buttons printed on the recycled fabric of the bag, “they’re images of images, remixed as if a DJ could make sound.” explore.” The slogan on the belt – “Truth Be Told” – is taken from the artist’s 2020 public work, first installed in Kinderhook, NY, with the phrase stretched in black vinyl letters across a 60-foot facade in response to the murder of George Floyd. The bag was launched in conjunction with Cave’s retrospective, which opened this month at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and proceeds from the sale will benefit the museum’s educational programs, as well as the Facility Foundation, a nonprofit organization. led by Cave and his partner and collaborator, Bob Faust, which provides scholarships and opportunities for emerging artists. $325, mzwalace.com and in the MCA Chicago store. “Nick Cave: Forothermore,” is on show until October 2 at MCA Chicago†
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Victor Glemaud’s New Line of Household Items
For his first foray into interiors, Haitian-American fashion designer Victor Glemaud looked at his own New York home and the mementos that tell his story, including an image of himself as a 1-year-old wearing a mint green short set and white boots. cutting his first birthday cake. “That photo is a reflection of my essence, and this collection was an opportunity to bring that essence to life in a new way,” says Glemaud, who is known for his statement knitwear in cheerful shades of neon pink or lime green. He collaborated with esteemed design house Schumacher for the line of fabrics, wallcoverings and embellishments called Cul-De-Sac by Victor Glemaud, and the 14 patterns, each rendered in up to four bold yet balanced colorways, pay tribute to his Haitian heritage. and New York roots. A print called Toussaint Toile championing Haiti’s liberator, Toussaint L’Ouverture, alongside lush palm fronds and hibiscus flowers, while Virginia Panel is a geometric style typical of the 1970s, with curved stripes in black and white. Many of the prints are named after the powerful women in Glemaud’s life, such as the Fabienne, a tropical floral print in deep red or pale lilac. Together, the patterns are evidence of – and materials for – a colorful life. from $300, fschumacher.com†
If you walk south on Elizabeth Street, just above Canal, you’ll find an inconspicuous message on a brick wall that reads 2+2=8. A painting by Detroit’s Tyree Guyton, it’s sort of an introduction to an installation next door: in a small windowed display managed by Guyton’s dealer Martos Gallery, the white walls are painted with clocks (one of the recurring symbols of the artist ), and at a table covered with rubbish like an old TV, a tea set and a piece of rusted metal, a group of dirty mannequins sitting as if they were a family burning down dinner in full view of the traffic coming off the nearby Manhattan Bridge. For much of his career, which began in the 1980s, Guyton has displayed his work on a stretch of Heidelberg Street in Detroit where he grew up. As production work waned and the neighborhood fell into disrepair, Guyton embarked on an unorthodox act of conservation, turning the area into a popular open-air museum by filling vacant lots with sculptures and paintings made from discarded relics: stuffed animals, broken sneakers, car hoods, broken vacuum cleaners. This little show in New York reveals that Guyton both transcends and perpetuates the legend of Heidelberg, and that 2+2=8 is solidified as an artistic treatise. If you look hard enough, anything — be it the block you grew up on or a busy New York street corner — can be a place of beauty and reflection. †The Heidelberg Project, New York City” can be seen 24 hours a day, indefinitely at Martos After Dark, 167 Canal Street, martosgallery.com†
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