"I make, like, enviroments with food"--Agathe Snow, a "very political" artist

Enough arguing with social conservatives of the Jonathan Last variety. Time to take down absurdities on the other end of the political spectrum:

New York magazine has a relatively new segment, "The Look Book," in which they profile an interesting-looking person spotted somewhere on the street in the city. (Time Out also has such a feature.) This week, the magazine profiles Agathe Snow, an artist:

What kind of artist are you?

I make, like, environments with food. I make food, I deliver it. I move from people’s houses to galleries and museums with food.

But you’re not a chef or a caterer?

It’s like this: I live on the Lower East Side, and I just came back from Amsterdam, where I did this thing at De Appel Museum—an ode to Kurt Cobain. It was a collaboration with some Japanese artists. They were doing music and projections, so I made food. Oh, I was also wearing a wedding dress. I had white lilies and candles everywhere, so it was an environment. It’s called “Feed the Troops.”

How did you come up with that name?
I have a lot of really amazing people around me, an army of the creative and beautiful, the super-talented and strong. I also design clothes...

What kind of clothes do you design?

It’s very casual stuff, men and women. We dye and treat T-shirts, and I make all the artwork. There are ponchos and capes. There are dresses.
How would you describe your overall aesthetic? I’m like a modern-day gypsy. It’s just a moving and all-inclusive thing. And it’s very political.

Political how?

Well, right now, I’m kind of freaked out about the whole Bush story. I realized while I was in Amsterdam that he had been elected, so I did a lot of political stuff. I made Saddam Hussein and Osama shirts that are punk-inspired. It’s all a collage, basically. I think his reelection will just create an underground movement that will be more fun, and I will get inspired...

She's "freaked out about the whole Bush story" so she's making Saddam Hussein and Osama shirts that are "punk-inspired." Um, OK. This is, to be fair, a woman whose job is to "make, like, environments with food"--a job with an implied trust fund or other external source of income, no doubt, but also one that doesn't suggest any particular political awareness. If Bush's reelection means an underground movement of Osama-punk-shirt creators and food-enviroment constructors is about to emerge, then yes, I definitely wish Kerry had won.