Artists Get Their Ideas Out of the Blue Denim

Denim is a universal canvas. It is used for work and play and now . . . art.

“The Shape of Things to Come,” an exhibit and auction at the Laguna Art Museum on Nov. 20, with previews beginning today, shows just how crafty artists can be with a utilitarian denim jacket. Jackets were painted and decorated by Lita Albuquerque, Jim Morphesis, Craig Stecyk, Pat DeMar and Serge Armando.

Highest bids for the decorated cloths could bring from $400 to $2,500. Their sale, along with 200 works of functional art, will benefit the museum’s Education Department and the Laguna Artists Fire Relief Fund.

The artists’ works show just how versatile denim can be:

Albuquerque, who creates paintings mostly with environmental themes, used bright gold foil flakes to form sun-like circles on the bodice and back that dazzle the eye.

Morphesis, an abstract painter best known for using a technique that cracks paint like the Old Masters, painted red hearts and skulls on his jacket.

Stecyk’s work is influenced by the surf and custom car scene of the early ‘60s. His jacket has fish scales created with airbrush methods more commonly seen on cars.

DeMar, an artist and designer whose clients include Mick Jagger and Diana Ross, stitched a leather panel down the back of her jacket and dangled charms from the pockets.

Armando was inspired by the hard-edged Abstract Classicist school to paint his jacket with stripes. He created a background of cobalt blue with acrylics, then added yellow and red pin-striping. “I painted one cuff and not the other, to upset the symmetry,” he said.