Vintage Chanel suit, monofilament, chain, turnbuckles, convex mirror and steel frame.
12 x 11 x 4 feet

The Chanel Shazam sculpture marks the first time E.V. Day designed an exploded couture piece with a living woman as inspiration and collaborator. Fittingly, the woman who embodies and activates the energy of the couture explosion is Kembra Pfahler: performance artist, rock star, philosopher and cult hero in the downtown New York scene. Using the iconic Chanel design, monofilament, wire, tackle and an industrial metal frame, Day’s sculpture at once captures a cinematic freeze frame moment before total destruction, as well as suggesting the activation of a powerful feminine transformative force.

E.V. Day’s Chanel Shazam 1 depicts Kembra Pfahler coolly composed in a Chanel Power Suit in a clinical white austere setting that brings to mind a traditional art gallery. In the photograph, Pfahler stiffly reaches to touch another of Day’s exploded couture sculptures, Bridal Supernova. The control and tension in the image is palpable; the delicate explosion of Bridal Supernova serves as a precursor for the transcendental experience of the Chanel Shazam 2.

Using the Chanel Shazam sculpture as a stage, E.V. Day’s Chanel Shazam 2 photograph captures Kembra Pfahler, the cobalt blue lead singer of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, in full manifestation as  futurist rock goddess. Pfahler's naked superwoman energy embodies the impulse and energy of Day’s couture explosions, suggesting her avant-guard energy literally explodes the conservative garment off her body.