CODEEPENDENCY

I once read somewhere that ‘a present is a thing you want someone to have while a gift is something they would like to receive.’

For me, the process of earning trust, learning to love and be loved, being vulnerable and genuine as we give and take — are actions best symbolized by the subtle “art” of gift-giving. Like the energy and attention needed in selecting the perfect gift, all relationships are fraught with a co-dependent delicacy surrounding generosity, intentionality, and synchronicity.

To that end, I can’t talk about codeependency without adding the extra “e.” You get it, you know you do. The very mention of the word invokes a compelling, unsettling, and one of my all-time favorite pyramids, the “Feararchy” charting our most universal, anxiety-riddled hits: Fear of Extinction, Mutilation, Loss of Autonomy, Separation, and Ego-Death.

To exercise those unavoidable demons, I collaborated with two, formidable designers — my original intern, Drew Heffron, and my last, Wesley Fry. The guys were simply given the title, “Codeependency,” and asked to create three unique designs via an exquisite-corpse exchange. I swallowed my fear and ego and gave them complete, creative autonomy.

Final design in hand, I enlisted shiny art star, Myles Calvert, to lead screen printing. Codeependency formally materialized as a collection of monochromatic fabric textiles each adorned with the word amato (Italian for “beloved”), locked into a pixelated cube balanced precariously on its side.