Gillian Tozer: I'd love to hear how your interpretation of the Gator story was translated into the installation. Why did you choose to highlight certain elements? What story is being told?
Charlie Wing: When they brought me into OC to look at Chloë’s new line I was really drawn to this one dress that had this crazy optical pattern on it. I asked Chloë what the pattern was and she said it was the Gator print. I knew right then what the installation was gonna be about. As a kid this skater I knew wore this shirt that said “FREE GATOR”, he told me the whole story [of Mark Rogowski] and it rattled my head. I was like 11 years old. The story always stuck with me.
In the runway installation I had Gator’s skateboard shape shifting into a razor blade landing on a mirror. There’s a lot of positive and negative energy in this piece and where they meet in the middle is actually the most interesting part, it’s a transitional moment, a razor blade with wheels. I also incorporated these Christian religious figures dressed in blaze orange hunter’s camo. They’re conquering evil while taking care of their god but everything is done in a real violent fashion. The nun has a crossbow and is holding a decapitated black goat’s head and the altar boys are shearing a white sheep—a representation of god—but he’s zip-tied to the ground.
I think what’s interesting about the Gator story is that he was a born again Christian before he raped and murdered a girl. There was some sort of spiritual battle going on in his head. He was a person looking for help but didn’t get it done professionally: now a girl is dead because of it, and a guy with the power to actually fly through the air is sitting behind bars. St. Patrick’s Cathedral auditorium, where Chloë wanted to have the runway show, was a perfect setting for this stuff. I had to write letters to the church to let me install these pieces cause they were kind of weirded out by it at first. For a week it seemed like they weren’t gonna let me, but in the end they were cool about it.
GT: How did this project come about with Chloë?
CW: Chloë had seen some pictures of my work that incorporated a lot of mannequins that I'd customized. At that time she was searching for an artist to install something at her upcoming runway show and she took with risk with me. She let me do my own thing, but she was also a fountain of ideas. Even though I sat in on all the meetings about the show and heard everything she wanted to do, I still didn’t see her overall vision until the night of. Then, seeing how well all the different elements she pulled together were working, I looked around and was like “Damn, this is really cool.” I was really taken aback by that and humbled by the whole experience.
Entering the Chloë x OC show in June, the first thing you saw was an installation composed of several curious elements: a mirrored platform in the shape of the OC logo with a large razor blade sitting atop and, suspended above, two variations of skateboards. On the stage at the end of the gym, the famed Vision Street Wear Gator print was the backdrop to a tribal, sacrificial scene. The installation, by Brooklyn-based artist Charles Wing, has since relocated to the window of OCNY, and now makes up the Chloë x OC shop-in-shop. I asked Charles a couple of questions about the installation and what it was like working with the woman of the hour.