Cut & Paste Brought To You by Lots of Sponsors

Wednesday evening I stood in line to get into the Cut & Paste party at the Stoli Hotel (technically in a parking garage). Primarily sponsored by Stoli, Wired, and Flavorpill, the event featured two designers going head-to-head to create on-the-spot art, project on giant screens. Part of a larger traveling series, Cut & Paste had also just come fresh from Miami, complete with bathrooms in trailers and Stoli minibars shaped like little beach-huts.

I’ve gotta be honest. Despite the good turnout and the free booze, the whole thing left me feeling a little empty. Stoli’s corporate presence at the event was overwhelming to the point of upstaging the design—the stated purpose of the night. The net result was the impression that the two designers were exotic caged-birds, transported and displayed exclusively for the benefit of rich colonialists. Also, both artists seemed to be heavily referencing Soviet Constructivism, suspiciouly the same style that all of Stoli’s branding is done in.

But then, I was drunk and didn’t think about it too hard. –John