As part of the ongoing “Bark Jacobs” initiative, artist Zac Crawford will be handpainting pet portraits on Marc Jacobs handbags, during a three-day event that starts Thursday night at The Hub in the Hamptons.
The two-hour kickoff celebration will be held on July 24, and two full days of appointments will follow at the luxury retail co-op in Bridgehampton, N.Y. Through a partnership with local artists, Marc Jacobs is offering complimentary in-store pet portraits with the purchase of one of the designer’s leather handbags. Crawford will be doing the honors in the Hamptons with another artist and he personally expects to paint hundreds of pets on the designer accessories.
Crawford has been drawing pet portraits in New York’s Washington Square Park for the past few years. One day a Marc Jacobs staffer, who oversees brand activations, happened to pass by the artist, grabbed his contact information and a partnership was born. After attending LaGuardia High School and majoring in illustration at Parsons, Crawford thought about working in character design, animation or comics, but secure salaried jobs are scarce for artists. He said the big question was, “’How do I make a living as an artist?’ I thought, ‘Let me go to the park and try to make some fast money as an artist.’ Never did I expect to be at Marc Jacobs HQ painting pets.”
The Marc Jacobs opportunity, as well as collaborations with other brands like Moleskin, have meant that Crawford hasn’t been back to Washington Square Park in a while. This new trajectory still delivers the same favorite part of his job — “seeing people’s reactions [and] how happy it makes them. There’s a lot of laughter and tears — happy tears, of course. That’s been the beauty of it.”
In the past year, Crawford and Ben Silberstein started the artists agency Juicebox New York to work with brands to offer experiences with artists including ones for the Bark Jacobs events nationwide. “We think that as we enter this bizarre digital age with AI, human interaction and human creativity will be more valued,” Crawford said. “The Marc Jacobs event is a good example of that. People get to see an artist working with their hands on a bag and bring their pet to life.”
While there is never a shortage of dogs for Crawford’s pet portraits, the New York-born artist has also painted ones of turtles, guinea pigs, pigeons and even a plant once. As for keeping pigeons as pets, he said, “You know in New York, everyone’s got every type of pet. Luckily, having gone to art school, we can paint any type of pet.”
Shoppers who buy select Marc Jacobs handbags can have portraits of their pets painted on them.
Photo by Peter Rosa/Courtesy
This weekend’s pop-up will feature Marc Jacobs’ “Tote Bag,” “Sack Bag” and “Dual Bag,” as well as the new handbag styles, “The Dakota” and “The Glam.” (Fans looking for the designer will not find him there.) But many know how he appreciates hand-drawn images. During his Louis Vuitton years, he first enlisted graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse to cover handbags for the luxury house in 2000.
Just back from an eight-week trip to Japan, Crawford said that Japanese and Korean artists have inspired him the most especially Kim Jung Gi, who can draw anything from imagination and memory. “Seeing his full imagination pour out of him onto the page was really inspiring. And seeing how he draws animals and humans with perfect anatomy made me want to draw everything that I could. Usually when I travel, I bring a journal to document all of my experiences and the people that I meet,” Crawford said.
Pet lovers, who want to be sure they secure a booking this weekend, can schedule one on the Marc Jacobs site or via TheHub’s Instagram. There will also be upcoming events in Marc Jacobs’ stores.
Growing up in Woodstock, N.Y., Crawford had a Great Dane, a Labrador and a cat, but his travel schedule has made him pet free for the time being. “Fortunately, Marc Jacobs has given me this opportunity where customers come in with their pets so I still have that affectionate experience with the pets. I get to pet them, cuddle them a little bit and paint [a rendition] of them. So I get my fill of having pets without any of the more tedious parts of being a pet owner,” Crawford said.