The Artist and the Cigar Box: Civil Pleasures

June 14, 2024

Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, a chain-smoker himself, once declared cigar smoking a manifestation of oral fixation, a line of thinking echoed by Emma Stern, painter of 3D-modeled hot girls, who told me during the opening night of The Artist and the Cigar Box last Thursday that she’s a firm believer in the enduring sex appeal of cigars. The Artist and the Cigar Box is a benefit exhibition curated by collector and owner of downtown fixture Fun City Tattoo Maxx Starr. When a cigar-loving artist friend told Maxx of the long history of printing customized art on cigar boxes here in Lower East Side dating back to the 1860s, Maxx was instantly inspired. He approached his long-time friend Sean Dorsey, co-founder of Civil Pleasures, a premium New York-based cigar brand hand-crafted in Nicaragua, which is making cigar-smoking cool again.

Commissioning sixteen artist friends (ranging from art world superstars such as Stern and Marika Thunder to skateboarding legend Mark Gonzales) to turn a Civil Pleasures cigar box into a painting or a sculptural assemblage, Maxx and Sean then contacted Pali Kashi of Europa, who gladly agreed to host the benefit exhibition at her Chinatown space. In line with Maxx and Sean’s commitment to fostering culture, all proceeds will go to Harlem-based non-profit Artistic Noise which empowers underserved youth through art. The opening at Europa and the afterparty at Le Bain are your classic beginning-of-summer rendezvous, where many of downtown's pleasure-seekers could be spotted.

By Qingyuan Deng
Photography by Ruvan Wijesooriya, courtesy of Civil Pleasures.

Check out photos from the opening night below and put your bids in here. The Artist and the Cigar Box online auction.

The Artist and the Cigar Box is on view online through June 30th.

Art

All Silk Roads Lead to Gucci

April 23, 2026

The silk road once dominated the Asia-pacific and cultivated economical prosperity with the purest textiles, a contrast to the modern, oversaturated market of cheap goods. Gucci has never been a cheap name, and their craftsmanship could be mistaken for that of another century. The Art of Silk, curated by Demna from the Gucci Archive in Florence, pays homage to the house’s journey with silk. Ten scarves reimagine archival designs of flora, animalia, and nautical prints - motifs of the primordial garden of Gucci. These limited-edition pieces were birthed in Calabria in collaboration with Nido di Seta and Ongetta. The fine Italian silk encapsulates more than Gucci’s reputation, but the tradition of mulberry cultivation. The project revives a once-thriving silk supply chain, recovering abandoned land, fostering employment in communities, supporting small farmers, and powered by renewable energy. It’s a production that innovates how tradition, community, and sustainability can stay preserved in the contemporary world.

In addition to this heritage preservation, the campaign represents Gucci’s contribution to the world of art and education. Two exclusive flora scarves were created for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, celebrating its opening of the new David Geffen Galleries. Available exclusively at the LACMA Store and the Gucci Beverly Hills flagship store, the designs pull inspiration from Vittorio Accornero’s 1966 illustrations. In partnership with the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Firenze, selected student paintings of each scarf will be displayed at the Gucci Rodeo Drive store in LA. Gucci supports these participating students through scholarships, reinforcing the house’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of creative talent. The Art of Silk bridges the old and new world, breathing life into past traditions and future endeavors.

Art

Wynnie Mynerva at Société: A History of Love and Politics

April 23, 2026

At Société Berlin, Peruvian artist Wynnie Mynerva unveils Volveré y seré millones, an exhibition of paintings, videos and installations. Born in 1992, Mynerva is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores identity, intimacy and inequality. Their latest project examines the intersection between love and politics.

Translating to “I will return and I will be millions,” Volveré y seré millones draws on an important phrase for liberation in South American history. It is tied to Túpac Amaru II, an Indigenous Peruvian leader who rebelled against Spanish colonial rule in the early 1780s. It is also attributed to the iconic figure Eva Perón who stood against political injustice and class inequality in 1950s Argentina.

Text by JohnOswald Crichton
Photography by Michi de Pichi and Ana Bálcaza

This title becomes a proclamation that frames an exhibition in which Mynerva uses large scale imagery to reimagine the human body as a canvas to explore the meaning of power and love. This is inspired by their personal experiences of violence tied to race, gender and sexuality. Volveré y seré millones runs from May 1st to June 27th and is an important statement on inequality expressed through visceral artwork.

Art

Les Krims' Fictcryptokrimsographs: Naked Since '74

April 20, 2026

Absurdist, perverse and grotesque: words that could define Les Krims’ Fictcryptokrimsographs. The American conceptual photographer originally published the series as a small book of the same name, comprising forty darkly satirical Polaroids created between 1974 and 1975.

Shown over 50 years later at London’s Graces Mews, the manipulated nudes use exaggerated posing and surrealism to present the female body as a rejection of the media’s expectations of beauty, whilst staging domestic intimacy as something awkward and uneasy. Following the April 16th opening, one image lingers most; a Polaroid in the basement that appears to capture an uncomfortable moment right before intercourse. Sex runs throughout. For Les Krims, nothing is ever off limits.

A provocative piece of counterculture set across two floors, Fictcryptokrimsographs runs from April 17th until May 23rd at Graces Mews in Camberwell, London.