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.

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Nature Of Adolescence

September 16, 2026

Bex Day's series explores the fleeting and transformative nature of adolescence, capturing a moment where identity, character and physicality are constantly shifting.

Photography and Casting: Bex Day
Creative Direction: Kaduri Elshayar
Photography Assistant: Imogen Glanville
Styling Assistants: Irene Prisco Stern & Charlotte Kelsey

Models: Gemma (Milk), Jago Juxon (Select), Gabriel Kemplay (Select), Lola Singer-Norsworthy (Storm), Hamish (Nevs), Edie Sunman (The Hive), Theo STORM, Barney Taylor (Select), Aura (Premier), Erin (Antiagency), Harry Hunting (The Squad), Miles Matthews (The Squad), Noah De N’Yeurt (Next), Callum Glazebrook (Select), Annabel (Milk), Harry Skeat (Next), Toby Rankin-evans (Select), Matthew W (Nevs), Adam A (Nevs), Iris (Premier), Izaac King (IMG), Sasha (XDIRECTN)

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“This collaboration is an extension of my work. It’s more than artwork placed on clothing. Jerry and I share a visual language rooted in restraint, beauty, and intention. I sometimes describe my practice as minimalist figuration. Clothing becomes another kind of canvas, something people can inhabit rather than observe,” says Sherald.