Search

Reports that Philip Cushway's gallery Artrock in San Francisco, California displays blotter paper soaked in liquid LSD as folk art. Description of several blotter paper works.

On a California summer afternoon, the industrial landscape of Sun Valley -- a stretch of gravel pits and salvage yards next to the Golden State Freeway -- seems to quiver against a backdrop of cloudless sky and the Verdugo Mountains on the smudged horizon. Here, deep within the Apex Electronics store, Laura and Kate Mulleavy are carefully excavating a hoard of insulated wires. ''The Teflon-coated ones have the most intense colors,'' Kate says as she uncoils several inches of blazing vermilion wire, a remnant from a local aerospace firm. Kate, 29, and Laura, 28, are sisters, artistic collaborators and partners in Rodarte, the three-year-old fashion label based in Los Angeles. Rodarte (pronounced ro-DAR-tay) is a small, extraordinary gem of an enterprise. In 2005, to introduce themselves to the fashion world, the Mulleavy sisters sent out 30 handmade paper dolls, each with a paper armoire containing seven paper dresses. ''I was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald's paper dolls,'' explains Kate, who, like Fitzgerald, drew extensively accessorized wardrobes. The collection itself consisted of 10 meticulously hand-finished garments, including a pumpkin-colored silk cocktail dress with a lovely slouching silhouette and a black wool coat, cut in military style and ingeniously detailed with pheasant feathers and organza inserts. Pieces like these are as skillfully constructed as haute couture (a single gown can require 100 hours of work) but much of it is presented as ready to wear. That first season, their clothes were modestly priced from $2,000 to $3,000. Less than a year later, a whispery yellow silk chiffon evening dress -- a pale undulating cascade of tiny pleats and voluptuous, handcrafted rosettes, from the fall/winter collection -- was reported to have sold for nearly $20,000. It is now in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]