India Menuez: Beautiful People 2011
By Stefan Marolachakis
Seventeen-year-old artist and curator India Menuez has a pleasantly simple explanation for how she got into art: "The most empowering thing was to be able to draw when I was little, so I never stopped." With red hair parted in the middle and her cherubic face peppered with freckles, she brings to mind what Julianne Moore might have looked like had she spent her formative years as daughter to a set of artist parents in lower Manhattan.
While attending City-As-School -- which she dubs a "super-rad alternative high school on the West Side" -- she and a few friends decided to stage an art show at a loft on the Lower East Side. The overwhelming response inspired them to start the burgeoning downtown art collective known as Luck You, and continue throwing events at houses and storefronts around the neighborhood. Having recently raised over $15,000 on Kickstarter, the collective is currently planning its next big event: an "interactive performance installation piece" slated to open this spring.
Her love for installation grew out of her obsession with found objects and collage; a self-proclaimed hoarder, Menuez enjoys pilfering hidden gems from her neighborhood's trash heaps. "I'm really fascinated by garbage, especially in Chinatown. I know there's a whole bedbug epidemic--I'm really careful, I promise I don't have bedbugs--but, like, this is from the trash," she says, pointing to her dress.
In addition to her work with Luck You, she recently shot Club Monaco's Spring '11 campaign with photographer Ryan McGinley, and tried her hand at acting in KT Auleta's short film Runaround alongside Keith McNally's daughter Isabelle and McGinley's muse of late, Coco Young. "I never wanted to be an actress but it kind of keeps happening by accident." That kind of thing can happen here if you possess that ever-so-elusive ability to be both interested and interesting, and Ms. Menuez most certainly does. "The awesome thing about growing up here is you have different artists you look up to and then you bump into them on the subway or you end up doing a job with them, just by chance."
INDIA WEARS DRESS BY DOLCE & GABBANA, SHOES BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, HAIRPIECE BY JENNIFER BEHR AND VINTAGE TIGHTS AND RING
GO BACK TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF 2011
While attending City-As-School -- which she dubs a "super-rad alternative high school on the West Side" -- she and a few friends decided to stage an art show at a loft on the Lower East Side. The overwhelming response inspired them to start the burgeoning downtown art collective known as Luck You, and continue throwing events at houses and storefronts around the neighborhood. Having recently raised over $15,000 on Kickstarter, the collective is currently planning its next big event: an "interactive performance installation piece" slated to open this spring.
Her love for installation grew out of her obsession with found objects and collage; a self-proclaimed hoarder, Menuez enjoys pilfering hidden gems from her neighborhood's trash heaps. "I'm really fascinated by garbage, especially in Chinatown. I know there's a whole bedbug epidemic--I'm really careful, I promise I don't have bedbugs--but, like, this is from the trash," she says, pointing to her dress.
In addition to her work with Luck You, she recently shot Club Monaco's Spring '11 campaign with photographer Ryan McGinley, and tried her hand at acting in KT Auleta's short film Runaround alongside Keith McNally's daughter Isabelle and McGinley's muse of late, Coco Young. "I never wanted to be an actress but it kind of keeps happening by accident." That kind of thing can happen here if you possess that ever-so-elusive ability to be both interested and interesting, and Ms. Menuez most certainly does. "The awesome thing about growing up here is you have different artists you look up to and then you bump into them on the subway or you end up doing a job with them, just by chance."
INDIA WEARS DRESS BY DOLCE & GABBANA, SHOES BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, HAIRPIECE BY JENNIFER BEHR AND VINTAGE TIGHTS AND RING
GO BACK TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF 2011
Your Comment
Posted at 9:04 on Mar 30, 2011
Thank you for this profile of India Menuez. How wonderful that she is also my granddaughter.
She is a loving soul and as you say, interested and interesting.
I hope to be a part of her life as it evolves.
Posted at 11:17 on Mar 30, 2011
India Menuez, her heart is big, her talent deep and broad, her life
is rich with creative endeavor and experience, I am grateful to know her and watch her expand! Bravo.
Posted at 12:08 on Mar 31, 2011
got love for you, india!
Posted at 8:34 on Mar 31, 2011
I first saw India as Pilot 1 from the Uniform Project! India is Muy Cool! She has incredible style. And all of her own making. A true young burgeoning artist. Check her out. http://www.theuniformproject.com/#!pilotmonth?OSBG
Posted at 10:48 on Apr 09, 2011
I remember seeing you as a child and I always thought you were the most beautiful child I´d ever seen...and look at you now, you have grown to become a stunningly gorgeous young woman! Wonderful!!! All my love to you :) ♥
Elisabet B.
(Iceland)