For nearly a decade, renegade Brit painter Jane Gang has been parking herself at the side of the stage in strip clubs like New York's Pussycat Lounge, a bullwhip's length from the main attraction. There in semi-darkness, she sets up her trusty sketchpad and watercolors and starts dabbing. Later, at home, she re-works the best of the bunch in oil paints and sells them for a tidy profit, frequently for north of $10,000.
"My overall painting M.O. is the emotional dynamics between two or
three people in any given space, whether it's a restaurant or a nightclub or on the street," says Gang, who is represented by Chelsea's Nicholas Robinson Gallery and lives in Gotham with a new baby
named—wait for it—Boulevard. ("As in `Boulevard of Dreams'," Gang
explains. Riiiiight.) "And at some point I started to think about the most powerful dynamic that exists, historically. And then it clicked: Strippers. You've got the male. You've got the female. It's sex. It's money."
Now Gang's cheekily risque images are popping up on a capsule collection
of tees, tunics, hoodies and scarves for Members Only. "They provide
an important component that I felt was missing from the collection—a
graphic tee," says company president Kelli Delaney. "Paired with our
leggings and leather jacket, it's just total glam-rock
sexy girl."Delaney says she's itching to get the sexy stripper fare into the hands of Member's Only celebrity fans. And guess who's first on her list? Pam Anderson. Now there's a surprise.
Both paintings: Pussycat Lounge, 2003. Watercolor. Photo: courtesy of Members Only.
