Under Glass and in Color
by Darrell Thorne

Under Glass and In Color is an exhibition, an installation, a residency, and a durational performance all rolled into one vibrant celebration of life through costume, makeup, dance, and transformation.

Against a backdrop of feathers, flowers, metal, and mirrors, artist Darrell Thorne will create original headpieces, apply makeup and body paint, perform dance pieces, sing songs and perform lip-synchs, write his memoirs, interact with passersby, and juxtapose everyday and mundane activities with transformation, ritual, and elevation.

In a moment where we all must live with barriers, Under Glass and in Color offers up a visual feast, safely enjoyed through a window.

Darrell Thorne is a Brooklyn based, multi-disciplinary artist working in the areas of design, makeup, and performance art.

As a performer, Darrell works regularly in nightlife, theatrical, and private events in New York City, nationally, and internationally. He was a featured artist at the Park Avenue Armory Gala in 2016, 2017, and 2019, with a residency leading up to the event, and he and his company are regular performers at events throughout New York City for institutions like Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chashama, New York Academy of Art, and multiple private foundations. Previous live performances include Ageha (Tokyo), the Starcount Social Star Awards (Singapore), Selfridges (London), Funkhaus (Berlin), The Life Ball (Vienna), Avant-Garde (Munich), the Mexico City Cabaret Festival, and as the opening act on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Premiere Tour.

His performances and original designs have been featured in videos for Jennifer Hudson, Blondie, Brooke Candy, The Magnetic Fields, and Steven Klein, and as a principal character on Season 2 of HBO’s “High Maintenance”. He created a custom mask for Madonna, worn in her “Living for Love” video, a custom headpiece for Giovanna Battaglia, which she described as Oscar-worthy, a series of Hindu deities for Martha Stewart that she called “wonderfully designed” and “amazing”, and the winning headpiece worn by Yvie Oddly in Season 11 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race”. Thorne also created an original headpiece for the debut of Mila, Great Sorcerer, a new opera that debuted as part of the Prototype Festival in 2019. His work has been featured in editorials for Numero, VMagazine, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, King Kong Magazine, Bust Magazine, and Paper. Darrell was named one of the OUT 100 in 2015 and works out of his studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

To learn more about Darrell Thorne and his work, visit his website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

About Enliven NYC

Four New York City Avante-Garde performance artists will each receive a stipend to present daily live interactive performances at four locations throughout Manhattan that will spark your imagination. “Chashama is returning to its roots. Live window installations as we had in the good old days,” says Anita Durst, founder of Chashama.

This grant was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts.