The Kaplan Twins - Boobies
I see so many comparisons between yourselves and major feminist artists of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Who are some of your influences? Allie: In that era, Warhol, Basquiat, Linda Bagla, Cindy Sherman.. Lexi: Barbara Krueger, Tracy Emin. But also like Miley Cyrus. Any crazy cool performance artists, visual artists, creative people who don’t just identify with one thing, like Kanye West, Kaws, Murakami. You’ve gone from college grads to the pages of Playboy and W magazine. You’re even represented by Creative Artists Agency. How does it feel to now be personally exposed? Is it ever strange to be painting one another nude, or exposing yourselves nude together? Allie: It’s all just really exciting. What we’re doing is pushing boundaries. We’re 24, and we’re hustling, and it’s actually happening. The more we can express our ideas, get people to feel comfortable and confident—that’s what’s important to us. Lexi: Our family has always allowed us to be open and comfortable, and we’re best friends. So, it’s not weird. As part of this conversation, we feel we need to include ourselves. We need to be on display. We even talked about leaking our actual nude selfies! Allie: I look at her on a set and think, “She looks good!” which gives me a confident boost. Lexi: And we do paint everything together, including each other. There are moments when we say “I’m painting this area” or argue over one person wanting to paint over the other’s work. When Allie painted my eyebrows, I had to say “I love you, but I’m repainting.” So what’s in the works next? You just incorporated Donald Trump into your #SatOnYourFace series, do you have ambitions to explore other social and political themes in a bigger way? Lexi: For now, we’re reflecting on this time we’re growing up in and all these things around us. We’ll continue to do that as we grow and the world grows. Allie: I don’t think there’s one specific route we want to go, but we know we like talking about media and pop culture whether or not we’re making a certain social or political statement. Lexi: Our next series has less nudity and female focus. It reflects on Instagrammable moments, that you’re not really living for yourself or your experiences but so other people can see what you’re doing. Allie: We’re fine artists but we want to do a little bit of everything. We’re collaborating with Juicy Couture right now on a capsule collection and designing sneakers for Tretorn, which Andre 3000 is the face of. This idea of self-sexualization as an expression of feminism has long been feuded over. Yet since at least the 1960s, women have divulged and denounced the realities of gender oppression and sexual degradation by ironically flaunting the very thing they want men to see them as more than. We’ve seen the same naked statues of men for centuries, so why can’t we desensitize the inherent sexuality in women’s figures? Through seemingly phallocentric paintings, the Kaplan Twins are doing just that. www.thekaplantwins.com • www.westhollywoodlifestyle.com •
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