"While researching the visual language of Americana in 2018, Doyle came upon a roll of denim discarded by a fashion designer moving out of his building. "At the time, I had no money, so I was making work out of material I found in the garbage or at my local hardware store," he shares. "As I was pulling [the roll] out of the trash, I noticed a network of ideas connecting in my brain... I felt the material reflected the historical complexities I was seeing in my research, as well as being reflected in my own familial history.""
The Canadian Tuxedo is a denim-on-denim style associated with American fashion despite its name. The look traces back to the 1950s, when Bing Crosby wore a full Levi’s outfit in Vancouver, helping establish a lasting trend. Brooklyn-based Nick Doyle creates large wall sculptures by layering denim atop denim, producing images such as aviators, puffy clouds, and Rocky Mountain landscapes framed by brick. The works evoke nostalgic road trips west and the pursuit of the American dream. Doyle treats denim as a metaphor shaped by American history, including indigo dyeing tied to chattel slavery, associations with James Dean’s masculinity, and cowboy ruggedness linked to gold rush and Manifest Destiny. He began using discarded denim after finding a roll in the trash, connecting it to research into Americana and to familial history.
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