Actually, welcome back. Not necessarily to that same old place that you laughed about. But welcome back all the same. To that hairstyle you tried to replicate. To soup cans as art. To the defining logos, artifacts, and icons – plastic, human, and plastic human – of a time. Sure, we may tease you a lot. But we’ve got you on the spot. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back.
MOPOP is a celebration of everyday life: an archive of the artifacts, icons, items and obsessions that become the backdrop to our daily lives.
GARNET MCELREE DIRECTOR
At a crowded New York art opening, MOPOP director Garnet McElree couldn’t help but notice just what it was that was not being noticed: The art. Instead guests nibbled on their canapés – their backs to what they had come to admire – as they talked amongst themselves: great shoes (Manolo Blahnik? Knew it!).
In a seemingly-unrelated parallel-universe moment, Garnet found himself in his own un-arty dialogue about, well, Pez dispensers. However, as the conversation progressed so did the surrounding circle of Pez-enthusiasts.
Where the art failed to spark dialogue or stir emotion, the artifact succeeded. On a level created by the people, for the people, of the people. Because the rumbling wasn’t just about Pez. It was about stories, connections, and memories. It was about the power of nostalgia. In that moment he knew that people craved a different kind of experience: An environment to showcase the pieces that evoke the unrivalled brand of enthusiasm reserved for matters of the heart, the past, or – quite simply – the supremely cool.
MARY-JO DIONNE WRITER
The only thing writer Mary-Jo Dionne loves more than pens is the act of stealing them from hotels around the world.
And the only thing she loves more than that bit of debauchery is, well, her collection of Boy George t-shirts, Law & Order re-runs, Bea Arthur, hoop earrings, chicklit, memories of watching Welcome Back Kotter with her mom, soy lattes, driving in her convertible Bug (his name is Doug), When Harry Met Sally (and anything by Nora Ephron), red shoes, animal rescue, her grandma's quilts, low-maintenance friendships, puffy stickers, puffy vests, the spirit of entrepreneurialism, Monopoly marathons (she's always the car), and the fact that she has every journal from the time she was 8 stacked chronologically in her office today. They're sitting next to an awfully large cup of pens.
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