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Words + Art: Olivia Konys
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Olivia Takes Over
I’m Olivia Konys! I am a visual maximalist, abstract painter, nightlife photographer, fashion trend forecaster, and UNO reverse card personified. I’m also a designer here at SYLVAIN. I have a tendency to go places I have no business being, and my most notable trait is that I believe five minutes is plenty of time.
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Two artists worth knowing.
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Bunny Yeager + ESPO
Bunny Yeager (1929–2014) was a trailblazing photographer best known for her 1950s boudoir portraits, which celebrated the female body in an era that often reduced it to a commodity. Her models repeatedly chose to work with Bunny, a former model herself, citing her empathy and her ability to see beauty beyond traditional beauty standards. This brought a softness to scandalous poses that her male colleagues struggled to capture as authentically. Simply put, Bunny allowed her subjects to feel seen and comfortable in who they were and captured better photographs as a result. This approach elevated her job title from “Cheesecake Photographer” to respected creative director. Bunny's commercial work helped popularize the bikini in America, shape the early aesthetic of Playboy, and launch the career of “Queen of Pin-ups” Bettie Page. For a deeper look at her life, I recommend the documentary “Naked Ambition,” in which her story is told by her models, photo assistants, and daughters.
Stephen ESPO Powers (1968–Present) is an American graffiti artist focusing on humanitarianism and enhancing the value of low-income neighborhoods with public art projects. I grew up in Syracuse, NY where, admittedly, there is not much to admire, but one of ESPO’s works brings a new perspective to a bridge downtown. Painted on each side is a narrative to reflect the perseverance of the locals: “Spring Comes, Summer Waits, Winter Longs, Fall Leaves.” I spent 18 years there, waiting and longing before I finally left. I feel a kindred sense of whimsy in ESPO’s career when I reflect on my own, as both of us leverage vandalistic expressionism alongside professional lettering and design commissions. You can be rewarded for both passions. I’ve been fortunate to meet and share this story with him at his studio here in Brooklyn and received a print featuring another mantra to live by: “I Am My Jail, I Am My Bail.”
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News that has given me pause lately, and what I'm doing about it.
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“The morbid lifelessness of modern beauty.”
Glass skin. Corpse pose. Morgue gaze. NPR studied trending icons of 2020s editorial beauty, and the commonality is…lifelessness. Its reporting proposes that the surest way to cement yourself as a beauty icon in the era of internet archives and AI is to either die young or emulate a face frozen in time. But to age is to live. You'll never have another bad candid taken of you posthumously, but the cost is sacrificing your potential while you're still here.
It's never been more important to look like yourself rather than anyone else. I’ve found myself donating products I have no use for beyond nostalgia and resisting the pull of preventative products and the pressure to “dress my age.” I don't curate my Instagram feed. I cancelled my monthly facial sculpting service and started going to the gym instead.
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News that has given me hope lately, and what I'm doing about it.
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An exhibition at Orange County Museum of Art was organized by 15 high school students.
The UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art is investing in the next generation of artists and art patrons by designing art history and curation courses with neighboring high schools. The museum team even gave teens their own show to curate within the museum’s larger biennial, and unexpectedly found immense value in the teen gaze on art.
Taste can only be taught when knowledge is shared, and as a teenager, I’d have loved to be involved in a program that exposed me to careers in the arts and museum studies. Museum-driven programs for teens may inspire new art movements, spark new artistic careers outside of the traditional path of painter or designer, or offer alternatives to expensive art schools.
I’ve seen firsthand the impact young adult perspectives and voices can have in the art world through my connections with the Gen Z-established fine arts gallery collective Impulse Magazine. I encourage anyone to stand in front of the same art piece with someone of a different generation and talk about life.
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A tactic I use to have better conversations.
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Lead with an unusual question.
I am a curious extrovert with a very good memory. I am not known for small talk. Part of my job as a designer, and especially through holding that title at SYLVAIN, is to question how feelings and practices and trends come about. In my life, straightforward answers are not allowed. An insight should be able to charm a crowd. A few of my favorite questions include:
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Are you a washer or a dryer?
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What's your favorite sound?
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What would your role be if you were in a circus?
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When’s the last time you got lost?
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How many blocks would you be willing to run after an ice cream truck?
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My go-to IRL source for creative inspiration.
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In the mess of a thrift store, there is real heart.
I’ve been volunteering at the thrift shops of Housing Works for five years, and have worked as a stylist, curator, and art appraiser, pricing and stocking donations across NYC. You’ll see Louboutins on the shelves next to Labubus. My own home has become so eclectic as a result of my time spent in these maximalist thrift stores, so much so that it was recently featured in Apartment Therapy. What I collect for myself comes down to a question: Could I find this anywhere else? I have always admired the inimitable and believe it takes bravery to be different, to stay lost. I give these one-of-one treasures a home by sharing mine.
Treasure hunting aside, I chose to volunteer with Housing Works’ thrift shops specifically for their community advocacy. Since 1990, it has funded community-focused healthcare, social services, and housing resources for low-income and marginalized New Yorkers.
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A tool or framework worth implementing.
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Soundtracking your life.
I’ve designed monthly playlists for over a decade. It’s become my preferred way to time travel—I can revisit a month and viscerally relive that era through song. In doing so, I gain a sense of how I’ve grown as a person, then failed, then rebuilt myself as the songs shift from juvenile, to poetic, to lighthearted once more. I include songs from movies I watched, concerts I attended, workout classes I crushed, parties I danced at, and all of the current top hits and inescapable earworms that inevitably end up haunting you a decade later at CVS. If you find yourself struggling to grasp the right words, I recommend revisiting relevant moments from your life through music for reassurance. Chances are, you’ve heard this problem before.
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A mantra that’s impacted the way I think and work.
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“If it’s the end of the world, what are you going to do?”
It’s the last line in the season 3 finale of one of my all-time favorite sitcoms, “Greek”—delivered on the roof of a fraternity house during a mythology-themed party as a metaphor for purgatory. But it’s also rich advice for us all, in work and life. There is a strange utility in catastrophe: If your next action is both final and entirely inconsequential, what would you act on now, without the guarantee of seeing your decision through? It is a quiet refusal to let anxiety dictate the present, a radical reframing of consequence. Next time you’re faced with an unexpected layoff or a project that’s run wildly off-course, remember: letting uncertainty paralyze you is a slower, heavier fate than simply living out your answer.
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Progress Report is a bi-weekly newsletter about business and culture. Consider it a break from the work and fuel for the work.
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