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Gabe Whaley
Making MSCHF
Gabe is CEO and co-founder of MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based high-output for-profit art collective behind hundreds of radical and delightful projects. These range from shoes filled with holy water, to anime tax software, to forged Picassos, to the mega-viral Big Red Boots. He’s been dragged into court for ticking off big companies, sold a laptop full of viruses for over one million dollars, and gotten MSCHF represented by Perrotin, a leading global contemporary art gallery.
Soft-spoken and understated, Gabe has an unlikely history for a provocateur. He grew up in rural North Carolina, insulated from popular culture, and attended West Point where he learned military discipline before dropping out. After working dead-end jobs back home, he flew up to New York City wearing an ill-fitting suit for a long shot interview with Buzzfeed, where he landed a job working on viral content. Then once his extracurricular MSCHF projects took off, it launched as an undefinable N-of-one company with both adoring fans and corporate nemeses around the world.
In this interview, we’ll hear the backstory of some of the collective’s most radical works, how he leads a team with world class ideas and execution, and how creativity and commerce coexist amidst explosive growth for MSCHF.
If you do not know MSCHF today, prepare to have your mind cracked open – and prepare to start seeing them everywhere.
Listen : Spotify | Apple | YouTube
“Creativity is a shared international language.”
Show Index
03:33 Defining MSCHF: An Artistic and Commercial Entity open to interpretation04:53 The Met Sink: A MSCHF Masterpiece
08:29 Tax Heaven 3000: Waifu Tax Accountant
15:09 The Persistence of Chaos: A Viral Laptop
17:43 ATM Leaderboard: Wealth on Display
32:41 The Viral Phenomenon of the Big Red Boots
47:45 Balancing Creativity and Business at MSCHF
55:20 Personal Journey: From West Point to MSCHF
01:00:35 At Large and Off The Cuff
Show Notes
- MSCHF
- Sink of Theseus
- Tax Heaven 3000
- Marcel Duchamp - Fountain
- MSCHF: Art 2 at Perrotin Gallery
- Art Basel Miami Beach
- Leaderboard ATM
- Colette
- Big Red Boots
- NOTHING IS SACRED - MSCHF retrospective at Daelim Museum
- Magazine B
- US Military Academy West Point
- Maurizio Cattelan - Comedian (Banana)
- Paola Pivi
The Unprofessional Professional
Idea Virus Patient Zero
Chasing Liquid Gold
Making MSCHF
Internet Funnyman
Building a Digital Hearth
No Mud, No Lotus
You Can’t Just Switch It Off
Purpose & Play
Creative Courage and Talking Stuffed Animals
Silencing the Discursive Mind
Striking Internet Gold
Givers Are Getters
Hosting a Rave for the Intellect
The Hunt for Big Ideas
Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal
Not investment advice. Read important disclosures.