Halloween isn't just a time to gorge on bucketfulls of candy—it's also an opportunity for clever aesthetic expression. If you're out of ideas but want to impress your friends with your cultural literacy and sartorial wit, the art world is conveniently full of great characters to impersonate. We here at Artspace have compiled a list of 15 artist and art-world-figure costume ideas, with easy, step-by-step instructions for how to make them.
MARINA ABRAMOVIC
1. Buy a witch costume.
2. Remove the hat.
3. Intone, "I am Marina Abramovic."
DAVID HOCKNEY
1. Put on rounded glasses in a bold, unexpected color.
2. Put on a pair of pants in another bold, unexpected color.
3. Put on a jacket in another bold, unexpected color.
4. Have it all work beautifully, somehow.
FRIDA KAHLO
1. Stop plucking your unibrow.
2. Put a few of your organs on the outside of your body.
3. Get in a fight with your boyfriend.
VINCENT VAN GOGH
1. Dye your hair and beard tangerine.
2. Act off-puttingly intense.
3. Profess your love to the wrong people.
4. Ominously play with a straight razor.
PABLO PICASSO
1. Shave your head.
2. Wear a striped shirt.
3. Doodle on everything constantly, shouting, "I'm Picasso!"
MARCEL DUCHAMP
1. Buy a readymade costume.
2. Tell people you're a chess player.
3. Confuse everybody.
JAMES FRANCO
1. Dress like a modern-day James Dean.
2. Talk about a bewildering and improbable array of projects.
3. Confuse everybody.
LARRY GAGOSIAN
1. Have the helmet hair of a retired astronaut.
2. Wear a blue suit.
3. Sign everyone at the party who's dressed as a famous artist.
DAMIEN HIRST
1. Bisect your favorite stuffed animal.
2. Scatter dots and diamonds wherever you go.
3. Get drunk and claim you're "the 3-D Francis Bacon."
AI WEIWEI
1. Grow a long wispy beard.
2. Dress in black.
3. Put a pillow under your shirt.
4. Have the Chinese police track your every move.
PUSSY RIOT
1. Wear a brightly colored balaclava.
2. Play air guitar.
3. Go to jail.
YAYOI KUSAMA
1. Cut your hair like Anna Wintour.
2. Dye it the color of van Gogh's beard.
3. Wear Marc Jacobs's 2012 Fall collection.
MOMA DIRECTOR GLENN LOWRY
1. Put on a black Nehru jacket.
2. Put on black pants.
3. Project unimaginable power.
HERMANN NITSCH
1. Remove clothes.
2. Jump in a pile of sheep intestines.
3. Casually smear yourself against whatever white surface you can find.
CINDY SHERMAN
1. Dress as anybody but Cindy Sherman.
