Balthazar Getty Opens Monkpunk Pop-Up at Fred Segal, Talks New Artwork
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Balthazar Getty is bringing his fashion line to Fred Segal.
The 45-year-old actor-turned-clothing-designer has opened a pop-up for his Monkpunk collection of unisex streetwear at the famed retailer’s Malibu location.
“I’m an Angeleno for the most part and Fred Segal is always what you aspire to,” Getty told Variety ahead of today’s opening of the pop-up. “So after all these years to finally have the opportunity is really cool, humbling and exciting.”
The pop-up features the fall collection of Monkpunk, which Getty launched in June 2019, as well one-of-a-kind pieces. Getty’s collaboration with Chrome Hearts are also available. Sales of an exclusive Getty T-shirt benefits Give Love.
The pop-up also includes Getty’s mixed media artwork. “I’ve always been an artist, meaning I’ve always had a book and pen with me,” he said. “I’ve always been drawing and painting and did graffiti when I was younger. I’ve always had a certain ability to draw but I never had a classic education. I always wanted to learn how to do more realistic drawings and I actually taught myself on YouTube. I did it for about a year every day in the evening for a good two hours and it really opened my skills. So I was able to sort of take it to the next level. It’s sort of everything now, from pencil and ink drawings to watercolors.”
Getty is the son of Gisella Getty and the late John Paul Getty III, grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. “I think my art foundation still is my mother,” he said. “My mother is an incredible artist, painter and photographer. She would paint her dreams. I was, from a young age, surrounded by these incredible paintings. Sometimes they were even frightening but always interesting. I grew up in the Waldorf Steiner system so we didn’t have TV or sort of traditional plastic toys and things like that. Everything we did we created. That was the seed and I always knew it was something that could become a bigger part of my life.”
Getty also recently revealed that he survived a bout of COVID-19. He was diagnosed in March. “I was very lucky in the sense that I didn’t have it too tough, but quarantining in my own house away from my wife [Rosetta] and [four] kids was tough,” he said. “Drawing was definitely one of the things that kept me sane, because it was really easy to get depressed. I mean, even as we’re speaking right now, I have a sketchbook in front of me and I’m drawing an elephant.”
What do his kids think of his art? “They love it, or at least they tell me they do,” Getty said with a laugh. “I think they’re really proud of me. They’re all very very artistic as well.”
Wife Rosetta is also a fashion designer. “We’re creative partners as much as we are husband and wife,” he said. “We do have a different aesthetic but she’s a big believer in me and has always pushed my art. She has said many times, ‘You should just do that, honey. You’re so good at it. People love that.’”
The pop-up follows the June 2019 opening of Getty’s Monkpunk storefront on Fairfax Avenue just steps away from iconic Chinese restaurant Genghis Cohen. The location also houses his Purple House music label. Rosetta’s office for her women’s ready-to-wear line is next door. “We have a recording studio, a showroom and the gallery here,” Getty said. “It’s our sort of Warhol Factory.”
The Fred Segal pop-up runs through Nov. 30.
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