A few weeks back, Drøme—a new art, fashion, and music mag—held the launch party for its debut issue, featuring young New York artist Carly Mark on the cover, at The Top of The Standard. On the day of the party, we dispatched our woman-about-downtown/photographer Chris Kennedy, who also happens to be the door girl at Le Bain, to pal around with the mind-bending artist whose work draws on familiar, mass-produced visual material, which she distorts in deeply strange, often disturbing ways. She’s reconfigured junk food packaging, created butt plugs resembling Haribo gummy bears, and constructed a full-size mannequin that’s a cross between a human and a frosted birthday cake. After a quick bubble bath with a Madonna soundtrack in-room, Mark and Kennedy hit two neighborhood spots where Mark finds inspiration: Mast Books and the aisles of Key Foods.

