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Clashtastic -
Clashtastic
WORDS & PHOTOS Malibongwe Tyilo
Artist Jody Paulsen has graduated from Michaelis with such a clashtastic body of work that VISI just had to put it on our WILD DESIGN cover, and print four different versions of the cover to boot. We went to visit him in his studio to find out what makes him tick.
Bananas and hotdogs and leopard skin and polka dots and eyeballs and lettering… all meticulously cut out by hand from felt, and glued together to make a clashtastic visual onslaught that has the VISI team salivating. Scratching a little deeper, however, it is artist Jody Paulsen’s delicate craftsmanship and nods to popular culture that keep us bewitched (check out our cover).
Says the 26-year-old Michaelis School of Fine Art master’s graduate: “My work comes from a combination of my varied interests: the surface of luxury goods, the act of shopping, aspirational consumption, online dating, gay tourism, and so on. I try to let the coherence happen by itself.”
Besides collaborating regularly with Cape Town fashion label Adriaan Kuiters, Jody has an undeniable fascination with fashion. One of his works, a range of felt suits in a multitude of colours, comments on consumerism by creating a suit for every kind of mood.
Another suit, in a striking black-and-orange animal print, is a conscious nod to the work of German artist Joseph Beuys, who made wearable felt-suit sculptures in 1970 to explore themes of insulation and protection.
His combination of bright colours and designs is also highly reminiscent of the work of famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Hardly an accident, explains Jody: “I used felt as a means to reflect on contemporary fashion in works such as Kusama’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton. In recreating these patterns through an obsessive process of hand applique, my intention is to comment on the surface of luxury and painstaking quality these fashion brands are renowned for.”
Jody will be exhibiting work at Cape Town Art Fair from 27 February to 2 March at the V&A Waterfront’s BMW Pavilion. Plus, a third collaboration with Adriaan Kuiters is also on the cards. In the mean time, we’d love to see our living room sporting one of these numbers.
