- By (Asiphe) Lee Sinari
Visual art and contemporary fashion are two juxtaposing art forms and cannot be combined in any way whatsoever, right? Wrong.
Pushing Thirty, exhibited at the SMAC Gallery – The Palms, Woodstock - is Cape Town based creative, Jody Paulsen’s first & most recent solo exhibition. Upon graduating from the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2009 & completing his Master’s Degree in 2013, Paulsen then went on to co-founding the successful contemporary fashion label Adriaan Kuiters & Jody Paulsen (AKJP) while showcasing his mesmerizing artworks internationally. Oh, and collecting several design-related awards along the way. Pushing Thirty deals with the artist’s personal reaction and thoughts about ageing – hence the title – and shares his thoughts about consumerism and the politics surrounding aspects of sexual identity and modern society.
Although Paulsen is evidently inspired by well-known historic artists and artworks; such as Picasso, his focal subject matter is his personal life, which makes his artwork reflective of both himself as well as the current state of the world around him.
Paulsen’s work is characterised by his personal style and choice of media. Felt fabrics are used to create bold brightly coloured, and highly detailed collages of a …show more content…
The exhibition features not only Paulsen’s signature felt collages, but as well as photographic and sculptural art. The fashion editorial style photographs capture themes of the artworks, prints, and the artist himself as the focal point. The sculptures on exhibit are an extraordinary combination of two juxtaposing subjects – namely, bronze-cast shopping bags and exotic taxidermized birds (the artist’s favourite bird