SEQUIN POP: Philip Colbert

Known for his outlandish clothing designs adored by Lady Gaga and Cara Delevingne, Colbert promotes the concept of ‘wearable art’, a synthesis of fashion and art that is explored in his first gallery show. In this bold new series of work, Colbert continues his dialogue with Pop Art, reimagining his approach to image making by subsituting needle and thread for paintbrush, and sequins for paint.

Though his technique is anchored in traditional folk art, Colbert’s strong use of colours and abstraction of iconic imagery place his work within a dialogue with contemporary artists. Like his Pop Art predecessors, he employs aspects of mass culture and removes them from their context to create a provocative, satirical language of his own.

Colbert conceives the 1950s American kitchen aesthetic as the foundation of ‘Pop’ and layers it with his own playful response to icons and symbols associated with fine art, such as meat imagery, prominent in the work of Soutine and Bacon. In doing so, he creates a dialogue with established ideas and works of the past. He ironically pastiches this imagery, playing on the notion that their repetition and overuse over the years have rendered them symbols of popular culture.

Once described by Andre Leon Talley as the “godchild of Andy Warhol”, Colbert’s work thrives on the motto of Pop Art, as established by Richard Hamilton: “Pop Art is: Popular, Young, Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Big Business, Brand Conscious, Accessible, Universal.”

His sequin ‘paintings’ are created in “the ultimate Pop medium”, Colbert describes. And they “sparkle as Pop should.”