Lascivious, frivolous, playful, at times overtly sexual; the girls (and they are primarily girls) of artist and designer Julie Verhoeven’s surreal world are no shrinking violets. Instead, rendered in elegant, serpentine lines and smudgy colours,
Lascivious, frivolous, playful, at times overtly sexual; the girls (and they are primarily girls) of artist and designer Julie Verhoeven’s surreal world are no shrinking violets. Instead, rendered in elegant, serpentine lines and smudgy colours, that at times recall a wanton Aubrey Beardsley, they preen and sulk in varying states of undress, and in an Erotic Wallpaper based on Toile De Jouey, commissioned by Peter Saville for Showstudio, even indulge in a bit of Japanese bondage. “I have always been attracted to the more debauched side of sexuality and sensuality,” muses Verhoeven, “In a rather cheap way I use sex in my work as a marketing tool to gain attention.” She continues, “I surprise myself that I remain driven to draw women. I wish I could say something insightful but it’s just a primal urge and I think I would become bored and greying without adding an erotic streak to it.”
Verhoeven’s love of music is a constant: she has named a show Fat Bottomed Girls (after the Queen song) and worked with Primal Scream and Graham Coxon in the past. “I would find myself bizarrely immobile if I couldn’t work to music. It affects my mood and productivity. I can’t be in a room without the radio on. I tend to line up CDs in preparation for a drawing session, moving through genres and sentiment to provoke the desired response on paper. I readily steal lyrics for titling work, I adopt band imagery and graphics and trawl through old music videos and performances.”
To this end, she has started dipping her toes in the world of moving image, recently creating a short film with N/A for the Whitechapel Gallery Art Plus Music Party that was the backdrop to a performance by Bobbie Gillespie and Jamie Hince, and is shown exclusively here on the AnOther website. “I find film helps answer my issues of overload and it makes me work more reductively. The film doesn’t move as such, it’s just a series of stills but it does have a rhythm of sorts. It’s just the beginning and weirdly liberating not drawing.”
Graduating from Medway College with a fashion diploma in 1987, Verhoeven began her career as a design assistant to John Galliano – at the time the wild child of the London design scene. “From him, I learnt about an unflinching focus and complete love of a craft. His sense of theatrics and performance were a huge influence, but the biggest revelation to me was the underlying depth of research and constant search to uncover new visual stimuli. I couldn’t believe a job or career like this could truly exist.”
Following stints as design consultant for Martine Sitbon and Jean Colonna, Verhoeven would later go on to design her own line for the Italian label, Gibo. But it took a smash hit collaboration with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton which saw her whimsical illustrations appliquéd on limited edition monogrammed bags to bring Verhoeven wider attention, which she has followed up with equally successful creative cross-pollinations with Mulberry and Cacharel, among others. “I don’t think I compromise in the commercial work I do; I don’t consider myself that grand. I am just thrilled to be given opportunities to collaborate and remain vaguely in fashion for now. In my personal work I can indulge myself to the extreme so that’s an even bigger luxury.”
While she cites the work of renowned fashion illustrators, Antonio and Erte as a huge influence, Verhoeven’s inspiration comes from broader sources. “Whatever cycles I move through, there are some real steadfast artists I always return to: Kees Van Dongen, Modigliani, Ronald Searle, Picasso, Egon Schiele and Tomi Ungerer.” Verhoeven is happiest crossing between the worlds of fashion and art: from creating boundary-pushing editorials for publications like Dazed and Confused and Self-Service to publishing books and exhibiting at art galleries. As for an overarching theme to her work, “I think my work does deal with ideals in beauty and vanity, attraction and repulsion. I also touch on good versus bad taste, another facet of beauty. I have always felt disappointed that I am far from beautiful and often see a man in drag when I look in the mirror. I try to make amends on paper.”
Music for the film is I want You by Primal Scream
Kin Woo writes for Dazed & Confused, Ponystep and Androgyny magazine and is a contributing editor for Dazed Digital. He has produced films for international artists Phoenix, Patrick Wolf and Lissie Trullie
