Unpublished.by Rein Vollenga

Lady GaGa, Thierry Mugler by Nicola Formichetti, Verbal (M-Flo), and many others have one unique thing in common — their collaboration with the incredible Dutch artist Rein Vollenga. His pieces, though in some cases wearable, are fantastic stand alone works of art that independently evoke thoughts of otherworldly, and, often times, human hybrid-like species. Almost as though walking through a museum containing artifacts from the future, or some parallel universe far off in another galaxy, his exhibitions and collaborations create equally visceral and cerebral responses in their audiences.

To pose our question to an artist of his kind, a way must be found to illustrate thoughts of contemporary beyond verbal explanation and his latest pieces alone. Instead, Rein has curated a series of his work through the years, that, when viewed together, tell us a tale of the world within which his art exists. Previously unpublished and revealing, we find a variety of mediums throughout — some with which he no longer works for the moment, and yet they are no less a part of his current creative well. Like the Rein Vollenga-clad men storming GaGa’s body for fame, so too does the world of this artist come upon us with perplexity and creative vigor. Explore.

ContemporaryIS You can see where all of my inspiration comes from and where it all comes together in some kind of way. What I do now all comes out of the world that I think this compilation, together, somehow depicts.

ContemporaryIS This is a performance artist that I used to work with a lot. I was always very intrigued by her, because she has this really particular body that was the result of her body building and taking steroids. She also had silicone breasts, and I was always very fascinated by the way she looked. I started working with her when I was in art school, and we made a lot of videos together, but I've not really kept up the working with that medium. On the flip side, I'm starting to work more and more with fashion and, as a result, I'm working a lot with the medium of photography and video again. I am heavily involved in the art direction and styling and how I want the visuals created, but I'm not actually behind the camera filming or taking the images myself.

ContemporaryIS The interesting thing about this particular series of my work is that these are all the different mediums that I've worked with over the years. I no longer paint at the moment, or create collages, but everything I did still had my signature. I also think my interest in fashion comes through these other periods of my work, and looking back at those pieces, I find that they were very experimental. At the time, of course, I thought they were horrible, but going through my archives, I actually quite like them now.

ContemporaryIS I've been collaborating so much this last period, that I'm really focusing on my own work right now. I'm also working on my new collection at the moment, along with a big exhibition I want to do with Benjamin (Alexander Huseby) in the future. It's going to be a mixture of photographs and large scale sculptures, but that's something we are still developing. This is not to say that I'm closed off to these other mediums or will never do them again. They are still very much a part of the roots of my inspiration.

ContemporaryIS I never saw the boundary between fashion and art. It's more that there are generally different expectations between fashion and art. When I create a collection, it's not the result of an obligatory timeframe. I simply create them when I feel compelled to do so or that it's necessary. Last year, when I was in Tokyo, I had two exhibitions where I showed my wearable objects, but chose to not show them on models, instead simply as art objects. I think the pieces are also very interesting as stand alones, rather than requiring a model to wear them in order to give them meaning. They already speak to the imagination as art pieces. I think that sums up my own perception of my work in terms of where they stand within the context of fashion and art. They're wearable, but they are not ready to wear. They're more like couture pieces.

ContemporaryIS When I collaborate with performers, my pieces are often used for performance outfits. I've just made a series of big extreme helmets for a performance artist here in Berlin. She does extreme electro kind of trashy stuff, rather shameless. What I'm working on right now is a sculptural combination with her, with weird body shapes and stuff. So, it's more in an art context for me.

ContemporaryIS My work does not really ever have titles. What you see is what you get. I find it very pretentious sometimes when there are titles on pieces. I find it more interesting to not interfere with the imagination of the viewer by giving your work a really awkward title, or creating some kind of expectation that isn't there.

ContemporaryIS All my pieces are one offs. I don't like to reproduce them. I find it uninspiring to reproduce pieces. I think it's kind of special if there is only one of them. You don't have to reproduce everything in the world.

contributor Rein Vollenga
editor Christopher Michael
creative Ashe Abbott