Jackets and hoodies fashioned from the crass novelty? Yep. 31 year old male designer and artist from Utrecht, Sander Reijgers (shown above and below in his creations) uses blow-up dolls as material in his wearable works of art.
“I customize existing tracksuit tops with parts of the blow-up dolls – the head, the breasts, the vagina, the anus. These dolls are so ugly and vulgar that turning them into something beautiful has become a challenge for me. The doll is a means to convey something else.” he says.
Sander continues “It's near-incomprehensible that people could have sex with something as ugly and lifeless as a blow-up doll. However much air you pump into it, it remains an object that can't reciprocate the feelings of lust."
“The idea of doing something with blow-up dolls came to me after reading 'The Malady of Death' by Marguerite Duras. The main character of this novel is incapable of feelings for people, so he hires a woman hoping that sex with this woman will allow him to feel."
I do the exact opposite with my work: I remove the sexual function of the dolls by turning them into a jacket or a bag. In this way, the doll can 'feel' by performing a normal day-to-day task, rather than through sex. “In daily life, we are bombarded through the media and advertising with images of especially female nudity to stimulate consumerism.
I comment on this situation through my art, but with humour and without being too moralistic about it. In addition, it's a challenge for me to turn something empty and ugly like a sex doll into an esthetic object that can ellicit a positive response. “I like to operate in the grey area between art, design and fashion. The jackets are works of art, but you can wear them too.
People aren't afraid to wear my jackets because my work isn't coarse or vulgar. My work isn't about shocking people or about sex for the sake of sex. To me, sex is a means to make aesthetic, funny and multi-layered pieces.
-- Sander Reijgers
On The Runway:
In store:
photos: Maaike van der Hoeff and Arthur van der Vlies
Contact:
e-mail:mama.anders@hotmail.com
Sites:
WWW.SANDERREIJGERS.NL
His myspace site: Mama Anders Design
