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No-one nowadays could underestimate the power of influencers in promotion even the most promising creatives to the summits of glory and commercial success. If before the latest Oscars the very talented multidisciplinary Brussels based artiste NAOMI GILON knew happy few, after the pictures of Julie Fox wearing Gilon’s signature monster hand neckline dress at the Oscars’ after party went viral on social medias, the name of this young lady with unconventional yet mesmerising sense of beauty is on everyone’s lips. Naomi undeliberately hits the current artistic trend of metamorphosing everyday items into the weird objects of her imagination. This imaginary world resides somewhere between mythology and fashion. With an on-line shop opened recently, everyone has an opportunity to get a piece of this fantasy for yourself.

Here is Naomi Gilon exclusively for FOXYLAB NY.

Portrait of Naomi Gilon for her project “La Femme en Fourrure”, photo ©andy simon, 2021

Naomi, can you share with us your story? How did you become a ceramic artist?

I’m celebrating my 26th birthday this year, I live and work in Brussels. Belgium is my native country, I grew up in the forests of Belgian Lorraine. In 2015 I started my studies at the ENSAV La Cambre school in Brussels in the painting department. So before ceramics I saw myself as a painter. Then along the way, I made a lot of sculptures and installations, which led me to the medium of ceramics. I learned the basics of this technique on my own, it’s by making mistakes that we learn. I think it was a logical continuation, because I was looking for both the work of colors, but also a method allowing me to no longer be in a system of appropriation of forms but of creations. I get control over the material from start to finish; I extract and give form to my imagination

Monstrous Black Bag – Earthenware black bag and plastic angel, 22 x 25cm (without the handle), photo ©andy simon, 2022

Where do all these monsters inhabited your creative universe come from?

Popular culture encompasses my artistic concerns, whether in 2018 or today. When I started my work, I was mainly interested in car tuning. I appropriated pieces of automobile bodywork on which I applied a transformation by covering them with textiles, patterns, etc. It’s from there that I defined a process of hybridization of objects. Today in 2022 I keep this working method but my questions have evolved. It’s obvious that the monstrous has completely invaded my work. After exploring the world of tuning I became interested in that of SF. I rediscovered the image of the monster. He’s a Being who fascinates me by endorsing all the vices of humanity. My recent works, such as « Charmeuse de Serpents”, question what scares the Human the most; his own nature. I borrow from mythological writings, tales, folk stories and also, of course, from cinema the figures who take on this role in order to give birth to chimerical objects such as Victor Frankenstein’s creature. The hands/paws of creatures symbolize the grip, the grabbing, the manipulation, the highlighting by pointing the finger at the trivial things which nevertheless tell important moments.

Shoes for Sintezia

You are also working with installations, incorporate your signature ceramic object into the space. Can you tell us what was the most interesting and challenging part while designing in 3 dimension?

It’s a conception that comes naturally when I design a work. I like to write stories through my work.Therefore, the scenography is very important and must respond to the place in which my pieces will be integrated.
My ceramics between them must be able to interact. But also when I work in exhibitions with other artists I like there to be a dialogue, whether in agreement or opposition of our approaches.The most complicated thing is to obtain a balance between the form, the message and its installation.You have to keep a minimalist spirit despite everything, in order to make effective choices.
I find that the ease of the image of the monster is that it can slip and crawl everywhere.This’s a very malleable subject. And on the contrary, ceramics require you to have a good sense of organization in order to think of everything, step by step, for the design to be effective (ex. : think about how the work will fit on the wall, if we add other items, etc). I love this principle of opposition, just like with my ceramic bags.

Monstrous Black Bag

What kind of massage do you try to transmis through your works if any?

As in SF, it was born to offer a “new frontier” to people; beyond past and present. The SF narrative was developed as a “thought experiment” logically extrapolating the consequences of possible innovations. Moreover, it’s a reflection of the social representations of an era. SF literature has the ability to contribute to the invention of these representations, but also to modify them. SF puts into narrative, words and images the fears and social desires. This literature allows societies to have a reflection on themselves and on what they generate. The will of my artistic work is to produce this same type of reflection but in the form of anthropomorphic objects.

Creature “The Cowgirl” directed by Simon Deparis, 2022 6A/ Bag by Naomi Gilon X Han Kjobenhavn, SS22

In the era of metaverse and global digitalization including art, what is you approach to all this new reality? Have you already got any digital experience or collaboration with digital artists?

In fact, I’m currently collaborating with a digital artist, Simon Deparis, on the design of the androgynous creature like “The Cowgirl” my current project. We’re working on a series of images creating an extension between reality and a parallel universe, putting in context my works such as my ceramic boots or my calfskin pattern bag. This’s a notion that I already explore a lot in my conception of art based on SF concepts. I admit I have “The Virtual Samurai” by Neal Stephenson in my library but I haven’t read it yet.

Can you name the most important sources of inspiration for you? Shall it be reading/ cinema/ artists?

In the cinematographic part there is Blade Runner in 1982 by Ridley Scott (my favorite film), Suspiria by Dario Argento, Rosemary’s Baby by Roman Polanski, Videodrome by David Cronenberg. In literature, the author Aldous Huxley, René Barjavel, Philip K. Dick, George Orwell, Crash by J. G. Ballard, the authors of the New Novel like Alain Robbe-Grillet. Then the designer Emil Ferris with his book “My FavoriteThing Is Monsters”, the painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Jérôme Bosch. And in contemporary art I love the work of Hannah Levy or Fabian Bergmark Näsman.

At the latest Oscars we all saw how your monster ceramic hands exported to the fashion: the dress made in collaboration with Han Kjobenhavn worn by bombshell Julia Fox became a crash of red carpet. Was it your first take on fashion?

This’s indeed my first approach to fashion so concrete. Before that I started with my ceramic bags which participated in several fashion projects such as Fruity Booty in London or the Meta Frogs project for Sicky Magazine.Then I received this proposal from Han Kjobenhavn to make creations in leather and therefore portable, which is a first. Afterwards I made representations of bags for Marc Jacobs which helped promote my work in the fashion world. And it’s true that I really like working for this type of project because there is a lot of knowledge to learn from it.

Creature “The Cowgirl” directed by Simon Deparis, 2022 6A/ Bag by Naomi Gilon X Han Kjobenhavn, SS22

After such an astonishing success would you consider to produce more wearable art-objects?

Of course, I’m currently working on it. I have several concepts in the works that I hope to present before the end of the year. But I really like the work of art, rather conceived as a contemplative accessory. I think the two are complementary in my work.

Where are the projects you are working on years?

Building a parallel universe is the work of a lifetime. I try to give more scope to my monster, that it becomes an important entity. I admit to following my desires and my prolific imagination which is constantly nourished by news and the global atmosphere. So my work is constantly evolving.

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