Exclusive : Julie Verhoeven

Not Funny, by Julie Verhoeven

Art and fashion have always been happy to jump into bed, even if they’re not so keen to cultivate a marriage made in heaven. But the affair between fashion: carefree and glamorous; and art : reflective and meaningful ( although increasingly taking on the hedonistic celebrity of its lover ) continues, and the results are striking and covetable. None more so than pieces by artist Julie Verhoeven – formerly a fashion illustrator whose fierce and beautiful “ Biba with an edge” drawings have seen her work with Marc Jacobs, John Galliano ( her first boss ) and Top Shop - who has recently teamed up with Mulberry to produce bags, tees, smocks and scarves. Now, she’s contributing to Decadence, Decay and the Demimonde, an exhibition looking at the very excess and consumption that is now – as we shall see with Frieze Art Fair in two weeks – part of the art world. We caught up with her.

You must be exhausted from London Fashion Week.
It was mad. The collaboration with Mulberry was small, but a nice surprise. Art and fashion have a love hate relationship, but both look to the other.

What do you think of the explosion of the art scene in London?
I find it exciting and depressing. I do go to Frieze and get really excited and people love it so much and have money to spend. But then I think, “oh my God, there are so may artists and something feels unfair.”
It’s fantastic, but equally, how many artists really make a living. It’s a complete inbalance.

You’re one of those that has managed to keep working.
I’ve been pretty lucky and managed to maintain one job but I worry all the time.

What about?
About what I’m doing, what’s going to change, being female.

Really?
Yes. I started working in fashion at 18 but came to the  art world late, at 38. People wait to see whether you’re serious, are you going to have children, how mature is your practice.

It seems that the world and his wife wants to be an artist, though!
It feels that way, and there’s certainly the impression that it’s a glamorous thing to be an artist. The reality is different , of course.
It’s the same as fashion, though, which appears to be really glamorous, when it’s actually hard graft.
But that’s given me a really good grounding. Fashion is highly competitive and all about sales.
In art I get the chance to please myself, which is why I’m moving that way.

What does that involve?
I just want to draw, really. I’ve always drawn women, but now I’d like to draw men, and animals or fruit.
And I’m getting more interested in ceramics. I’ve done a mural in enamel on the harbourside in Bristol. It was a huge project, took three years. But it’s really nice. My first piece of public art!

Tell me about the works you’ve created for Decadence, Decay and the Demimonde
Two folding dressing screens, quite Victorian so they sit well  for “decadence.”
And  20 drawings, which seems excessive but  I like that.
They’re on paper and I added embellishment, relief,, so they’re kitsch, maybe a bit naïve.  But I had fun doing them.

As you work in fashion I have to ask: what do you think of the Size 0 debate?
It’s nonsense!


Decadence, Decay and  the Demimonde opens on 11th October at  92 George Street, London, W1

Loma-Ann Bonner

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