CHARLIE WOULD...

Charlie Le Mindu

September 15, 2016 - November 19, 2016
Opening reception Friday, Sept. 15th, 5-8 pm

St. Louis’ projects + gallery is pleased to present “Charlie Would...,” Charlie le Mindu is known for pioneering the use of human hair as an artistic medium and combines fashion, performance art and installation in his work. The show will run Sept. 15 to Nov. 19, 2016, and features some of his best-known sculptural works.

"Charlie is one of the most electrifying artists working today,” says Susan Barrett, founder and president of Barrett Barrera Projects. “His pieces challenge us to look at new mediums and redefine what we think of as sculpture.”

Le Mindu’s artistic practice is influenced by the subcultures of European nightlife and drag performance, while his iconography finds influence in subjects as varied as ancient mythology, fantastical bestiaries, and medieval headdresses. More than just wearable art capable of transforming and extending the human body, within the space of the gallery his sculptures recall both natural and fantastical imagery.

In ‘Charlie Would….’ Charlie le Mindu demonstrates the limits of his medium and the limits of traditional definitions of art. Using sculpture and movement, le Mindu coalesces contemporary culture and our primal selves into creations simultaneously reminiscent of African art and European clubwear. The artist pushes the material boundaries of synthetic and human hair, developing techniques that treat hair much in the same way that fur has been treated and fetishized for its aesthetic and sensual qualities in the larger historical continuum of fashion. Charlie le Mindu is redefining the fetish by reexamining hair not only as a means of personal decoration, but as a material with which we can fashion the self and manifest the imagination.

More than just wearable art capable of transforming and extending the human body, within the space of the gallery Charlie le Mindu’s tressed and tufted sculptures recall both natural and fantastical imagery: fluorescent jellyfish float in the darkness, while large winged creatures hover, both ominous and inviting, before the viewer.

Appealing to the artist’s subversive personality, influences and oeuvre, ‘Charlie Would....’ asks us to consider, what else would Charlie do?

“Charlie Would...” is made possible with generous support from HairDreams, The Dominic Michael Salon, and the Lindenwood University Fashion Design Program. Barrett Barrera Projects is the artistic representative for Charlie le Mindu.

4733 McPherson Ave 

http://www.projects-gallery.com