“This is the biggest I’ve ever worked on; it’s fun but it’s a little bit scary,” admits US-born, Norway-based artist Charlie Roberts, speaking about the huge canvas he has created for Danish menswear brand Soulland. A film of Roberts at work on the piece has been released ahead of their presentation at London Collections: Men this afternoon, their second time showing in the UK capital.
Watch the film here: SOULLAND meets Charlie Robert
“Sometimes I just do these all-over-the-sheet drawings, just doodles, and I try to scale it up to this size, with different consistencies of line,” Roberts explains as the camera pans across his landscape of squashed human eyes, palm trees and beach creatures, skateboards, dice, flags, dollar signs and dolphins.
Soulland are making a name for themselves through intriguing collaborations and unexpected commissions. In 2011, they were commissioned to design a stamp for the Danish postal service; they have been inspired by gastronomy; put on gigs with Skepta; and last season they transformed a London church into a psychedelic trip through green-screens and downloadable app.
Look out for Roberts’ influence on the Soulland collection this afternoon, as the artist hints in the film that the canvas was not just created for art’s sake, saying: “I feel less guilty when it’s something that has a function, you know what I mean, instead of just going to some assholes house.”
Credits
Text Charlotte Gush