From ceramic handbags to trainers with toenails, enter the world of artist Naomi Gilon
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Courtesy of @naomigilon
NAME NAOMI GILON
AGE 24
LOCATION Brussels, Belgium
STAR SIGN Taurus
CAN’T DO WITHOUT Endless conversations with the people I love, and pastries.
Ceramic handbags, vases with long, bony fingers and sky-high heels with twisted toenails are not just ideas to make you feel uncomfortable. They are the hellish fruits of Naomi Gilon, the Brussels-based artist reshaping our perception of ceramics. Drawing inspiration from pop culture, gore, fashion and mythology, Gilon wants to bring everyday images and utilities to life “in the form of mutated ceramic pieces.”
The artist’s multidisciplinary approach has helped guide her multifaceted career from the world of tuning (taking objects such as pieces from cars, and transforming them with other materials), paired with her interest in tattoos and piercings, to toying with fashion accessories. Now, her webshop boasts a selection of original (and strange, of course) miscellaneous items from jewellery, vases, candlesticks, ashtrays and prints.
Although demonic and deliberately unconventionally attractive, what Gilon creates has a glaring sense of beauty attached to it, nestled within the characteristics that many of us would label as ugly. The artist’s capabilities of turning everyday items into out-of-this-world, extraordinary figures subverts our connections to the objects; injecting a profound sense of discomfort and personality into the otherwise inanimate, uninteresting items. Here, we find out what makes up the weird world of Naomi Gilon.
Courtesy of @naomigilon
Ry Gavin: How would you describe your creative process?
Naomi Gilon: A hybridisation of reality.
RG: Where did you learn your craft?
NG: A little at school. A lot in life.
RG: How would you describe your art?
NG: Of terror and the sublime.
RG: When did you start making art?
NG: With the ambition to become an artist; at 17 in 2013.
RG: How has lockdown been for you?
NG: A long vacancy to think and work.
RG: What would you like to change about the art world?
NG: The valuation of art and artists.
RG: What do you keep in your ceramic handbag?
NG: The shy Naomi.
RG: What made you start making the witch-like fingers?
NG: It's the beast under the hood of the car. First it was a wild animal, then it mutated.
RG: If only one club can reopen, which one should it be?
NG: The Beursschouwburg in Brussels.
RG: What grosses you out?
NG: Milk.
RG: If you could only ever watch one film for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
NG: Blade Runner (1982).
RG: Which gallery would you love to exhibit your work in?
NG: All! But I have a small list, just in case: Castor Gallery, Futur Gallery, Rodolphe Janssen.
RG: Which would make a better story, going to hell or going to heaven?
NG: Hell.
RG: What’s the worst pick-up line someone has used on you?
NG: “Excuse me. My friend over there is a little embarrassed. He would like your phone number. He wants to know where he can find me in the morning.”
RG: If you could wake up and have a completely new talent, what talent would you have?
NG: Glassblower or showy.
RG: What has lockdown taught you about your art/creativity?
NG: I have deepened my thoughts. I made a real connection with the world of fashion.
RG: Would you rather A) have to live in a recording studio for a year that only up-and-coming indie bands can use or B) have to live in a TikTok house for a week?
NG: A)
RG: What sauce do you have with every meal?
NG: Hot mayonnaise.
RG: One book you think everyone should read?
NG: Animal Farm by George Orwell.