Wear Your d*ck on your sleeve with Stef Van Looveren’s Genital Sculptures
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 @stefvanlooveren
NAME STEF VAN LOOVEREN
AGE 28
LOCATION Antwerp, Belgium
STAR SIGN Aquarius
GO-TO CLUB DRINK Cava and/or Gin & Tonic.
MOST USED EMOJI The Butterfly.
Have you ever seen a handbag with an erection? Probably not. But for better or worse, 28-year-old, Antwerp based artist, Stef Van Looveren, is changing that. With their genital creations, Van Looveren is subverting society’s rules and restrictions on our bodies, bringing what so many deem to be the most private, taboo aspects of our world to the forefront. “The nature of the bags supports the vision that ‘sex’ should be seen as an interchangeable accessory, something that the wearer can play around with; challenging you to rethink the meaning of your own body while celebrating the distinction between ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’,” Van Looveren explains.
Moulded on real bodies in Stef Van Looveren’s atelier in Antwerp, the artist’s creations were born out of their reaction to the world. Each of their pieces aims to open up the dialogue around sex, gender and body politics, and refute the norms that have sculpted the lives of individuals through rigid and unwavering sex and gender definitions. “My inspiration for the work comes out of a direct reaction to heteronormativity, the gender binary and it’s ongoing refusal to see a spectrum of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’, in the exact same way as it refuses to see a spectrum of ‘sexuality’ and ‘race’, by continuing to uphold the false information that our ‘sex’ represents our ‘gender’ while defending ‘heterosexuality’ as the norm,” they say.
“My aim is to be as inclusive as possible and celebrate individuality through diversity,” Van Looveren continues. And indeed, the varied and individual nature of genitals is reflected in the artist’s work. No two pieces are the same, yet each champions the inherent beauty and art that can be found in our idiosyncratic biology. But, as you might expect, the reactions to Van Looveren’s work are varied. “People react in all kinds of forms,” they say. “That’s how I understand the urgency but also the freedom that comes along with deconstructing predetermined rules and ideas established around our bodies.” It’s through people’s differing reactions to Stef’s work that encourages them to go forward with their sculptures and push boundaries even more. As long as people are unaware or surprised by the beautiful variety in nature of the sculptures, the greater the need to question and deconstruct our current views on biology and the unequal treatment that has been imposed on bodies. And what better way to do it than to take the Pussy, Intersex and Dick bags to the streets.
Ry Gavin: What do you keep in your penis/intersex/vagina bag?
Stef Van Looveren: The essentials ;)
RG: Who would you most like to see carrying one of your pieces?
SVL: MUNROE BERGDORF, FKA TWIGS and ALOK VAID MENON, I’m in awe of them.
RG: Where were you when the idea for the bags came to you?
SVL: In my Atelier in Antwerp, where I spend most of my time.
RG: Where would you most like to exhibit your work?
SVL: What I love about my wearable sculptures is that they become part of the public space again.
RG: Which is your favourite piece you’ve made?
SVL: I don’t have favourites, I love them all equally. But for the Hyaline Limited Edition collection, I’m donating 30% of the proceeds to an International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. + Intersekse Vlaanderen. For its release I invited several artists that have a strong voice within the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond to talk about their relation with ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’. People such as SLIM SOLEDAD, ENAM ASIAMA, NELLA ROZ, BROOKE CANDY, VENERUS, LOVE BAILEY, EDUARDO CASANOVA, NICOLAS MAXIM ENDLICHER and HANNE GABY ODIELE.
RG: Where’s your favourite place to eat in Antwerp?
SVL: At my mum’s place! Everything else is closed here due to Covid.
RG: What excites you most about the future?
SVL: Sharing my life with my love, MUSTAF AHMETI.
RG: What scares you?
SVL: A lot, but that’s exactly the direction I know I need to go to.
RG: What’s one moment in your career so far that you cherish the most?
SVL: A performance I made in 2018 titled, Radical Hope. This particular performance will be metamorphosed and brought back in 2022 thanks to MICHIEL VANDEVELDE and DESINGEL.
RG: Who is your fashion icon?
SVL: All those who generate freedom through their fashion expression are icons to me.
RG: How do you want the world to see you?
SVL: Might sound like an obvious answer, but apparently still one of the hardest things to ask of western society, is to see me as I am.