NEXT

June   10.6 - 20.6 2013

Motala Konsthall, Motala, Sweden

Made of blue... Ian + Vättern = sant

UPCOMING

NOV 21_CATTO GALLERY_LONDON_UK

_______      2011-2013 ___________

2013

MAY_ Art Mrkt San Francisco  Red Truck booth 517

MAY_ Brighton Festival 'THE ILLUSTRATED RECIPE'_BRIGHTON_UK

APR_Hard Time Mini Mall curated by Noah Antieau

      SHOOTING GALLERY, SAN FRANSISCO

FEB_Gruppe_HANS ALF GALLERY_COPENHAGEN_DENMARK

2012

APR_CATTO GALLERY_LONDON_UK

SEPT_GALARIA DOS PRAZERES, Calheta, Madeira, Portugal

DEC_RED TRUCK GALLERY @Scope Art Fair, Miami 

2011

FILMSTADEN SF BIO_Malmo_Sweden

GALLERI GAMLA STADEN_Landskrona_Sweden

GALLERY JÄGER & JANSSON_Lund_Sweden

GALLERI GAMLA STADEN_Landskrona_Sweden

LONARTE 2011_Calheta_Madeira_Portugal

PARLOR GALLERY_Asbury Park_New Jersey_USA

GALLERY JÄGER & JANSSON_Lund_Sweden

JAMES DEAN GALLERY_Fairmount_Indiana_USA

THE SHOP_New Orleans_USA

From cattogallery.co.uk

IAN BERRY Aka DENIMU.

We all love denim, don't we? It's the great democratic fabric, worn by everyone from the farmer to the aristocrat, the manual worker to the oligarch.

But for the British artist Ian Berry, it is so much more. It's probably fair to say, Ian is obsessed. This is the guy who changed his stage name to Denimu and made a career out of turning jeans into works of art.

Ian conjures remarkably detailed portraits and urban landscapes using nothing more than discarded jeans. Over many weeks he cuts, stitches and glues using only the varying shades of the fabric to provide contrast and shadow. The effect is amazingly detailed images, with a depth and texture that is hard to reproduce in print and online.

Ian's denim epiphany came during a trip back to his childhood home in Huddersfield. During a big clear-out session, Ian found himself staring at a big pile of unwanted jeans destined for the charity shop. Affectionate memories came flooding back, along with a wave of tactile enthusiasm for the fabric. At that point, he knew he'd found the key to his artistic career.

Ian began his artistic experiments with denim while working as an art director in London and Sydney. Despite building a successful career and creating campaigns for brands such as Nissan, Guinness and Talisker Whiskey, the call of the rivets and seams was too deafening to ignore.

The public caught on and Ian enjoyed enough commercial success to devote himself full time to his art. He had two near sell-out shows in Sweden, his new adopted home, another in London and also showed across the US, in Portugal as well as Copenhagen. His work has since sold across Europe, America, the Middle East and Australasia to private, public and corporate collections, and has been featured in innumerable art and fashion magazines from Elle to Playboy, newspapers from The Times to the Daily Mail and interviewed on many TV shows included the UK's BBC and ITV, Sweden's TV4's Nyhetsmorgan morning show and on 24Corren and Portugal's RTP.

Born 1984,  Huddersfield, UK

Ba (Hons) Graphic Design & Advertising.

Buckinghamshire Chilterns University 2006

Denimu tries his best to support the ROMDOL CHHENG PHNOM ORPHANAGE & SCHOOL in Cambodia. Read about it here.

How it began..

I was about 14 and we were going to a family party. I wanted to wear my favourite pair of jeans, but my mum had other ideas. Out instead came the corduroy.

 I still remember feeling so self-conscious and uncomfortable, and not myself. How I wanted to be in my beloved denim, just like my cousins were wearing.

 A few years later I came across the very same pair, now unique through wear, on top of a pile of cast offs ready for the charity shop.

 I found myself staring at them, wishing I could still fit in them remembering the times when I could and the trouble I got in while wearing them. I was transfixed by the ripped, faded texture of the fabric. How the different blues contrasted against each other with the varying shades shades.

 Inspired by my old jeans I had the idea of cutting up old pairs of jeans to create images prolonging the life of the jean.

 Through a material that while personal to me, is also so ubiquitous - transcending borders, race, age, social class and time. A link to my past, but also to one another.

 Initially drawn to the artistic possibilities offered by the deep and varied texture of the fabric, later I became fascinated by the rich heritage of Denim. A story that has run alongside that of modern history. A material that abounds in dualities and meanings. A symbol of both egalitarianism and of materialism. A reflection of the world in which we live.