Classified material

Be it walking canes, door wedges or matchsticks, slowly amassed collections of everyday objects are essential to Brussels-based Gabriel Kuri’s art practice. ‘I like to think of bits of consumer goods as particles that add up to a sort of everyday life ecosystem, that is why I observe them carefully,’ Kuri explains. ‘All my life I have been driven towards establishing patterns and genealogies…chewed bubble gum, stubbed out cigarettes, emptied out containers or bottle caps, all of these form purposeful constellations.’

Kuri experiments with scale in his portrayal and elevation of everyday objects, like 2013’s Untitled (magenta comienza 2s), which features receipt-inspired tapestries handwoven from wool, or 1999’s Arbol con Chicles (Tree with Chewing Gum) a photograph of a tree covered in kaleidoscopic splodges of chewing gum. Kuri’s fascination with receipts and photographs have inspired the prints in Acne Studios’ latest Blå Konst collection – featuring on indigo denim jackets, striped shirts and hooded sweatshirts. It’s fitting that these prints, which reflect Kuri’s fascination with weathered objects, have been incorporated into the brand's denim line, a fabric associated with a grainy patina, which fades over time. ‘I love surface and texture and how it often tells a story or spells out its function. I was of course drawn to the variety of fabrics and finishes that Acne Studios' designs involve,’ Kuri says. Here, the Swedish brand delves into Kuri’s world, following him into shops bursting with tupperware and cleaning products, and his collection filled studio. ‘I have currently a great sympathy for door wedges,’ Kuri tells us. ‘I knick them anywhere I see them’.