Contemporary latex artist Michelle Mildenhall is keeping herself busy during these strange times.
Besides being recently asked to take part in the virtual version of the infamous Folsom Street Fair (Margaret Cho is hosting and the event streams live this Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm, here), the UK-based lady has completed her new “Perverted Pop Art” series and, as always, has lots going on.
Michelle’s “Perverted Pop Art,” was created during her personal lockdown and is inspired by Japanese hentai and her love of pop art. Employing her trademark minimalist style, bold graphics, and her singular kinky twist on BDSM, plus a love of rubber, latex, and fetish imagery. Michelle has already seen these pieces sold in the U.S., Germany, and her home country and she plans to recreate the pop art in latex on her site in the future.
It was when Michelle was studying textile art at Somerset College of the Arts that she first experimented with latex as a medium for her work. But it was later, when working in London as a commercial graphic artist that she had her “flash of inspiration” as she calls it, to use latex to create her unique art.
Michelle meticulously creates her pieces using sheet latex, cutting shapes to create her portraits with a keen eye on positive and negative space. She notes Bauhaus, Ellen von Unwerth, Cornelius Makkink as among her many influences and has seen her work appear in magazines and exhibited in such museums as the Saatchi Gallery, Sin City Gallery in Las Vegas, and La Duz De Jesus Gallery, to name a few. Among the many pieces for which Michelle is most known, her QE1 and QE2 portraits, depicting Her Majesty in latex hood, collar, crown, and just collar and crown, respectively, are her most popular.
Michelle welcomes commissions as well as continues to work on her particular inspirations and series.
You can find her work here: www.instagram.com/michellemildenhall and at www.michellemildenhall.co.uk
