Adrienne Antonson

Adrienne Antonson is a visual artist, who works in the fields of sculpture and fashion. Her label STATE is made entirely from sustainable and upcycled materials all produced locally in the New York garment district. The styling is practical, utilitarian and unique. Antonson’s sculptural work however, is quite different from her design work, although both require meticulous process to develop detailed pieces through material use.

Antonson’s sculpture focuses on life-like objects, mostly insects, made from human hair and other non-traditional fibers.  Working with human hair because of its immediacy, Antonson also enjoys the beauty and flaws that the material naturally presents. As an artistic material, human hair never fails to attract and repulse simultaneously.

The raw materials themselves originally belonged to Antonson or close family and friends, choosing only to use hair from those she knows personally, in part to begin work with a connection to the materials.

Each hair type gives different results, each with its own unique characteristics. Antonson uses a variety of adhesives to harden the hair, and then builds each component separately, before attaching them together like a puzzle. Wings, legs, body, are all built independently, and then interlocked to make the whole, using only forceps and scissors. Many are intricately painted with acrylic paint or ink, or remain in their natural human hair coloration.

Insects take several days to build, and the collection is spread between museums and private art collectors, with Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, owning 30. Future plans include trying her hand and building hair birds!

Website: www.adrienneantonson.com/sculpture

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