Her art has already flanked that of Banksy and Mr. Brainwash during international expos. The Chinese Deji Art Museum recently purchased all of her works, and she just drove a painted Devinci out of her studio. She now presents a limited edition watch collection in collaboration with the Swiss watch brand Franck Muller. Things are clearly going well for the Dutch Loes Van Delft (32) and her character Pjipje. An exclusive video interview on secrets watches and cars.
Text by Anja Van Der Borght
A few questions from the video…
Shoe designer Ernesto Esposito has your work in his private collection; are there other big names where you know your work is hanging somewhere in their living room or bedroom?
LVD: “Justin Bieber has a leather jacket from me, just like J Balvin has a jacket that I specially made around his character Smiley. Ruby Rose (Batwoman) then again bought a painting from me.”
How did Justin Bieber’s jacket come about?
LVD: “Justin’s father had sent me a message. Back then, it was via Twitter. He wanted to have a piece made for Justin because he loves my style. But at the time, I was busy with various art fairs in Taiwan, under contract, and had many deadlines. In short, I couldn’t take on anything extra. I work with many layers, and that requires a long drying time. But making a jacket was possible.”
You just finalized your first car project, but you’ve already done something with scooters?
LVD: “The Peugeot Django scooter was the first object I worked on that wasn’t a canvas. It was quite a big deal. Peugeot approached me for it. They wanted to breathe new life into a model and therefore asked two artists to do something with a scooter and let the public vote on which was the coolest. I painted Pjipjes in bird form on it because with a scooter, you’re flying over the road, so to speak. My design received 95 percent of the votes. This year I painted a Devinci D417 – an electric car – with Pjipjes in Delft style. Due to the link with my name, that style was the wish of the owner, a West Flemish entrepreneur with a large car collection. I’m looking forward to the next car.”
Is Pjipje actually a kind of alter ego for you?
LVD: “My paintings always reflect a bit of the phase I’m going through in my life. If the work uses a lot of color and exudes cheerfulness, then I’m just feeling really good. If it’s darker and Pjipje’s expression is stricter, then things are less good. My paintings are a kind of diary. My ecoline works are always enriched with text. For example, this work says ‘Addicted to Love’. Then I must have been totally in love again.”
You recently created some watches for Franck Muller. But a watch dial is only a few centimeters big?
LVD: “Painting a bottle or a jacket is indeed something completely different. But I’m not afraid of something new. On the contrary, I found it particularly fun. First, I made a work on canvas which we then scaled down to the dial of a Franck Muller Vanguard. The watch comes with a black rubber-inlaid crocodile leather wristband and a colored wristband of choice. Limited edition of fifty pieces. Each new owner also gets a signed and numbered lithograph by me of the artwork on the watch dial.”
