That vacuuming laundry is boring? The Londoner elevated him to art
There is no doubt that hanging laundry is sometimes an art. However, Helga Stenzel has perfected vacuuming laundry, and you could even say that she makes a living out of it. But in a slightly different way than just hanging wet clothes out to dry. By hanging clothes, he depicts various animals, which he places in the landscape with a cord and sells the resulting image for a considerable amount of money.
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A well hung T-shirt and sweatshirt works wonders
| Photo: Courtesy of Helga Stentzel
Helga Stentzel is a Russian artist living in London, UK. He mainly focuses on illustration, photography, filming videos and creating stop motion animations. In 2020, she won the “food art creator of the year” award and has collaborated with the BBC, Honda and O2, among others. She is a graduate of the St. Martins in London, worked in the advertising industry and also ran a children’s clothing store. However, she only found herself in artistic creation and today she devotes herself to art full-time.
He sees art in the mundane
It is worth mentioning, for example, her way of vacuuming laundry, where she first sketches the entire work on paper and then thinks carefully about what the resulting image will consist of. Then he just hangs the clothes, takes a picture, and the work is done. “I enjoy looking for magic in the mundane, seeing beauty in imperfections and connecting with reality in a new way. I like to notice playful similarities, whether it’s a sweater on a string that looks like a horse or a slice of bread that resembles a dog’s head. However, it is only a starting point for me. But then I can’t think about anything else. Stories and images start to appear in my head and questions arise: what will the horse look like? What will his name be? Does he like to race with other horses? And the list of questions goes on and on,” the Russian-born Londoner describes her thoughts on each work.
IMAGE: An Indian girl with the face of a supermodel makes a luxury dress out of paper
“I would like my art to help people connect with their inner child and rediscover the joy of enjoying small visual pleasures in their homes or even outside of them,” shares the artist’s wishes.
He gets paid handsomely for hanging laundry
His works on his Instagram profile @helga.stentzel moreover, he describes it very humorously. For example, she listed the dinosaur from white socks, shorts and tights as follows. “Prádlosaurus 2022 – Limited Edition. How to become a paleontologist? Buy shorts, tights and lots of socks. All in white. Wash all the items on the list, arrange them on a clothesline in the shape of the dinosaur of choice and come up with a newly discovered species for your name,” says Helga, who is a full-time artist and pays well for her work. For example, he sells a painting of a dinosaur made of white linen for more than 8 thousand crowns. She valued the folded socks in the shape of Donald Trump at 82,000.
In art it conveys a message
But sometimes she also tries to convey a certain message with her work, such as with the depiction of an elephant, to which she attached the following story: “A group of blind people heard that she had brought a strange animal called an elephant to the city, but no one had any idea what it looked like.” With the animal having to decide using its sense of touch. When the elephant was found, the first one touched its trunk and said that the elephant was like a fat snake. Another blind man, who touched the elephant’s ear, got the impression that the elephant looked like a kind of fan. Another touched the elephant’s leg and was convinced that the elephant looked like a tree trunk. The blind man who placed his hand on the elephant’s side imagined it as a solid wall. “Ever since I read this story as a little girl, the elephant has been a gentle reminder to me to always look for the full context and not settle for fragmented information,” adds Helga Stenzel to her art with an enlightening story.