The Crossover Project

This unique artwork is part of The Crossover Project collection, made from waste and surplus materials. Each panel is part of a large installation and is sold separately to be framed as individual artwork.

About the artwork
‘Brush your hair, pout your lips, kiss your river goodbye’ installation by artist Sabrina Brouwers discusses the environmental impact of synthetic colour dyes within the creative industries - specifically the cosmetics and fashion industries where synthetic colour dyes are most concentrated - from fabric and leather dyes to lipsticks and hair dyes. 

This body of work is a reflection that brings into question the choice we make as a society prioritising our perception of beauty over the environment with synthetic dyes being flushed illegally into river streams and the health of workers in the dyeing industry. Using the colour red as one of the most emotionally reactive colours, Sabrina looks to provoke an emotional response in the viewer highlighting the powerful impact of colours on our feelings. In doing so, Sabrina delves into our connection to colour and its significance in personal identity, well-being and cognitive development.

The overall composition of the paintings echoes the commonly seen tie dye aesthetic with its visible fluorescent colours bleeding into the pure white fabric while the circular patterns replicate the technical process of using multiple rows of buckets to soak the fabric in the dyes. The scale of the work evokes the process of mass fabric dyeing in factories, where enormous rolls of fabric are stained at once to respond to unsustainable consumption.

While Sabrina’s work urges for the viewer to rethink their role as consumers, the use of this particular shade of deep red reminiscent of the colour in very early cave drawings, where pigments were made from natural materials, suggests that a better future is possible if we act fast.

About the artist
Sabrina Brouwers is an Italian/German geometric abstract artist based in London. Sabrina graduated from Falmouth University with a BA in Fine Art and holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Graphic Design at the University of Art London. Sabrina’s artistic practice is an emotional response to the world around her. Influenced by the urban landscape where Sabrina lives, the circles in her work represent an abstraction of the subject matter telling stories of her own lived experiences and reflections.

About the Crossover Project
For the first time at such a scale, The Crossover Project brings together the worlds of art, design and fashion in a bid to tackle waste within the creative industries. With 1.6m tonnes of furniture and bulky waste ending in landfill each year in the UK, the project aims to salvage waste from the design and fashion sectors and present it to an exciting roster of talented emerging artists represented by avant-garde gallery Bleur to create unique works of art using art as a force for change to raise awareness around the need for circularity of materials to tackle waste. The collection of works will be exhibited in an immersive exhibition at The Royal Exchange in London from 23rd June until 8th July. Partner brands include Diesel, Ron Dorff, Georg Jensen, Elle Decoration and Edward Bulmer and others. 

@bleur_art
www.bleurart.com
www.crossoverprojectofficial.com