Artist Turns Bomber Jackets into Patchwork Quilts

Simon Mullan, Men Down, 2015. Image courtesy of the artist

Flight jackets, or, bomber jackets, depending on where you live, have long been a part of contemporary fashion, both on-screen and off—be they on the backs of skinheads or the back of Ryan Gosling. London-based Austrian artist Simon Mullan has taken this iconic jacket and turned it into quilts as part of an upcoming exhibition Die Fläche (The Surface) at new gallery PM/AM in Marylebone, London.

Referencing the jacket's ties to subcultures—mods, punks, neo-Nazis—military groups and its links to the US Air Force of the mid-20th century, Mullan creates large and small textile quilts from the disassembled nylon garments. Turning, for instance, the famous orange lining into a patchwork collage. There are also "skinned" versions for a series called Naked Bomber, where the jackets appear as stripped back remants of the subcultures they were formely part of. It all forms his Alpha Series which subverts, through the more delicate act of quilting, the powerful qualities of masculinity and military prowess associated with the jackets.

"For the ongoing series Alpha, the artist toys with the objects semiotics," notes PM/AM. "The familiar item of clothing, a uniform, adopted by ring wing militants, Hollywood actors and Ukrainian rebel alike—are cut up into pieces and then roughly stitched together in large fabric collages. This metaphorical stripping, destruction, and then patching back together provides an unconventional portrait of a collective identity, whilst simultaneously revealing its literal and figurative fragility."

Simon Mullan, Indian Summer, 2016. Image courtesy of the artist

As well as fashion, Mullan also uses other everyday items in his work in the exhibition, bathroom tiles. For Popularis, the mundane material is used to create abstract and minimalist compositions exploring social class.

"Fascinated by mechanical, industrial and construction skills, the artist transforms common bathroom ceramics into abstract wall art and sometimes alternative environments. The artist challenges the viewers preconceptions, collapsing concepts of high and low culture and blurring notions of class."

Simon Mullan, Jim, 2016. Image courtesy of the artist

Simon Mullan, Heat, 2015. Image courtesy of the artist

Simon Mullan, Naked Bomber, Pinks. Image courtesy of Belmacz Gallery

Simon Mullan's Die Fläche runs April 29 to May 30, 2016 at PM/AM, 259-269 Old Marylebone Road, London NW1 5RA. Click here to learn more about the artist.

Related:

Dutch Designers Just Launched an Anti-Surveillance Coat

Let the Sun Charge Your Phone in This "Solar Parka"

This Camera-Studded Jacket Catches Your Assailants In The Act