Louis Kok creates wearable denim art

He is an artist; he has got something to say. And Pretoria-based artist Louis Kok’s art speaks volumes. Whether it is graffiti, sculpture, fabric, paintings or embossment, there is not a medium that he has not touched and a work that has not impacted his audience.

It is intense, but then again, so is Kok, who became known for his graffiti and bold, statement art in the long tradition of greats like Andy Warhol. It is social commentary and a personal narrative, intertwined in the stories he tells with his work.

Wearable art

Last month, Kok revealed his latest project. Denim’s his canvas and avant-garde grunge, the look. “The idea is to make the denim the canvas, and so the model becomes the artwork. It is wearable art as fashion. Fashion is art. It was inspired by graffiti,” he said. His approach to his work, he shared, allows art to transcend traditional boundaries and become an integral part of everyday life and movement.

Kok’s designs are not merely aesthetically wild; they are sub texted with deep messages and personal reflections. “Do not touch my soul with your dirty hands,” reads one of his most intimidating pieces. This slogan originated from a graffiti painting of the late Queen Elizabeth he created shortly before her death. “I made a graffiti painting of the Queen just before she died. And that was the slogan at the bottom,” he explained. Another venomous reflection on social malfeasance is mirrored back to the world on his Assassin coat, emblazoned with a large letter A.

Anger at an oppressive regime

Rewinding to his early days, Kok’s artistic inclinations were evident from childhood, but his journey was not straightforward. “I did art from when I was very small,” he said, but during the bad old days he had to leave his passion behind to become a conscript. Homosexuality was illegal at the time, and he remembered clubs being raided, teargassed by the police and people prosecuted simply for being who they were. At the same time, many young men were sent to fight a war in which they did not believe.

At fifty-three, he is still angry about those days. Angry at the oppressive regime that dictated morality and outlawed being gay. At least, he said, after serving in uniform he was able to study fine art and return to his first love, creating, as well as begin expressing who he truly was, is, and intends to be. Over the years, he has interrogated various forms of art, including printmaking, traditional embossing, and painting, always seeking to push the boundaries of his creative expression.

He said a lot of his work is still influenced by anger but also, because he suffers from bipolar, it fuels his creative process. “I go through various stages. Sometimes I am very happy. Sometimes I am very sad. So, it depends on where I am, what I am feeling. And that is the way I express myself,” he shared. His openness about mental health is rare in the often-stigmatised area of mental illness, but Kok sees it as integral to understanding and creating his art.’

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Musical inspiration

He is inspired by music, too. “I listen to music, then I start dreaming, and just get carried away. And you know inside when it works and when it does not work. And you know when you have something special,” he said. His creative process is intuitive. “Art is a statement. It is a feeling. It is emotion. Sometimes it is draining. It’s anxiety, fear, love and light,” he said.

For Kok, art is not just about creating; it is about changing perceptions, starting conversations, and opening minds, thought it may not change the world. Instead, he said, art has the power to change bits of the world, and the world within us.

After his denim period, Kok shape shifted to a completely different form of art. He is creating ghostly-white embossments on firm paper. It is yet another adventure for an artist, an exploration of light and texture. An artist who dares, who does not play it safe and whose work speaks in powerful verse.

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