From the menswear designer who brought us prints of Mr Blobby and a British interpretation of Las Vegas Americana came a much lauded take on The Flintstones at London fashion week men’s last month. It was the latest chapter in London-based designer Liam Hodge’s phenomenal success tale that has seen him work his way up the ranks for the last six years to become a key player on the LFWM schedule. Yet the takeaway print this time was born out of a collaboration with a fellow creative.
The brains behind the artwork was British artist Alfie Kungu, a rising star in his own right since he graduated with a degree in Fine Art at the UWE Bristol in 2016, later becoming part of Saatchi’s Best of the Year collection in 2017.
The pair first crossed paths when Kungu modelled for Hodges’ SS19 runway show last June. After expressing adoration for one another’s creations via Instagram, they linked up at the artist’s studio to discuss what a potential collaboration might look like.
“It was quite casual really. I was just asking what he had been up to and what his ideas were. Liam told me that he had been mudlarking in the Thames and had found a lot of metals and jewellery but also bones. We joked about how nasty it was, but realised that it does tie in [with the ideas for Liam’s new collection] such as moving with the times, technology and how we remove ourselves from reality and IRL communication, affection and relationships. So I started drawing up a load of images that relate to what we had been talking about.”
After the first few paintings were complete, Hodges was enthusiastic about the work and together they went back and forth presenting new ideas and looking for fresh sources of inspiration. The peak of their creative process was when Kungu introduced the designer to David Cronenberg’s 1990s sci-fi horror, eXistenZ. Both realised it perfectly summed up what they wanted to convey in the collection. “It was from here that we started building together the idea of clashing techno references and graphics with primitive, free-spirited and fun graphics,” says Kungu.
“Alfie’s work comes from a similar place to us, referencing music, graffiti and, most importantly, the positive messages and fun approach,” says Hodges. “[His] drawings quickly became the heroes of our collection, the antithesis of the fast-paced unknown future that keeps coming.”
Despite initially thinking that the extent of the collaboration would be just a T-shirt graphic, Kungu’s work was also used across embroidered motifs, jacquard knitted pieces, printed and tie-dyed cotton, as well as the individually hand-painted denim pieces. “It was crazy good,” the painter says of the moment he first saw the finished samples. “We really trusted each others’ skill set and admired each others’ abilities. I knew what Liam can do and I was inspired to match that.”
Growing up in the small West Yorkshire market town of Hebden Bridge, art was always at the centre of Kungu’s upbringing. Despite deciding to study dance instead of art at GCSE level, he decided to enrol at Leeds College of Art, where it didn’t take long for him to find his own unique style. “I’d describe my work as being unpretentious and always having a positive feeling. It expresses the little things that I have picked up along the way; through films or adverts on the street. Every time I paint, I feel like the next one is going to be better so that motivates me to keep doing it.”
Prior to working with Hodges, Kungu shared an exhibition in Paris with the Belgian 3D artist Frédéric Platéus and secured a residency at London’s House of Vans. His large-scale cartoonish and childlike visuals are also cropping up across the capital, most recently via his solo show Fast Luck at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation in London’s Archway.
However, Kungu wants to ensure his work is not just London-centric. “I am doing a residency in Leeds with East Streets Art.” Split across a five-floor building and running until the end of the year, Kungu will team up with his old college friend and multimedia artist Jake Krushell. “It’s important to go back to Yorkshire, give it the limelight and make sure things are happening up there.”
But his work with Hodges is not over yet. “[There will be] more stuff with Liam. I worked on one-on-one paintings that were in the catwalk show. It was a black two-piece denim set and I airbrushed on to the piece directly. That was really popular. so Liam and I discussed doing a very limited run. It still [feels] spontaneous and a turn in direction.”