SI, Y… YES, AND…
Two weeks of wall works, wearable art and live creation at IKAL.
People, places, making
and what happens next.
Two weeks of wall works, wearable art and live creation at IKAL.
A visit to Ole’s studio in Bali, and two linen works worn by RY X.
Forrest Aguar, Michelle Norris and a suit made for their wedding.
Drawing, embroidery and an evening together at AIR.
For Nico Stojan, a close friend of many years.
Varun, Morta and Ole moving through the city.
Custom works carried into a family wedding.
A small wardrobe, made for changing plans.
The part of the work that happens out in the world.
Friendship, music and the HA HA HA set.
From Smokers Delight at twelve to George Evelyn wearing UKENA.
Two different minds and more than two decades of friendship.
Garments, figures, wall works and the space between them.
Text · UKENA
The garment can be finished while the work continues.
A drawing begins with Ole Ukena. In the atelier, another person guides cloth beneath the needle. Tailoring turns the embroidered surface into something that moves with a body. Each contribution gives the work a form the drawing alone could not have.
Wearing brings it into situations that cannot be planned in the studio. Someone notices. A question starts a conversation. A stranger reads the drawing differently. Sometimes nothing is said.
UKENA includes these encounters in the artwork. They belong even when nobody calls them art, and even when no record remains. The person who wears the piece and the person who notices contribute in different ways.
Completed by you. Continued by others. Completion here is a contribution, not an ending. The work keeps meeting people and places beyond its maker’s reach.
Within this perspective, the garment, its making and the life around it form a Gesamtkunstwerk. An encounter need not lead anywhere. There is room for a passing glance, a longer conversation, or a different understanding.
Making
A drawing changes when another pair of hands gives it form.
In freehand machine embroidery, the maker guides the cloth beneath the needle. A drawn line becomes a line of thread, with its own texture and response to light.
Tailoring makes another contribution: how the cloth sits, joins and moves. These are distinct decisions within the same work.
Looking closely is one way to meet the people behind a garment. The surface carries traces of their work.
Composition
The same piece can enter a different arrangement.
A shirt, a lower garment, an outer layer. Changing one part can change how the whole arrangement reads.
The modular idea leaves room for that choice. Compatible linen pieces can be worn together or combined across works; a jacket introduces another layer.
The artistic composition is open. The contents of a purchase should be precise: each work lists the garments included in its selected configuration.
Encounter
The encounter begins before the explanation.
“Who made this?” Sometimes a garment starts a conversation. Another person notices a shape, remembers something, or reads the drawing differently.
A possible answer is an invitation: “It’s an artwork. Would you like to know how you’re already part of it?” There is no required response. Noticing already belongs, even when it remains unspoken.
The wearer brings the piece into a situation. The person who notices brings another perspective. Neither has to reach the same conclusion.
Forms
A drawing can take more than one form.
Some UKENA drawings appear both as wearable works and as works for the wall. In one form, the surface moves through changing surroundings. In another, it remains in a room as people come and go.
Each can be encountered in its own right. Seeing related works together lets their shared lines, colours and differences become visible.
A work can be worn, lived with, or brought into conversation with its counterpart. Ask us about the wall works connected to a particular piece.
Origin
UKENA begins with the artist’s surname.
Ole Ukena gives his name to a work that grows through other people’s contributions. His drawing is a beginning. The atelier, the wearer and the people who encounter the piece bring something of their own.
The name travels with the work, but does not determine every meaning it will have. Another person may find something in it that its maker did not anticipate.
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