There's No Surface Patrick Church Won't Paint
Fashion

There's No Surface Patrick Church Won't Paint

Patrick Church, the London-bred artist who's recently taken residency in New York, approaches fashion design like a fine artist would. His practice relies less on the fabrics and silhouettes of his clothes, and more on what he paints on top of them, covering leather jackets with heart-shaped faces, slips with naked figures and tees with weeping portraits. But Church doesn't limit his paint brush to just fashion — he'll cover everything, and his Brooklyn studio is testament to this open-minded perspective.

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Set against a dramatic opera soundtrack, Church's new film I Look For You In Everything spotlights this method. Director Chelsy Mitchell captured the artist with a nude model, surrounded by objects he's painted, from bags to underwear and giant swaths of suspended fabric. At first, Church paints the subject's face onto a slip — his signature — but then he begins painting himself, painting fruit, painting a pedestal, all while dancing in the sun-soaked space. Eventually, Church moves onto his model's breast, transforming her into one of his many interdisciplinary works.

"To me as an artist, my studio is a dream-like place where I can feel totally free to create without judgement," Church says of this 16mm short, premiering exclusively today on PAPER. "I wanted to show the intimate process of painting and exploring my subject in my studio in a playful and cinematic way."

Related | Paint by Numbers with Patrick Church

Watch I Look For You In Everything above, and click through behind-the-scenes photos, below.

Director: Chelsy Mitchell
Director of Photography: Olivia Booker
Producers: Chelsy Mitchell and Olivia Booker
Set Design & Creative Direction: Leeza Regensburger
Assistant Camera: Lauren Mendoza
Production Assistant: Dena Kopolovich
Opera Singer: Hanna Socorro
Set Photographer: Squash
Video Editor: Chelsy Mitchell