Coaxing a corrosive material

Most people know that mixing black cotton and bleach leads to disastrous results.

Artist Will Koffman decided to make that combination work for, not against, him.

His art exhibit, “Bleach on the Brain,” will be on display in Costa Mesa at the Holiday Salon, 369 E. 17th St., No. 5, through January.

After accidentally splattering a pair of jeans with bleach in the wash last year, Koffman decided the effect would enable him to explore another medium in his artwork.

When he began working with the fabric and bleach medium, the bleach was corrosive and hard to control.

“It absorbs, eats through the fabric, and you have to train yourself to work with the medium,” he said.

Koffman, who describes this form of work as trial and error, spent a lot of time testing different fabrics to see what would work best, and created some trial pieces.

Some ended up with holes in them where the bleach ate through the fabric.

Not only did fabrics have different textures and thickness, but the black had different tones to it that showed up once the bleach began to work.

Some fabrics were black with a red base, some bleached to a grayer color, and Koffman kept switching fabrics depending on what type of piece he wanted to create.

“The thinner cotton twill with stretch absorbs more, creating a more atmospheric type of effect because it bleeds more, and the warmer the color, the more spread out the lines on the fabric are,” he said.

Because bleach takes effect quickly, Koffman plans ahead.

“There’s no reworking, or going back adding to any area once it’s done, beyond the width and effect of the bleach.”

Koffman might add fabric dye if he wants more color.

Once the process is done, and he achieves the effect he wants, Koffman chemically neutralizes the fabric so the bleach won’t eat through it any more.

Many of Koffman’s pieces reflect “consumer imagery” in our society, he said.

“I take consumer imagery and the way all that imagery is related, and how it builds into an overload of spectacle,” he said.

The inspiration for his pieces?

“I wander through life,” Koffman said. “We’re constantly bombarded with vulgar, blatant images that appeal to a latent primitive drive.”

Koffman, a full-time student at the Maryland Institute, College of the Arts in Baltimore, said school and art leave him little time, even for necessities.

“It would not be untrue to say I don’t sleep very much,” he said.

Koffman’s mother, Patty, is also his manager and says she feels salons and cafes are the new art galleries.

“They offer a fantastic opportunity for young, new talent,” she said.

For more information call Patty Koffman at (949) 338-1916 or e-mail Will at [email protected].

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].