House in Ljubljana by Matej
VogrinÄ?iÄ?, 1993.

Anthony (fxas) kindly pointed me to this interesting story about eccentric Slovenian artist Matej VogrinÄ?iÄ?: The Umbrella Fella. There’s also a gallery of VogrinÄ?iÄ?’s work here, which includes his dressing of a Ljubljana house in second-hand clothes (see above) and his installation of 10,000 beach balls in Perth.

In the profile story from The Age, you find out some interesting stuff about his childhood in Slovenia. Besides walking around "wearing a shoe around his neck" or "going out to dinner wearing five ties," you learn about a formative encounter he had when he was seventeen:

As a 17-year-old student, he owned an old briefcase
covered with windsurfing stickers. One day he peeled them all off,
leaving the surface a sticky mess. To clean it up, Vogrincic
commandeered one of his father’s shirts, ironed it carefully then
glued it to the side of the case.
"I remember catching a bus to school and this six-year-old kid
asked me why I’d stuck this shirt to my briefcase." I said, ‘Shit,
man, that’s a good question. But I really don’t know’. And the kid
said, ‘Well I love it, it’s really great’. It was this little kid
who really gave me the courage to get started.

His latest exhibition at the GPO Melbourne will be on display until April 10th.

(Thanks fxas!)