Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie House Paint Bikini

By Stacey Ho

Eleanor King's dried paint bathing suits.

Sometimes funny things happen in ordinary ways. While working a gallery gig in Halifax, Eleanor King became intrigued by the objects used in the gallery for installations, specifically, paint-roller trays. Peeling away the dried latex house paint left on a tray, King found the resulting layer had molded into the tray to make a patterned and feminine shape. King then started layering paint in her own studio, fashioning the casted paint into sculptural bathing suits, complete with straps and trim.

This isn’t the first time that everyday ephemera has inspired art. A recent installation considered the simple structural qualities of discarded coffee cups. King stacked one cup on top of another, letting the paper towers bend to create precarious curves.

“A lot of my work is a response to material,” says King, “allowing the material to do what it does inherently.”

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