The glovely art of Andy Knowlton

French-born poet-turned visual artist Andy Knowlton has been living and working in Korea for over a decade. His latest project involves turning mundane found objects into much begloved artworks.

Most of us are pretty content to accept our surroundings as they are. The grey concrete and abandoned buildings of city living melt unchallenged into our idea of how the world looks. But that's not how Andy Knowlton's mind works. Since moving into the world of visual art in 2014, Knowlton has been working to brighten up neighbourhoods with his playful aesthetic and his ethos of reutilisation.

His latest work, "THE gLOVE DOCTOR", involves repurposing discarded work gloves into colourful characters. "I would wander around all the factories looking for trash to make art with, and I noticed that worker's gloves were all over the place," Knowlton tells us. "It got me thinking about how we use our hands to communicate and express feelings, and also how hands have been depicted in art and pop culture."

Andy's characters are a mix of original creations and ones drawn from the world of movies and TV. Wander around the streets of Daegu, you might spot an ET, Freddie Krueger, Edward Scissorhands or any of Andy's many own creations.

"I created over 40 installations around Daegu based on those brainstorm sessions using the gloves and other found objects", Andy says. "I tried to find locations around the city that matched the characters. For example, I put a meditating Buddha outside a temple, Spider-Man pointing his hands at a real spiderweb at a bus stop, and I put ET in a kid's bike basket!"

Andy's work is refreshingly uncynical. It's born of a sincere desire to brighten up his surroundings and spread joy. His work is paired with a vibrant aesthetic that matches the purity of its origin. "These installations were not intended to last forever, Andy explains. "My hope was to create art around my neighbourhood that people could stumble upon and get a laugh at or perhaps be filled with a sense of curiosity. Some of the installations looked so much like they belonged where I put them that they stayed up for a really long time."

We first became aware of Andy Knowlton after his 2015 work Viva La Vida. For this ambitious piece, Andy broke the monotony of his regular routine by decorating a wall in his town with over 650 hand-crafted figurines. It's beautiful to see that Knowlton is challenging the same community-driven approach to his new work. "I think people enjoy finding art in places where they don't expect to see it. And it's really fun for me to look at my city in different ways and come up with ideas to make it more vibrant, colourful and interesting."

For more information on Andy Knowlton and The gLove Doctor, follow him on Instagram at @andy_k_art.