Carla CLASSEN

Carla Erin Classen, also known 3Sixtyc, identifies as is a female Capetonian artist. 3Sixty comes from the concept that ‘the only certainty in life is change’. 360 degrees and the c at the end acts as a reminder to herself. Hence,  Classen body of work currently consists of investigations into emotional states in child-like and dream-like spaces. The materials she uses are always mixed and she tends to work on and with scraps that she collects in various places as she goes about her day.

 The style Classen uses usually works in is expressive and usually involves bright unnaturalistic and uncanny colours, rough lines and rough shapes. The themes she commonly explores are ones of trauma, identity, mental health, sexuality domestic spaces and domestic violence. Classen uses mixed mediums including oil paint, acrylic paint, charcoal and oil pastels as well as non traditional materials such as henna. Most of the time, the materials she works with symbolise aspects of that which she is exploring, such as filler foam,  which to her  symbolises repairing and healing. Re-occurring motifs of electric plugs on the walls in her two dimensional works symbolise the need of a certain energy which is lacking. Ventilators, which are set into the walls, symbolise the need for fresh air in a claustrophobic and foreboding domestic space.