His futuristic, Latex-clad Mutants are irritating and fascinating at the same time: searching for the beauty in ugly, the Dutch designer Bart Hess has spent years making his mutants which now have been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery. On the occasion its 20th anniversary Hugo Boss chose him to design an exclusive one-off piece among 19 other renown international artists. Dazed & Confused met Bart Hess for an interview and the result is worth reading:

Dazed &  Confused: Let’s talk about “Mutants”. When you subvert the human figure are you trying to shock, disturb, repulse us—or are you defining a new vision of beauty?

Bart Hess: I think the latter, because as an artist, its the most interesting boundary to work within. I love how tribes—especially from non-Western cultures—define beauty. For us its shocking, but for them its really beautiful. I want to challenge my audience to decide for themselves.

DD: What inspired you to do “Mutants” in the first place?

BH: I was fascinated by the idea of physically morphing the body in reality, liquifying and sculpting it with the use of Latex . Its almost like 3D modeling, but in real life. I was also inspired by “Space Odyssey 2001″, “Terminator 2″, and Italian Futurism.

Don’t miss to check out the entire interview here!

Photo Bart Hess. via Dazed Digital.