Amusing Yarns

Penelope, Chapel of Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil  (2011)

By Tatiana Blass

Thank goodness for the internets because I would never have ended up in Brazil to see this amazing installation by Tatiana Blass.  Let’s take a look at the scale of this piece from the interior:

And from the exterior:

(Photos by Everton Ballardin)

At one level, the work can be read as a representation of the myth of Penelope as we know it from Homer’s Odyssey.  The loom suggests both the never-ending shroud Penelope weaves and her secret nighttime unravelings.  For the viewer, this creates a sense of uncertainty since one cannot determine whether the cloth is in a state of construction or deconstruction.

The feeling of uncertainty is further heightened by the rather unsettling impression that one has of having stumbled on the scene of a bloodbath.  We know from Book XXII that the suitors which Penelope had so deftly kept at bay with her cunning are violently cut down by Odysseus and his son and the maids are hung for having cavorted with the suitors.  Penelope’s happiness comes at a steep price, as the artist reminds us.

The location and the unique conflation of interior and exterior spaces suggests a discourse on the role of the viewer and the relevance of context.  The necessity of moving from inside to outside the chapel forces the viewer into the role of active participant rather than passive observer.  This forced participation inserts the viewer into the narrative and by extension, implicates him (or her) in the tragedy that has or is about to occur.

I wish I knew more about Blass’ work and the thought process behind this  installation in particular.  I find myself constantly coming back to this image and thinking about the myriad issues which this work invokes.

Dix-sept cercles oranges excentriques, 2010

Centre Europeen de la ceramique Limoges, France

Felice Varini

What is painting but an optical illusion?*  In a complete reversal of Renaissance-era illusionism, Varini makes 3-dimensional paintings to render the illusion of 2-dimensions.

*Except when painting attains objecthood, of course.

From the One Sheep Sweater 2010 by Christien Meindertsma

An exploration of the disconnect between process and product in a consumerist world.

Nudes 3

Erin M. Riley

 2010

Handwoven tapestry with hand dyed wool on a nylon warp, 24” x 28”

Erin M. Riley is an artist working mainly in Philadelphia and her medium of choice is tapestry, which, even in this current boom of textile art, is unusual.  Her series of hand-woven tapestries which recreate images she finds on the internet of girls behaving badly really caught my attention.  The images shock, partly because of their explicit content and partly because of the desperate attention-seeking behaviour we associate with this kind of exhibitionism.  (Aside: yes, I am a prude, but no, I do not consider the above image “explicit”.  This particular piece was chosen in part because I’m trying to keep it PG around here.)

In an interview with SAVANT, Riley discusses how her work explores the ways in which women participate in their own exploitation as they attempt to conform to a misguided ideal of the hyper-sexualized woman.  Riley is also interested in how the internet can capture and immortalize those events.  Riley says: “I choose the images I do for their inherent lack of thought for the consequences.”

When I saw the tapestries, I couldn’t help thinking of the ancient Greek myth of Philomela who, after being brutally raped by Tereus, her brother-in-law, had her tongue cut out by the offender so that she could never tell of the crime.  As further insurance, Tereus locks her in a cabin in the woods and returns to his wife, Philomela’s sister.

Philomela, whose “speechless lips cannot address the wrongs that have been done her,” uses her “native wit”, sets up her loom and “starts to weave / threads of deep purple on a white background, depicting the crime.” (Ovid, VI.827-834)

Riley’s tapestries, in a modern-day twist of this theme, depict young women offering sexual imagery of themselves, but unlike Philomela, who sacrifices what is left of her modesty to tell the tale of her suffering with the view of getting justice, the young women in Riley’s tapestries appear to have sacrificed their modesty without any coercion and with very little care for the potential fallout.  In some ways, I see Riley’s hand-woven tapestries as a proxy for these girls, giving voice to an unconscious victim.  Riley weaves her sorrow, her rage, and her accusation into the work and perhaps she directs her response to both the young women who blindly participate in their own objectification and the male-centric culture which encourages them.  The work is simultaneously sad and funny, protective and accusatory.  In short, Riley’s tapestries reveal that uncomfortable disconnect between the feminine and female sexuality, forcing the viewer to consider the validity of such notions.

I keep seeing images of Riley’s work popping up on Tumblr, but I get the sense that people are more interested in its shock value and its novelty rather than the ideas that produced it, especially since more often than not, the work isn’t attributed.  Anyway, sometimes it’s worth slowing down to stop and consider the what and the why when an image captures our attention.

Tree Restoration

by Hannah Streefkerk

Landart Biennale in Valkenswaard, Netherlands, 2010

From fiberarts.com:

In a large-scale installation at the Land Art Biënnale 2010 Valkenswaard, Netherlands, Streefkerk “restored” approximately thirty trees in an area called de Malpie. To create the appearance that textile bandages were actually stitched into the trees, she drilled tiny holes to nail yarn into the damaged bark. Through her land art restorations, Streefkerk brings awareness to trees injured by both natural and human influences. The artist skillfully incorporates traditional embroidery techniques into these site-specific outdoor interventions, triggering a unique dialogue between observer and landscape as viewers walk around and in between the artistically “healed” trees. 

Balloons

188 elements, woven wire (2009)

By New York based artist Xawery Wolski (b.1960, Warsaw)

See more of his work on the Galería Alejandro Sales website.

found via blog.benetton.com

Untitled (Pattern 2) 
24 x 18 inches, thread embroidered on paper

By Emily Barletta

Currently on display at FiveMyles in NY, part of an exhibition entitled Art/Sewn.

I like the glyph-like quality of the embroidered pattern which hints at some hidden meaning.  Is the language ancient or alien?  Is the text sacred or profane?  The medium itself leads to more questions about the purpose and importance of the text.  For me, the ephemeral nature of the materials, (paper and fiber), contrasted with the time-consuming process of embroidery, (a skill usually associated with female activity), creates a suggestive dichotomy.

(As an aside, Ms. Barletta keeps an interesting record of art she likes on her blog if you want to see work from other fiber artists.)

Attic Black-Figure Lekythos, ca. 550–530 B.C.

attributed to the Amasis Painter

Scenes depicting the various stages of cloth production in Ancient Greece

Italian artist Aldo Lanzini

TEXTile by Jean Shin, 2006

Seams (4 Shirts) by Jean Shin, 1998