Cloth & Culture Now at Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts on artrepublic.com
Exhibition running from Jan 29 2008
until Jun 01 2008
Cloth & Culture NOW is a major contemporary textiles exhibition curated by Professor Lesley Millar. The exhibition examines the influence of culture and tradition on contemporary textile practice and features exciting and innovative new large-scale work by 35 artists from Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK. The artists in the show use traditional techniques and materials such as tapestry, knitting and embroidery, as well as digital print and photography, optic fibres, moulded plastics, rusted metal and even bin bags. “The 35 artists in the exhibition represent the most exciting contemporary textiles practitioners in each of their countries. The artists are using textile history to investigate the importance of specific cultural identity and trans-cultural influences in their work” – Professor Lesley Millar, Curator. Michael Brennand-Wood (UK) has an international reputation as one of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in textiles. His work in the exhibition, Stars Underfoot – Random Precision, is a large mosaic of bold coloured embroidered flowers made from acrylic, wire, glass, fabric and thread. His striking contemporary work reflects his fascination with the traditional use of flower pattern in textiles. Freddie Robins’ (UK) desire for perfection and her emphasis on the importance of skill has lead her to explore new technologies. Her work, The Perfect: Alex, is a beautiful, quirky knitted head. It has been produced on a cutting-edge computerised knitting machine (the Shima Seiki WholeGarment®) which can ‘knit in-the-round’, averting the need for seams and creating a garment as a single piece. Mitsuo Toyazaki (Japan) trained in dying and katagami (traditional stencil technique). His new work, Passage of Time, is an installation of four leaves (each 6m by 2m) made entirely of small buttons with painstaking precision. The work reflects his concern with colour and pattern: “I work using simple methods avoiding excessive actions that in turn produce excessive expression. As I work a new meaning emerges over and above my own intentions, I hope to bring into existence the unique beauty of each work.” Auste Jurgelionyte (Lithuania) is a felt maker and animator who tells stories that are funny, beautiful and unpredictable: “There is an abundance of different art forms here in Lithuania. I have always admired old tapestries, but references to modern art can also be found in my work. I want to be mobile, to utilise modern communication technology.” Ieva Krumina (Latvia) screen prints ‘stories’ onto polyethelene bin bags. Her Sainsbury Centre installation, Nobody, describes an army which has forgotten what it is fighting for and has been forgotten by those who sent it to fight. Krumina’s work features other cultures and she uses different sources for ideas, from books and movies, to museums. She states, “ I know that it is not African, American or Asian art ‘as such’ that has affected me, but the images, colours and shapes that ‘carry’ an idea which is of importance to me in a certain period of life.” And others OPENING HOURS: Tue - Sun: 10.00 - 17.00 Wed: 10.00 - 20.00 Image Credits: Image 1: Dzintra Vilks, Meeting of the Torn Winds, Bamboo, cotton, Photo: Didzis Grodzs Image 2: Silja Puranen, Without Safety Net (detail), Fabric paint, transfer photograph, soft pastel, stitching on found textile, Photo: Silja Puranen Image 3: Michael Brennand Wood, Stars Underfoot - Random Precision (detail), Embroidered flowers, acrylic, wire, glass, fabric, thread, mosaic on wood panel ,Photo: Stephen Brayne Image 4: Ieva Krumina, Nobody (detail), Polyethylene rubbish bags, screen print, Photo: Ojars Grikis  |
