03 December 2018

Brent Wadden at Pace gallery

The show is called "Sympathetic Resonance" and is on till 10 January.
At first glance you might think, Oh yes, stripes, positioned in a variety of ways - is this "art"?
 Looking closer, you find that it's not painted, it's woven ...
The wide works consist of strips of fabric, stripe-matching and selvedges adding a bit of disruption -

The works are large-scale -
 Here's what the gallery says about the show:

 Influenced by folk and Bauhaus textiles, the language and techniques of traditional North American tapestry weaving, as well as painting movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Wadden complicates hierarchies of media and disciplines with his work, throwing the distinction between high and low into flux.

OK, it's art: hierarchies have been upset, disciplines have been jumbled together, high and low are up for grabs, let the viewer decide.

("Traditional North American tapestry weaving" - Navajo blankets, I think?)

Pace London is adjacent to the extended Royal Academy, in fact there's a door into the gallery from what used to be the Museum of Mankind. If you stay in the Burlington Gardens wing and cross to the other side of the building you'll find a complementary exhibit - except it's not an exhibit, it's functional - the ladies loos, built round the curve of the lecture theatre -

1 comment:

patty a. said...

I thought they were paintings at first glance. Stunning work and inspirational. I could use some inspiration right now!