ART-TRIBUTE:Entangled-Threads & Making
Women have played a pivotal role in art for centuries and yet, so often, their work has been regarded as of less importance than that of men. The histories of art have often made them invisible. For example the Abstract expressionist painter Lee Krasner although she was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, she was wildly referred as Jackson Pollock’s widow.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Turner Contemporary Archive
The group exhibition “Entangled: Threads & Making“ at Turner Contemporary brings together 40 international female artists from different generations and cultures, who challenge established categories of craft, design and fine art. The exhibition traces the impact of the work of 20th Century pioneers of textiles, fashion and handcrafted practice, such as Anni Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Sonia Delaunay, Eva Hesse and Hannah Ryggen, on younger generations of artists who incorporate similar materials and processes into their work, as well as bringing together 8 new works, created especially for the show. The exhibition aims to reveal and celebrate the compulsion to make which lies at the heart of many of these artists’ diverse and varied practices. New works have been made especially for the exhibition including Anna Ray’s “Margate Knot” (2017) , a site-specific work produced by Ray and a host of local Margate makers; and an installation by Samara Scott in the museum’s lift that uses a combination of carpet, food colouring and yoghurt to entirely its walls, creating an immersive and, in the words of the artist, “Overwhelming experience” for visitors to get in and up close to. Other works include Kiki Smith’s narrative tapestry “Sky” (2012) and “Thread terror” (2016), a vast new cedar sculpture made especially for the exhibition by Ursula Von Rydingsvard. Hanna Ryggen’s “6. oktober 1942” (1943). Knotted from naturally dyed fibres, Ryggen’s large tapestry mixes myth, symbolism and autobiography with historical events that took place in Norway during WWII, among them the Nazi’s assassination of theatre director Henry Gledits. The exhibition highlights women artists who have experimented and innovated through their approach to making and materials and who have frequently draw on the rich traditions of handwork and craft to create artworks that challenge established distinctions between fine and applied art. On Presentation are works by: Anni Albers, Caroline Achaintre, Ghada Amer, Paola Anziché, Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter, Phyllida Barlow, Marion Baruch, Karla Black, Margrét H Blöndal, Regina Bogat, Louise Bourgeois, Geta Brătescu, Sonia Delaunay, Sonia Gomes, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Eva Hesse, Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Laura Ford, Mona Hatoum, Marianne Heske, Sheila Hicks, Susan Hiller, Maureen Hodge, Christiane Löhr, Kate MccGwire, Annette Messager, Rivane Neuenschwander, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Arna Óttarsdottir, Sidsel Paaske, Maria Papadimitriou, Anna Ray, Maria Roosen, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Hannah Ryggen, Betye Saar, Judith Scott, Samara Scott, Kiki Smith, Aiko Tezuka, Rosemarie Trockel, Tatiana Trouvé, Frances Upritchard and Joana Vasconcelos
Info: Curator: Karen Wright, Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate, Duration: 28/1-7/5/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, www.turnercontemporary.org
