In a few previous posts we looked at the connections between art and rugs or about the latest collaborations between an artist and a rug making company. There seems indeed to be a revival of woven tapestries or rugs and carpets inspired by iconic artworks.
New York's Tanja Grunert Gallery confirms the trend with an event revolving around the works produced by The Carpet Kartell. Established in December 2016 by Equator Production's founder Petra Singh and Henzel Studio curator Joakim Andreasson, this association reunites manufacturers that focus on developing artist-designed carpets.
While there was a strong trend for creating interior design pieces in conjunction with artists especially between the late '60s and the '70s. As you may remember from a previous post, many prominent architects, painters and sculptors – from Victor Vasarely and Alexander Calder to Gérard Schlosser, Erró, Eduardo Arroyo, Matisse, Picasso and Miró – collaborated indeed with famous tapestry producers such as Les Manufactures des Gobelins. Things changed in the following decades, but, luckily, new collaborations were relaunched in the last few years.
It is easy to understand why rugs and tapestries designed by artists have sparked new interest – such pieces seem indeed to reunite diferent disciplines together combining art, crafts and interior design.
The exhibition at Tanja Grunert is an explosion of colours and styles displaying the results of the many technical challenges faced by Equator Production and Henzel Studio.
Founded by Petra (artist) and Ranbir Singh (art collector) in 1985, Equator Production pioneered the sector of artist-designed carpets for today's market. They suspended their activities in 2003, resuming them four years ago with a series of nine carpets curated by art historian Dr. Cornelia Lauf, designed by artists Alan Belcher, Joseph Kosuth, Juliao Sarmento, Heimo Zobernig, Liam Gillick, Emilia and Ilya Kabakov, Jonathan Monk, Emilio Prini and Ken Lum (on display at this event).
Henzel Studio was founded instead by artist Calle Henzel (who in the late '90s started translating his artwork into hand woven carpets) with his wife Asa Henzel. The studio works with contemporary artists of today, and with the artists' estates.
Exhibition highlights from Henzel Studio include a new collection of carpets designed in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation for The Visual Arts and pieces created with Douglas Gordon, Wilhelm Sasnal, Bernhard Wilhelm, The Tom of Finland Foundation and British radical and punk visual artist, performer and musician Linder Sterling (who is not new to the art of rug making as proved by last year's collaboration with Edinburgh-based Dovecot Studio).
There's something for everybody here, from paintings and abstract pieces or collages such Richard Prince's rug, an assemblage of numbers taken from football jerseys, plus photographic renditions like Juergen Teller's portrait of Vivienne Westwood.
But the exhibition is also a tale of materials and techniques: a carpet inspired by a piece by Helmut Lang was for example made with hand-knotted New Zealand wool and silk, its finish achieved through different pile heights, but other carpets show intriguing combinations of threads that recreate fine nuances of colours.
The Carpet Kartell hopes to relaunch further collaborations in this sector while promoting equality: the affiliates of the group are indeed members of GoodWeave, the world's leading international non-profit organization working to end child labor in the carpet industry and providing education opportunities.
Translating art into carpets may therefore work not just on a merely visual and aesthetic level, but may help raising awareness on some of the most challenging social issues in our world.
"The Carpet Kartell – Equator Production and Henzel Studio" coincides with New York's Collective Design Fair, Frieze Art Fair and International Contemporary Furniture Fair and runs until May 31, 2017, at Tanja Grunert Gallery, 524 West 19 th Street, New York, NY 10011.
All images in this post by Daniel Trese.
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