In yesterday's post we looked at Mona Luison, a textile artist who creates wearable sculptures, in connection with a Comme des Garçons collection. Let's continue the textile thread and analyse today a performance and textile installation by Thomas De Falco that took place last Thursday in the city hall of Città di Castello, near Perugia, Italy.
De Falco mainly works with the wrapping technique that originates in the ancient art of weaving tapestries on a vertical loom.
In his installations strips of textiles are tightly wrapped up one after another to create root-like formations. De Falco has actually got a strong link with nature since, as inspiration, he often stitches real leaves on fabric notebooks and then starts creating textile sculptures on or around them.
"Silenti", the installation in Città di Castello consisted in a man and a woman that stood between the two main octagonal pillars supporting the vaulted roof of the entrance.
Their bodies were wrapped in shrouds that called to mind mummies, but the woman had tentacular wrappings attached to her hair that extended up towards the ceiling; the man instead seemed to sprout textile roots from his hands and arms that spread all over the floor.
Though the main theme behind "Silenti" is the lack of communication between human beings as the two subjects involved in the performance never meet, the installation has also got a strong link with architecture. The two bodies seem indeed to extend towards the ceiling or the floor, anchoring themselves to the architectural features surrounding them, almost creating a link with the architect who designed the solemn Mediaeval Palazzo dei Priori, Angelo da Orvieto (1322-38).
De Falco has staged various performances and launched a series of installations in the last few months, collaborating also with fashion brand Tod's on a video.
The most fascinating thing about the wrapping technique is that, quite often, the people taking part in De Falco's installations seem to turn into scary and disturbing yet powerful gods and goddesses with the textiles wrapped around their bodies elongating and extending them in a near-superhuman way. You can bet we will soon see De Falco's textile performances and installations on some fashion runway.
Image credits for this post
All images by Hisayuki Amae
Image 1: Thomas De Falco, Artist's Book, showcased during the performance at the Palazzo dei Priori, Città di Castello, Italy.
Images 2 to: Thomas De Falco, "Silenti", performance and installation, Palazzo dei Priori, Città di Castello, Italy, 22nd June 2017.
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