Think embroidery is an old craft or a feminine and sentimental art? A look at the pieces on display at the exhibition "Stitch Fetish 3" at Los Angeles' Hive Gallery will radically change your views.
Curated by Ellen Schinderman, the third edition of "Stitch Fetish" (until 28th February) features around 40 international artists mainly working with needle and thread to tackle rather serious matters and issues in our lives while challenging preconceptions about embroidery. The title of the exhibition has indeed a double meaning since it conceives the art of embroidery as a fetish unto itself, while using it to explore the deepest thoughts and desires lurking in the artists' minds.
Schinderman herself is an embroiderer extraordinaire known for innocent looking needle point works that actually recreate porn images; stitcher Sally Hewett creates instead extremely realistic (check out the stretch marks, wrinkles and butt dimples...) boobs and butts in velvet and silk sprinkled with human hair and framed in quilting hoops; Heather Marie Scholl (Irenebrination's readers know her works already from previous posts) continues her research in gender relationships and feminism through four new pieces.
Michelle Kingdom's works can often be compared to colourful vignettes telling hidden stories; Luke Haynes mixes American idols and icons in a Pop Art influenced iconography while Billy Kheel's handmade wall pieces are a mixture of painting and sculpture.
More than just shocking or disturbing the artworks included in the show make you think. Some pieces tackle love, sex and violence attempting to make a social commentary; others look at feminism via the domestic craft domain, turning embroidery from emblem of economic powerlessness to an empowering weapon.
Some works are shrouded in dark humour, others prompt visitors to think about the "love and hate" relationship we all have with our bodies and the way the airbrushed culture we live in has erased imperfections from our eyes, obsessing us with an unachievable plastic body perfection that makes us forget how we really look. All the artworks included will prompt visitors to think and definitely inspire many young people not just to take an interest in embroidering, but also to find new solutions, themes and ideas take it to the next level.
"Stitch Fetish 3" is at the Hive Gallery, 729 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014, until 28th February 2015. Featuring: Adipocere, Bren Ahearn and Jesse Kahn, Mark Bieraugel, Ashley Blalock, Josephine Carter, Ruri Clarkson, Ben Cuevas, Denise Felton, Tiff Graham, Erika Hagberg, Ashford Harrison, Luke Haynes, Annette Heully, Sally Hewett, Josephine T. Huang, Billy Kheel, Valerie Knapp, Michelle Kingdom, Emma Rose Laughlin, Katherine Lawrie, Jenny Lee, Kate Madeira, Robert Marbury, Robin McGeough, Margaret Meyer, Matthew Monthei, Carie Musick, Kevin Muth, Carol Powell, Jaclyn Rose, Julie Sarloutte, Kir Schihl, Ellen Schinderman, Heather Marie Scholl, Amy Sherridan, Daniaelle Simonsen, Denise Sullivan, Tamara Tolkin, Meghan Willis, Darcy Yates.
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