25 Nov EMBROIDERING ART

Tapestries, fabrics, carpets, patchwork, embroidered or knitted paintings, have been the subject of experimentation by various contemporary artists. Think of the interest shown by Alighiero Boetti , after a trip to Afghanistan in 1971, for the traditional technique of fabric patchwork, used by local embroiderers to reuse and give new life with fragments of fine fabrics.

From Boetti’s patchwork tapestries, let’s move on to the large dimensions of tapestries made with plant fibers by William Kentridge . Then we are reminded of the enormous tapestry of the Polish artist Goshka Macuga , stretched and twisted around two columns at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Fascinating long pieces of batik cotton worked according to the ancient technique Indonesian by the Dutch artist Willem de Rooij or the African influences in the works of Vincent Vulsma .

From Holland, returning to Italy, we think of Maria Lai who, with the delicacy of her threads intertwined with the fabric like ink on a white sheet, has renewed the deep link between Sardinian tradition and contemporary art. Then, Francesco Vezzoli , with his “Hollywood embroideries”. Or the protective “nests or cocoons” hand-knitted, using wool, plastic and other materials from the Bolognese S issi . To finish this “flight over fabrics”: pure enchantment, on the immense and airy cotton surfaces crocheted by the Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto .