The Gail Martin Gallery presents ‘Continuing Traditions’
The Metro Show opening preview at the Metropolitan Pavilion, Chelsea, New York is on 22 January 2014, the show then runs for 5 days through to 26 January.
Nazca/Wari mantle, Peru, south coast, ca. 414 – 575 AD. Camelid wool, 96” x 59”
The Gail Martin Gallery, New York’s premier textile gallery, in signature style, will juxtapose ancient, antique and ethnographic textile art with the work of contemporary fibre artists Polly Barton and James Bassler. These will be shown together with traditional African pottery and contemporary works by ceramic artist Jeff Shapiro.
Wari tunic (detail), Peru, south coast, ca. 700 – 1000 AD. Camelid wool tapestry, 41” square
Lambayeque tunic, Peru, north coast, ca. 1000 – 1476 AD. Camelid wool, 24” x 42”
Bamelike hat, Cameroon, 20th century. Basketry weave covered with cotton cloth and sewn on beads, 10” x 14”
Stylised animal tails and a pair of birds wearing headdresses and clutching a fish in one claw adorn two boldly graphic Wari and Lambayque tunics from Peru, while a 3D duck like bird sits atop a 20th century beadwork hat from Cameroon. Polly Barton’s ikat dyed and painted silk work Persephone (named for the Greek goddess of innocence and the underworld) shimmers with abstract luminescence in contrast to the more subtle palette of Mindstream: Bliss with patterning reminiscent of wood grain. James Bassler’s complex works are made with the time-consuming wedge weave process, as used by early civilisations around the globe.
Weaving by James Bassler, 2012. Linen, cotton, wool and nettle fibre, 64” x 42”
Weaving by James Bassler (detail), 2012. Linen, cotton, wool and nettle fibre, 64” x 42”
Re-Vision by James Bassler, 2011. Waxed linen, natural dyes, linen, silk, alpaca, lamb’s wool and cotton, 45” x 43”
Persephone by Polly Barton, 2008. Ikat and painted dyed silk, 34” x 72”
Mindstream: Bliss by Polly Barton, 2005. Ikat silk warp with metallic and sumi dyed viscose coated rayon weft, 33” x 34”
Fair director Caroloine Kerrigan Lerch comments that ‘the diversity of subject matter covers a wide swath of fine and decorative arts – from historic to contemporary’. This year’s educational ‘Dialogues’ lecture series is entitled ‘Collecticism’ and is programmed provocatively to explore the eclectic ways that artworks are now being sourced and collected.
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