Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō & NUNO

Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō & NUNO
LACMA, 20 September 2026 – 7 March 2027

Visitors to LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries have already met Reiko Sudō, perhaps without realising it. I noted in my report on Peter Zumthor's building in HALI 228, the floor-to-ceiling windows are sheathed in curtains commissioned from Sudō. They are two textiles, matte and gloss, that shimmer with the light and the view beyond while protecting the collection from UV. Well now Sudō moves from shimmer into the spotlight on the full stage with a solo exhibition in Resnick Pavilion.

Billed as the largest retrospective of her textiles to date, Textile Alchemy brings together more than 100 limited-edition fabrics, many from LACMA's own collection, alongside the drawings, tools, raw materials and prototypes behind them. The curator is Sharon S. Takeda, head of LACMA's Costume and Textiles department and committed admirer Reiko Sudō, with the artist Ann Hamilton advising on the design. At its centre stands a recreation of the Tokyo shop NUNO opened in 1984, the year Sudō co-founded the company.

For me in absentia, the credit lines tell the real story. Almost every piece is made "in collaboration with" a named mill, dyer or finisher in Japan, and the exhibition's great achievement is to make that network of skill visible. Kihada gara (1992) reads like split bark rendered in black and white. Nami osa (1997) bends an indigo weave into rolling swells, while Stained Glass (1998) sets frayed panes of pastel colour into a black ground. Sabi-zome (2021) uses rust as its dye, leaving amber streaks scattered across pale cloth like sparks. Suke suke swing shikaku (2014) floats embroidered squares across a sheer, web-like net.