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TEXTILE LANGUAGE
Besides, we both have another obligation – obligation to
create i.e. declare positive values and implement them in life, which some day
will help other people to live better. (Albert Camus)
This is already the forth textile art exhibition opening its
doors in Kaunas. Not much time passed since the modest beginning in 1997 and it
is gratifying to see that the exhibition has grown. A lot of talented textile
artists are working in Lithuania and periodical international exhibitions
provide a great opportunity for communication and getting to know the artwork
of foreign artists as well as an incentive for their own art. The main
intentions of this exhibition were to show the vast panorama of contemporary
textile art as extensively as possible, to see the fashions and trends of
European textile and, finally, to enjoy excellent single pieces of art. This
exhibition, as well as the previous ones, is a retrospective and panoramic. The
title of the exhibition is encouraging artists to perceive what is right and
what is wrong in the plane of textile art and is chosen not just for its
associations with the structure of traditional fabric. The aspects of its
deeper comprehension allow addressing substantially wider range of issues and
problems, housing more essential issues like the essence of art, the decision
making of an artist and a person, social engagement, responsibility and many
other rather than categories, supported by dualistic controversies or analysis
of specific textile art problems. Does the art have a capacity for analysing
these issues? How about contemporary textile art? What are its present problems
and views? We got used to saying that textile art has already learned to use
most of the new mediums a while ago and became a cross discipline art. Without
imposing any conceptual framework it was tempting to provoke and learn what is
important for them, textile artists of the beginning of the 21st century and
expect beforehand, as if looking forward to confirmation, that textile art is
capable of speaking contemporary and conceptual language in the hard-working
and creative hands. The philosophical aspect of the Right and Wrong Sides was
suggesting the artists the freedom of topics and genres, and the main criteria
for artwork selection was to make certain about the links between the artistic
idea and technology as well as professionalism of the artwork.
It
is early to speak about the exhibition, based on viewing the artwork on slides,
but I think that most of selected artworks is really excellend and
professional. The topic of the exhibition is reflected quite differently in the
artists’ work – beginning with the efforts to embody it by the plastics of the
artwork, plot narration, allegory and ending with completely ignoring it or
slipping over the surface. Three conditional groups of artwork distinguish
themselves based on the relation with space and application of techniques –
wall, mixed techniques and spatial. Artists, working with traditional weaving
techniques and each time envisioning new opportunities for expression, could be
assigned to the first group. The majority of the artwork is performed using
non-woven or mixed techniques. They include various traditional and
non-traditional techniques, their intertwining, or combination of the two
(photo on fabric, printing, stitching, dyeing, sewing and etc.). If the artist
decides to weave, often fibres, wood filaments, wires, and various other
materials substitute the threads, sometimes allowing the artwork to acquire the
third dimension. Sill other artists are creating objects and installations in
which the most important thing is expressivities of textile fabric and
plasticforms.
There
are only a few pieces of artwork performed using waving technique, but all of
them fascinate with meticulousness of the performance and precision, only
Lithuanians in this exhibition tend to present photographically accurate
portrayal, and Latvians prefer decorativeness. The fact that weaving is
retaining its value and allowing discovering deep lying strata and
intellectuality is evidently demonstrated by the artwork of Laima Oržekauskienė
(Women- Archatos: Danutė, Lina, Violeta), in which the artist is developing her
favourite motif of female torso. Her aspiration for perfectionism is revealed
in her monumental female bodies, seemingly emerged from frescos in the mist of
ceased gold, with application of gold threads and natural human hair. Feliksas
Jakubauskas, indefatigable virtuoso of weaving excellence, is exhibiting two tapestries, representing the
light and the dark sides of life. Combining the coldness of silk glare in
pastel shades with the mat warmth of wool, the artist created the impression of
glaring light in one piece of his artwork (Nights - Days. A Home of Light). Big
format fabric looks like post-painting abstraction, dictated by the impulse.
When looking at these pieces of artwork the idea, that only big format
tapestries allow revealing the content with full power, is confirmed.
The
artwork of Wen-Ying Huang and Michiko Kawarabayashi breathe with eastern
culture and speak about the dictatorship of the external world for our lives
and our thoughts. Wen-Ying Huang (Now and Then) compares his portrait with an
old photograph of a boy in the background of his still favourite Japanese stylised
flowers, as if contemplating about the differences in times. Monochromic black
and white geometry of Michiko Kawarabayashi (Peace) reminds the ruins of a
concrete city, in the background of which a little figure of a child is lost,
as if reminding us about the painful lessons of history.
Figure
expression is characteristic to Silja Puranen’s artwork Renunciation and Lapse,
in which she is using second hand blankets and heat transfer for suggestive
depicturing of two allegoric female figures, embodying a different burden of
moral values and symbolizing sacrifice and sin. Textile materials, their
features, drawing and colours, subjected for expressing the main idea, become
essential and integral part of work concept.
The
best pieces of artwork of the exhibition are touched with pizzazz and question
essential and global topics of time and history, peace, life and love and the
topics of their dialectics showing how the artist perceives them in the context
of our disturbed historical time. Eloquent object of Sugane Hara (Her Tragedy
Has a Value to Consume), in which she is telling us about a young woman’s
painful fate in the society, for which we, as part of the society, are also
responsible. Thanks to author’s technique, polyester is hard to recognize turning
into a fragile pink material, which breathes life into the space, providing
texture and weight. At the same time the upward increasing scope of the object
lingers as if unavoidable threat and thus the author seems to be saying that it
is impossible to say, which side is right and which is wrong, because we live
in the world, being ruled by the laws of economics.
The exhibition reconfirms
the idea that contemporary textile is diverse, hard to describe, but open for
new ideas, technologies and the best pieces of artwork are able to speak live
language of art, express a point of view into the surrounding world. There are
no indications of extreme vanguards and destruction in the exhibition and
Lithuanians along with the foreigners seek spirituality, harmony and aesthetic
emotions. I hope for the exhibition to provide enough positive experience and
impulses both for the textile artists and everybody who visits it. This was one
of the main intentions of this exhibition and the future will show how we succeed.
Snieguolė Surblienė
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