For this year's group exhibit, we tasked our designers to identify a source of inspiration and create something original in its wake. In anticipation of The Knockoff Show, we will share artists's whose work has reverberated for generations in beautifully unexpected ways. RSVP to the May 18th opening reception here.
There is a weightlessness to the ecstatic looped wire sculptures of Ruth Asawa, like rivulets of medieval armor somehow suspended in a breeze. Hand woven by the the artist in a painstaking process that left her with constant cuts on her hands, Asawa's work has been revered for decades.
During her time attending North Carolina's avant-garde Black Mountain College, Asawa first developed her style, which continued to evolve for half a century thereafter, working with galvanized wire, stone, and bronze. Asawa's legacy is more than the sculptural forms we so admire, she was a lifelong activist and advocate for arts education, believing that dedication to be integral to her post. Her vision and commitment has inspired generations of students, artists, and novices; so much so that the weaving workshop taught by her daughter had to be disbanded after an influx of knockoffs hit the art market. Yet for every work relying on imitation, there are countless others that take inspiration from Asawa's buoyant forms while remaining wholly original.
Image Credits:
Installation view, Ruth Asawa: A Line Can Go Anywhere, David Zwirner, London 2020
Ruth and Her Wire Sculpture, Photo by Imogen Cunningham, 2020 Imogen Cunningham Trust
Untitled (S.590, Hanging Open Undulating Form), Ruth Asawa, c.1960
RSVP TO THE KNOCKOFF SHOW BELOW
MAY 18 | 6-9 PM
TRACES OF
We can see a nod to Asawa's legacy in the inventive works of the three artists below...
Korakot Aromdee
Thai designer Korakot Aromdee marries traditional techniques with contemporary forms; weaving bamboo and hemp ropes with sublime results.
KENDALL BUSTER
Diaphonous, podlike, and striking a distinctively naturalistic tenor, artist Kendall Buster's Double Chalice is made architectural through exaggerated scale.
Doug Johnston
Sitting at the intersection of art and design, Doug Johnston's work is focused on a process of coiling and stitching rope using industrial sewing machines and is often made in collaboration with his partner, Tomoe Matsuoka.