Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois Cell VII seen here


J.Morgan Puett Seen here

I'm still thinking about J.Morgan Puett, and how much some of her garment installations remind me of Louise Bourgeois' Cells. They were made in similar time frames too - during the 1990's. I first saw Louise Bourgeois' work in the flesh at The Serpentine Gallery in London in 1999, her Cell pieces were strongly represented. It was a powerful show; the architecture of the gallery was perfect for the work and served to strengthen the impact.

I saw her work again in 2000 in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall and again at her major retrospective there in 2007/08. There are many influences that come and go over the years, but Louise Bourgeois and especially her Cells, remain a constant marker. RESPECT!

Louise Bourgeois by Annie Leibovitz

J. Morgan Puett and Mildred's Lane

Seen here

Hold the front page! I've just been finding out about an American artist, J. Morgan Puett. I am in a little funk of excitement. I had not heard of her before and now I don't know why! Her vision is singularly focused and currently extremely pertinent. This passage from her artists' statement is extraordinary and inspiring to me:

"My career and trajectory as an artist/cultural worker was shaped and determined very early. In 1984 I was attempting to research detailed aspects of working people's clothing from 1900-1930 in the costume archives of the Metropolitan Museum, and I was told that no specimens of these clothes survived. The actual reason for this was a shock to me—the clothes had been worn to dust, altered, patched, turned into quilts, chair backs, and curtains, passed down, and eventually used as rags. It was the fact that everything that was part of early vernacular culture was constantly being re-used, re-shaped, and re-worked—in a continuous act of invention that permanently shaped my practice. Categories shifted—clothing became furniture became architecture and vice versa—this changed my thinking about material culture and the inherent fluid nature of things. I realized that these histories and practices needed to not only be preserved and represented in museums but also activated in contemporary public life. At this moment I realized that I had to find a way to reconstruct historical practices and networks - making products and systems that could activate all the categories of everyday life. Art alone, I found, is singularly lacking in the tools to do this. I strategically came to situate myself at the nexus of art,architecture and principally in the world of fashion".

Seen here

Seen here

In the last 10 years, J. Morgan Puett has been working with her ex-partner to establish an artists' colony at her home in Noth East Pennsylvania. Called Mildred's Lane after the former occupant of the 96 acre farmstead, Mildred Miller. The project provides a space where artists, interns and other folk can come to 'locate their own creativity' in this living, breathing, vernacular installation.

Seen here

Here's a lovely article from 2008 about the artist and Mildred's Lane.

Here's a link to the the artist's gallery, Alexander Grey Associates.

Émilie Faïf

Image seen here

Émilie Faïf is a French artist - a set designer. She works with Paris based fashion designer Isabel Marant making installations and interventions for spaces connected with Marant's collections. This piece and the others in this collection are such an interesting idea; landscape images printed on the inside of the garment. It plays with the function of clothing, especially high end designed clothing. The image can only be seen when the piece is off the body and is made to be viewed when hung from a coat hanger. It turns the piece instantly into an art object in a really simple and direct way. The nature of the image, and especially it's painterly quality underlines the idea. There's also the lovely idea of keeping a secret whilst wearing the clothes; it's a very seductive notion. I love the thought of wearing a landscape on the inside, it's a bit like dreaming. It blurs the boundaries of the real and imagined.

Outside of the conceptual, they are just very beautiful, haunting, dream-like objects. Simple and multi layered at the same time. Clever!

Image seen here

El Anatsui

El Anatsui and two of his pieces Hovor and Adinkra Sasa - Images from Oriel Mostyn

This morning Oriel Mostyn sent out a photo album on Facebook of the exhibition they held in 2003 from African artist El Anatsui, it was apparently their most popular exhibition of all time. GAWU, part of a touring show that visited venues world wide, was an exhibition of the artist's metal installations and sculptures. I didn't see it - but I really wish I had! The pictures on Oriel Mostyn's page are spectacular. I've been aware of El Anatsui for a little while, but only through seeing Internet images. Using recycled materials such as liquor bottle tops, he crafts huge 'cloths' or metal tapestries 'stitched' together with wire. Each installation of the works gives a different form to them; tucked and pinned to the wall they take on incredible sculptural forms.

I've made a mental note to make sure I see one of these pieces in the flesh soon. Let me know if you hear of any being shown in UK!

Here's a lovely YouTube video about one of his pieces, Between Heaven and Earth

Anna Lorich Jewellery

Anna Lorich - Pillow Rings - seen here

I like these rings by American Jeweller, Anna Lorich. Her work has a freshness about it, a sense of innate authorship. She states that her practice is an exploration of her emotions and identity; she views her pieces as keepsakes or mementos of that process. There's a hint of irreverence about the work which brings a lightness of touch to her craftsmanship. It's a difficult modern conundrum that visual work is required to justify itself with a 'statement' of the artist's intent. It feels like these pieces are part of an instinctive process - a visceral thing; not a word thing.


'Narrative' has become a very well used phrase recently, but these pieces really do feel like they are shaped by, and integral to the maker's experience. They are not illustrative of the story, they ARE the story. In this sense they naturally straddle the art/craft divide.



Anna Lorich - 'Ring Family' Group Shot - seen here

Clootie Wells

Photo: Angus Clyne - Clootie Well at Munlochy, on the Black Isle in Scotland
seen here

In Scotland, clootie means a piece of cloth or strip of rag, it can also mean clothing and cloth for patching. The custom of tying rags to trees and bushes, raggedy bushes, near a well is known across Britain and Ireland. Usually a votive healing ritual - the cloth is dipped in the well and tied to the tree; when the rag rots and falls from the bow, the ailment is cured. There's something strange and atmospheric about the Clootie Well in this image, something slightly spooky but also mournful. It's such a direct intervention. I think it's the simplicity and democracy of the gesture that is compelling to me.

I've been thinking about this for quite a while now. The function and ritual of it, but also the aesthetic. The Mummers plays that are performed around New Year in the UK often include strips of cloth and rags in their costume too.

Mummers performing in Firle in Sussex - seen here

My more recent work has incorporated rag strips and other everyday materials used repetitively.

Kathryn Campbell Dodd - Snowfall 2009

Kaarina Kaikkonen

Kaarina Kaikkonen - seen here

Still musing about things Finnish, I have found this beautiful image of an installation by Kaarina Kaikkonen. Using everyday worn clothes she makes large scale works that take on monumental proportions. There's something about the ghosts and resonances of the individuals who wore the garments alongside ideas about the power of people as collective beings - community. There's also just a exceptional beauty in the work, I was unsurprised to read that she began life as a painter.