Bisa Butler (American, born 1975), A Man's Worth, 2019, quilted and appliqued cotton, wool, and chiffon, 89 x 50 inches. Promised gift of Bill and Christy Gautreaux, PG.2019.09.01. Art and photo © Bisa Butler, courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery.
Thread: Making Patterns
Pattern is a common thread that connects these works from Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection. Whether as imbedded designs in Polly Apfelbaum’s Squiggles (2018) and Thomasin Grim’s Deck (1990) or as a display configuration in Gio Swaby’s multi-panel Together We Bloom 2 (2023), these works draw on elements of pattern to convey a range of ideas and perspectives.
In Deck (1990) Grim creates what she calls a “symbolic narrative,” exploring the notion of fate versus will using black and white woven thread representations of tarot card drawings. This larger grid is structurally akin to Swaby’s silhouette portraits of women from her own close social circle, each one using varying patterns. While many of Swaby’s figures are known to her, Bisa Butler’s A Man’s Worth (2019) depicts with multiple fabric patterns a debonair Bill Hurley, a chauffeur for the white mayor of Charlottesville whose testimony in 1904 helped convict his former employer of murder. Paying homage to painter Alma Thomas, Butler uses small repeated light teal tick marks as the background for Hurley’s image. Apfelbaum also pays homage to a historical figure: Gilbert Baker, who originated the pride flag in 1978. In this large woven rainbow floor work, she incorporates the original flag’s hot pink color into her eight-stripe squiggled design, a color that was removed due to lack of fabric.
This exhibition directly connects to other fiber-based works on view throughout the Museum, in dialogue with Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home in the Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery and Sarah Zapata’s So the roots be known, the eighth annual commissioned Atrium Project. Thread: Making Patterns is curated by Erin Dziedzic, former director of curatorial affairs at Kemper Museum.
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