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Through Knotted Installations, Windy Chien Reinterprets the Hitching Post

All images © Windy Chien, shared with permission

Through Knotted Installations, Windy Chien Reinterprets the Hitching Post

Since the 1800s, hitching posts have shaped a history anchored in utility and community. Scattered throughout towns and outside common areas, the sturdy objects offered a secure point to tie down horses, especially during social events or gatherings. San Francisco-based artist Windy Chien reinterprets this functional object in her ongoing Hitching Post series.

Interdependent forms are particularly fascinating to Chien. “If the object around which the hitch is tied were to be removed, the hitch collapses and loses its integrity,” she says. Just as the presence of the knot relies on another element to remain intact, social spaces and gatherings rely on collective presence.

Having received commissions for the projects since 2019, Chien creates unique pieces for a wide range of communal areas, such as airports, offices, houses, and ranches. Cutting wooden supports to various lengths and fastening rope by wrapping and knotting, the flowing and geometric compositions stretch across walls and exterior facades.

Combining motifs from her Circuit Board series with other techniques, Chien recently completed a large installation in a Los Angeles office stairwell comprised of four works, each spanning 20 feet wide in a gradient of six hues. In April, the artist is looking forward to Ruth Asawa’s retrospective at San Francisco MOMA, where she will be showing several works alongside the exhibition. Find more on her website and Instagram.

Related articles

  • Artist Windy Chien Unearths Obscure Knots Everyday for an Entire Year
  • Rope Twists into Massive, Fibrous Circuit Boards by Artist Windy Chien
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  • Thirteen Prodigious Sculptures Nestle Among the Trees in ‘La Forêt Monumentale’
  • Sinuous Branches Envelop Human-Sized Nests and Large Geometric Sculptures by Charlie Baker
  • A Curved Pavilion Designed by Kengo Kuma Weaves Wooden Slats into a Tessellating Structure


Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com


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