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    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

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    “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 223 x 280 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Gallery, London, shared with permission

    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

    April 14, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    As if splashed onto the wall with a monumental brush, Anne von Freyburg’s installations visualize fabric and fiber as gestural splotches of paint. Colors bleed into one another and drips extend to the floor in what the London-based Dutch artist describes as “textile paintings.”

    Drawing on 17th and 18th-century European painting traditions like the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age and the stylized exuberance of Rococo, von Freyburg reframes relationships between craft and fine art.

    “Fantasia (After Boucher, Venus and Cupid)” (2022), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 144 x 195 centimeters

    References to Rococo artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher play prominently in von Freyburg’s solo exhibition, Filthy Cute, at Saatchi Gallery. Tapping into “the clichés of heterosexual romance and societal expectations of women…she explores the pressures women face, particularly the expectations of being ‘caretakers’ and ‘pleasers,’” says a statement. Von Freyburg turns her attention to themes of compassion, freedom, and women as sovereign individuals.

    Filthy Cute celebrates sensuality and the feminine while highlighting unexpected associations between materials. The artist’s abstract compositions often reference florals that are blurred, dripping, and verging on complete abstraction. Glossy fabrics in a range of colors swirl without fully mixing, resulting in sensual shapes that are beguiling and strange.

    Von Freyburg describes one undergirding theme as “commodity fetishism,” tapping into the 17th-century fashion for Dutch floral still lifes and the infamous economic speculation bubble that characterized Tulip Mania between 1634 and 1637.

    The show continues through May 11 in London, running concurrently Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture, which also includes work by von Freyburg. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

    “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 350 x 250 centimeters

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    “Kabloom (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 230 x 130 centimeters

    “Tuttifrutti (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 235 x 135 centimeters

    Detail of “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)”

    Installation view of ‘Filthy Cute’ at Saatchi Gallery, London

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      In Vivid Reliquaries, Stan Squirewell Layers Anonymous Portraits and Patterned Textiles

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      All images courtesy of Stan Squirewell and Claire Oliver Gallery, shared with permission

      In Vivid Reliquaries, Stan Squirewell Layers Anonymous Portraits and Patterned Textiles

      March 28, 2025

      ArtPhotography

      Grace Ebert

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      Through intimate, mixed-media collages, Stan Squirewell excavates the stories of those who might otherwise be lost in anonymity. The artist gathers images from the Smithsonian’s archives and from friends and family that he then reinterprets with vibrant prints and patterns. Layering unknown pasts with present-day additions, Squirewell explores how everyday traditions and rituals remain through generations.

      His new body of work, Robitussin, Hotcombs & Grease, invokes ubiquitous items like the over-the-counter decongestant and hair care. “Growing up, I was shaped by elders around me, and everyday objects like Robitussin, hotcombs, and grease became vessels for the rituals that anchored me to my heritage,” the artist says. “These items transcend their mundane uses: they embody traditions passed down through generations, grounding me in a collective identity.”

      “Girls on Saturn” (2025)

      Squirewell cuts and collages images and fabrics from his collection before photographing the composition, which then undergoes a digital editing process. An elaborate frame complements each piece with charred shou sugi ban edges—a Japanese burning technique—and hand-carved details. The sides bear various inscriptions connecting past and present, including lines from Langston Hughes’ poems and glyphs from ancestral African languages that have fallen out of use.

      Because the identities and histories of many of the subjects are unknown, Squirewell’s work adds a new relevance to their images. How have daily, domestic practices and the legacies of previous generations informed the present? And how do these traditions create a broader collective experience? Rooted in these questions, the dignified works become reliquaries that honor what’s been passed down and how that continues to inform life today.

      Robitussin, Hotcombs & Grease is on view through May 24 at Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem. Find more from Squirewell on Instagram.

      “Teddy” (2024), artist-printed photos collaged with paint and glitter in a hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 43 x 35 x 3 inches

      “Teddy’s Lil Sisters” (2024), artist-printed photos collaged with paint and glitter in a hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 29 x 24 x 2 inches

      “Girls on Saturn” (2025)

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      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

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      “Spectrum. An Afterthought” (1975–2014), synthetic fabric, neon lamps, colored filters, steel, aluminum, plywood, and plastic,
      40 x 105.6 x 53.9 meters. Photo by Antanas Lukšėnas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

      February 10, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      From immersive fabric installations and sculptures to photography, landscape design, and architecture, the work of Aleksandra Kasuba (1923-2019) merges myriad ideas about how we experience the world around us. The intersection of technology and nature enchanted the late Lithuanian artist, and she often experimented with a variety of materials and the effects of light, hue, and tension to explore relationships between ourselves and notions of shelter and place.

      The first major exhibition of her work in Europe, Imagining the Future at Carré d’Art—Musée d’Art Contemporain, explores the incredible breadth of Kasuba’s artistry.

      “Shell Dwellers III” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Born to an aristocratic family, Kasuba enrolled in art school in 1941, focusing primarily on sculpture and textiles. She married artist Vytautas Kašuba, with whom she fled Lithuania in 1944 in the wake of the Nazi occupation of the country. They landed in a displaced-persons camp in Germany where they stayed until making their way to New York in 1947, and her experience as a refugee and an immigrant significantly affected her work.

      In the U.S., Kasuba found employment in crafts and design and began laying the foundations for her future artistic practice, which merged applied and functional arts with abstraction. Her interdisciplinary practice took shape in earnest the 1950s and 1960s and was deeply influenced by tenets of modernism and the era of space exploration, which cast humanity’s existence on Earth in a new light.

      Mid-20th century scholarship on vernacular architecture also inspired Kasuba, and she was moved by a visit to Bernard Rudofsky’s 1964 exhibition Architecture Without Architects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He took a broader view of global architecture than the field typically covered and emphasized the ingenuity and beauty of structures built by Indigenous cultures.

      Rudofsky suggested that modernism—particularly modern architecture—had lost touch with the real needs of society, and he urged viewers to pay attention to artistic, idiosyncratic, culturally rich local styles free from elitist design rules.

      “Rock Hill House” (2002). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Kasuba’s artistic practice blended with daily life in her own living spaces, too, from her New York City home in the 1970s to Rock Hill House, a sculptural dwelling in the New Mexico desert she completed between 2001 and 2005.

      The convergence of sculpture and environmental design also fascinated the artist, spurring unique material combinations in large-scale public interventions and spatial installations. Concerned with how we move through places and are affected by our surroundings, she was also commissioned to create numerous public wall installations using materials like brick, marble, and granite.

      Kasuba explored the relationships between transparency, color, and light in works like “Spectrum,” privileging organic shapes and an immersive passageway made from stretched nylon. Her Space Shelters series, composed of fabric in curving forms without ninety-degree angles, exemplifies her desire to harmonize nature, people, and technology.

      Imagining the Future continues through March 23 in Nîmes, France. Learn more on the museum’s website.

      “Dreaming III” (1963), white marble, 103 x 91 centimeters. Photo Antanas Luksenas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Live-In Environment, 43W90, NYC” (1971–1972). From the digital archive of Aleksandra Kasuba. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Rock Hill House” (2005). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Shell Dwellers VI” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

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    • 150 Shares179 Views

      in Art

      Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’

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      “Ceromine Bois Caiman” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 52 x 82 inches. All images © Myrlande Constant, courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort, New York, shared with permission

      Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’

      January 28, 2025

      ArtHistorySocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      When Myrlande Constant (previously) was a teenager, she worked alongside her mother in a commercial wedding dress factory in Port-au-Prince. There, she learned the tambour embroidery technique, which utilizes a hook to create chain stitches with beads and sequins on fabric.

      “By foregrounding her specialized skills honed in the fashion industry, Constant’s approach to drapo has broken gender barriers and elevated the overlooked creative labor of Haitian female factory workers to the realm of fine art,” says a statement from Fort Gansevoort, which will present the artist’s work next month in a solo exhibition titled The Spiritual World of Haiti.

      “Marasah-Cai Leh-Créole-Marasah-Guinin-Marasah-bois” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 74 x 55.25 inches

      Drapo, or drapo Vodou, typically describes a style of embroidered flag embellished with beads or sequins, but the term can also be applied to a wide range of art forms like painting, clothing, assemblages, and sculptures. Constant’s pieces, which she has been renowned for since the 1990s, highlight a variety of materials, colors, textures, and all-over compositions brimming with ritual activity and symbols.

      Haitian Vodou, an African diasporic religion that developed between the 16th and 19th centuries, merged Western and Central African traditions with Roman Catholicism. Its divine creator, Bondye, is inaccessible to humans, so spirits known as lwa‘s serve as intermediaries that can be invoked during ceremonies by possessing individuals, enabling communication with Bondye and transmission of advice, admonishment, or healing.

      “Though she considers her art-making to be rooted in spirituality, Constant does not create her works for the purpose of display in Vodou temples, preferring instead to exhibit them in museums and galleries internationally,” a statement says.

      For Constant, art-making is a statement of resistance within the context of Haiti’s extreme political and economic instability. The nation’s current unrest was spurred by protests against high fuel prices in 2018 and a demand that then-president Jovenel Moïse resign. He refused to step down but was assassinated in 2021, further escalating tensions. A federation of gangs continues to clash with the government, spawning more protests, violence, and perpetuating an evolving humanitarian crisis.

      Detail of “Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi”

      “Marinette Bois Chèche” is the earliest work that will be on view in the exhibition and depicts the martyrdom of Vodou lwa Marinette. According to folklore, Vodou lwa Marinette was burned alive for fighting against slavery and participating in a paradigm-shifting Bwa Kayiman ceremony in 1791, which spawned the 12-year Haitian Revolution.

      The insurrection, an uprising of enslaved people against French colonial rule, is unique in history because it led to the founding of a state ruled by former captives and non-white people and free from slavery—although it still permitted forced labor. Constant’s title translates to something like “Marinette of the dry wood,” evoking the ceremony that typically takes place around a bonfire and calling upon a momentous period in Haiti’s history.

      The artist’s drapo are densely beaded and often much larger than their traditional counterparts. The most recent work on view in the exhibition, “Devosyon Makaya” spans ten feet wide and took around three years to create. Constant describes her process as “painting with beads,” transforming fabric and findings into elaborate narratives evoking time-honored Haitian customs.

      The Spiritual World of Haiti opens on February 27 and continues through April 26 in New York City.

      “Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 58 x 70 inches

      “Marinette Bois Chéche” (1994), beads and sequins on fabric, 33 x 37 inches

      “Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
      maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde” (date unknown), beads, sequins, and tassels on fabric, 76.5 x 96 inches

      Detail of “Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
      maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde”

      Detail of “Ceromine Bois Caiman”

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    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Deniz Kurdak Crafts Fragility and Resilience in Embroidered Depictions of Porcelain

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      “Pieces on Green,” 25 x 35 centimeters. All images courtesy of Deniz Kurdak, shared with permission

      Deniz Kurdak Crafts Fragility and Resilience in Embroidered Depictions of Porcelain

      January 27, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

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      “What draws me to the motif of ceramics is the deep sense of belonging they evoke in me,” says Deniz Kurdak. The London-based artist is fascinated by blue-and-white porcelain—a style that originated in China as early as the 7th century and was broadly imitated and collected around the globe—and the way certain pieces inspire familiarity. She adds, “They have even found their way into my grandmother’s home.”

      Themes of identity, belonging, and memory play central roles in Kurdak’s work, as she draws on personal histories and bases her compositions on real objects that remind her of pieces her grandmother owned.

      “Fragments,” 30 x 40 centimeters

      “Growing up with an abusive father, I found sanctuary in my grandparents’ home—a safe, predictable, and nurturing space where I felt accepted,” the artist tells Colossal. “Along with my admiration for blue-and-white porcelain, my passion for textiles and embroidery was passed down to me by my grandmother.”

      Bringing conceptual elements to needlework, a craft traditionally dismissed in art circles as “women’s work,” she emphasizes expression and narrative. “I like to reimagine the acts of cutting, stitching, and embroidering as forms of emotional repair,” she says, “allowing me to reconstruct and navigate the complexities of my personal history.”

      Long associated with its calming and meditative nature, “embroidery has become both a medium and a means of reflection in my artistic process,” Kurdak says. Seemingly at odds with making intimate and methodical stitches, her images suggest the violence of breakage, suddenness, and the relationship between ornament and utility.

      Kurdak is intrigued by dualities—fragility and resilience, belonging and displacement—which mirror the tensions and contradictions of the human condition. Contrasting brittle yet durable porcelain with pliable yet resistant fabric and thread, she highlights polarities in the act of merging the ideas together.

      “Not Even Close,” 48 x 48 centimeters

      Blue-and-white porcelain predominantly inspires Kurdak’s compositions, but she also renders red, green, or multi-colored pieces in textiles, too. She uses a wide range of needlework and fabric techniques, including appliqué, lacework, and embroidery. Vases appear to melt into streams, lacy decorations hover above the surface, and motifs rearrange into puzzle-like grids or dynamic swirls.

      If you’re in London, “Willow” is currently on view at the Young Masters Art Prize Finalists Exhibition through April 8. Kurdak’s work will be included in Collect Art Fair opening in late February at Somerset House, followed by Affordable Art Fair in March in New York. Learn more on her website, and followed updates on Instagram.

      “Willow,” 60 x 60 centimeters

      “Jar Descending,” 120 x 90 centimeters

      “Anguish in Blue,” 27 x 47 centimeters

      Detail “Anguish in Blue”

      “Disjointed,” 49 x 49 centimeters

      “Dissolving Willow,” 55 x 55 centimeters

      “Mother Jar,” 80 x 80 centimeters

      Detail of “Pieces on Green”

      “This Beyond,” 49 x 49 centimeters

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      Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment

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      All images courtesy of Reen Barrera, shared with permission

      Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment

      January 23, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Sporting colorful garments and richly patterned faces, Reen Barrera’s doll sculptures (previously) evoke an expressive, make-believe world. Often dressed in striped tops and hand-stitched hoods with animalistic ears, his imaginative Ohlala characters represent the universality of human emotions while emphasizing every individual’s unique qualities.

      Barrera creates the sculptures from wood and patchwork textiles, and he also makes paintings depicting Ohlala figures in pensive moments or expressing a sense of empowerment. Find his work at Art Central Hong Kong in March, and see more on his website and Instagram.

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    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      From Gossamer Objects to Monumental Architecture, Do Ho Suh Embraces the Process

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      Photo by Anthony Rathbun. All images courtesy of Moody Center for the Arts, shared with permission

      From Gossamer Objects to Monumental Architecture, Do Ho Suh Embraces the Process

      October 18, 2024

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      For Do Ho Suh, the process of making work is as important as the outcome. Individual sculptures and installations are all part of a larger project that allows the South Korean artist to return to and iterate on earlier ideas, materials, and structures, each time pushing the work in a different direction.

      At Moody Center for the Arts, Suh puts his process on full display, recreating parts of his studio and charting the course for his sprawling practice in which he explores ideas of home, memory, and how we relate to physical space. Rubbermaids full of string and fabric, shelves lined with toy dinosaurs and action figures, and small maquettes of architectural sculptures offer insight into Suh’s influences and creative exercises, while completed projects reveal the final steps.

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      Included in In Process are several fundamental works like “Inverted Monument,” which suspends an upside-down figure in a dense mesh of string. Also on view is a collection of fabric sculptures that recreate everyday objects like water faucets, doorknobs, and keyholes in gauzy, translucent fabric. Arranged by color, these delicate pieces draw attention to our attachments to and reliance on such mundane items.

      Part of exposing the inner workings of his process also involves what Suh refers to as “dismantling the myth of the artist as an individual genius.” Ongoing in various forms since 2016, “Artland” is a vibrant landscape that welcomes various groups—first Suh’s daughters, followed by communities across several continents—to add bits of malleable clay to the otherworldly terrain.

      Detail of “Artland”

      “For me, ‘Artland’ is an extension of so much of my practice,” the artist told Colossal, adding:

      When I had children, I had to let go of a lot of the control I was used to having in my life. Nothing’s wilder or freer than the child’s mind, and I’ve learnt so much from parenting. “Artland” grew from that small-scale family collaboration, but it’s been so validating involving visitors from Seoul to Brooklyn and Houston—the results are always more fantastical than expected and completely joyous.

      If you’re in Houston, see In Process through December 21. Otherwise, find more from the artist via Lehmann Maupin and Instagram.

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Frank Hernandez

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      “Artland.” Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      Photo by Anthony Rathbun

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Frank Hernandez

      Installation view of ‘Do Ho Suh: In Process.’ Photo by Anthony Rathbun

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    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Under Lock and Key, Ant Hamlyn’s Synthetic Flowers Scramble for Space

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      “Toy Garden 1” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, sealed acrylic vitrine, and stainless steel, 20 x 20 x 20 centimeters. All images courtesy of Ant Hamlyn, shared with permission

      Under Lock and Key, Ant Hamlyn’s Synthetic Flowers Scramble for Space

      October 16, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Encased in transparent cubes and smushed behind panes of acrylic, Ant Hamlyn’s (previously) brilliant blooms and verdant stems are perpetually preserved. Polyurethane-coated fabrics, which he hand-sews and then stuffs, shape a cartoonish view of our predilection to try to harness and preserve things of beauty.

      Often focusing on bright botanicals and fungi, Hamlyn’s playful sculptures crush fabric flowers into cases secured with wing nuts or locked with soft padlocks. Captive blossoms, leaves, and terracotta pots appear just barely contained but with no means of escape.

      “Vase 4” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, laser cut acrylic, cnc-routed plywood, gloss paint, and fixings, 55 x 40 x 10 centimeters

      Two ongoing series, Vases and Toy Garden, examine the relationship between hard and soft, synthetic and organic, and fragility and play. Mashed up against their enclosures, the blooms appear incredibly uncomfortable while also exuding brightness and cheer.

      Explore more of the artist’s work on his website and Instagram.

      Selection from the series Toy Garden

      “Vase 2” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, laser cut acrylic, cnc-routed plywood, gloss paint, and fixings, 55 x 40 x 10 centimeters

      “Vase 6” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, laser cut acrylic, cnc-routed plywood, gloss paint, and fixings, 55 x 40 x 10 centimeters

      “Vase 3” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, laser cut acrylic, cnc routed plywood, gloss paint, and fixings, 55 x 40 x 10 centimeters

      “Toy Garden 5” (2024), hand-sewn and machined polyurethane coated fabrics, stuffing, sealed acrylic vitrine, and stainless steel, 20 x 20 x 20 centimeters

      Detail of “Vase 6”

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    • 150 Shares189 Views

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      In ‘Spirit Level,’ Tau Lewis’s Monumental Figures Usher in an Unearthly World

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      Installation view of ‘Tau Lewis: Spirit Level’ (2024) at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Photo by Mel Taing. All images courtesy of ICA Boston, shared with permission

      In ‘Spirit Level,’ Tau Lewis’s Monumental Figures Usher in an Unearthly World

      September 6, 2024

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      At the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Tau Lewis (previously) presents a vast cosmology in which monumental, mythic beings herald in a new world. Five figures stand nearly 11 feet tall in draping garments, their hands positioned in distinctive gestures. With titles like “The Doula” and “The Reaper,” each bears a particular role as they loom over a large circular quilt at the center of the gallery floor.

      From found fabrics and objects, Lewis created the towering sculptures for Spirit Level, her first solo museum show in the U.S. The Toronto-born artist maintains a robust collection of materials in her Brooklyn studio, which she painstakingly stitches and sculpts into unearthly beings. These works continue her interest in how objects hold meaning and memory.

      “Mutasis Moon” (2021), recycled leather, seashells, sand dollars, acrylic paint, PVC pipe, galvanized steel, muslin, and recycled poly fibers, 40 x 40 x 25 inches. Photo by Pierre Le Hors, courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London, © Tau Lewis

      Her 2021 figure “Mutasis Moon,” for example, is an alien-like creature with four eyes and turquoise hands. Wrapped around a galvanized steel and PVC armature, the friendly painted-leather figure stands with arms outstretched as if welcoming the viewer.

      In Spirit Level, remnants of clothing, muslin scraps dyed with rust, snakeskin, conch shells, and coral bone merge, transposing the materials’ origins into new contexts. “The Doula,” for instance, wears a dark green, blue, and brown gown of leather and suede and is what the artist calls a “portrait of the sea.” Conjuring the dark depths of the ocean, the sculpture alludes to a space where life and death coexist.

      The gold-outfitted figure is titled “The Handle of the Axe,” which references the epigraph of Alice Walker’s 1992 novel Possessing the Secret of Joy that states: “When the axe came into the forest, the trees said, ‘the handle is one of us.’” Arms open for an embrace, the sculpture draws on the tensions between the desire for nonviolence and the struggle for liberation.

      At the center of the figures is “The Last Transmission,” the sprawling quilt that radiates outward from a starfish at the center. Small fabric panels adorned with glass, beads, and wire form an elaborate patchwork, appearing as an architectural portal to another universe.

      Spirit Level is on view in Boston through January 20, 2025, after which it will travel to David Zwirner in Los Angeles. Find more from the artist on her website and Instagram.

      Installation view of ‘Tau Lewis: Spirit Level’ (2024) at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Photo by Mel Taing

      “Harmony” (2019), recycled leather, recycled poly fibers, rebar, wire, hardware, seashells, stones, and acrylic paint, 39 3/4 x 47 x 35 inches. Image © Tau Lewis

      “Knot of Pacification” (2021), recycled leather, wool, and suede, 114 x 100 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery, Los Angeles, © Tau Lewis

      Installation view of ‘Tau Lewis: Spirit Level’ (2024) at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Photo by Mel Taing

      Installation view of “The Last Transmission” (2024), recycled leather and suede, cotton canvas, acrylic paint and finisher, natural dyes, assorted found metal, wood, ceramic, and glass objects, wire, beads, seashells, coated nylon thread, and coated cotton thread, overall diameter approximately 240 inches. Photo by Mel Taing

      Detail of “Mutasis Moon” (2021), recycled leather, seashells, sand dollars, acrylic paint, PVC pipe, galvanized steel, muslin, and recycled poly fibers, 40 x 40 x 25 inches. Photo by Pierre Le Hors, courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London, © Tau Lewis

      “Venus in Leo” (2023), steel, wood, enamel paint, acrylic paint, leather dye and finisher, recycled leather and suede, recycled fabric, found jewelry, clam shells, and coated nylon thread, 68 x 18 x 18 inches. Photo by Charles Benton, courtesy of the artist, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, and JTT, New York, © Tau Lewis

      Detail of “Venus in Leo” (2023), steel, wood, enamel paint, acrylic paint, leather dye and finisher, recycled leather and suede, recycled fabric, found jewelry, clam shells, and coated nylon thread, 68 x 18 x 18 inches. Photo by Charles Benton, courtesy of the artist, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, and JTT, New York, © Tau Lewis

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