I brought this piece to the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah yesterday, for the annual Exhibition of Folk Art in the Norwegian Tradition, which will be up from June 8-uly 26, 2018. This exhibition is always wonderful; the juxtaposition of weaving, rosemaling, knife making, and woodcarving creates a very rich display. Be sure to go! One question on the form was: “What is the inspiration for your piece?”
The Xs of historical weavings in danskbrogd technique from the region of Vest-Agder, Norway, are so appealing: eye-catching, graphic, precise. In “Immersion Stripes with X: Danskbrogd #4,” they explode into one image with broad, modernist stripes behind–an immersion into deep color.
An earlier post on the piece is here.
A visit to Vesterheim yesterday was a great opportunity to visit the exhibit “Rocks and Hard Places: Emigration Through the Lens of Knud Knudsen.” The large-scale photos are beautifully crisp. It is a time-travel experience to see through the lens of a camera in rural Norway in the late 1800s. I especially liked examining the clothing of the people. Look at the pants of this man and boy in a detail from one photo. The small pants seem to be made completely of woolen patches and fragments. Doesn’t the reality of those pants, worn of necessity, make the artificially ripped, mass-produced jeans in big box stores or high-end boutiques seem a bit stupid?
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