Download the exhibition brochure (PDF).
The second work in BAMPFA’s new Art Wall series of commissioned temporary works is a monumental weaving by East Bay artist Terri Friedman. Here, the artist describes her recent embrace of weaving as a means to extend her exploration of painting:
Weaving color. Yarn as paint. For years I have investigated painting through everyday materials: kinetic sculpture, installation, painted pours. And that is exactly how I approach the loom. Expanding material limits, diving into color, redefining landscapes, interested in invention and innovation yet borrowing from tradition.
In 2013 I visited the Miró Foundation in Barcelona. A mural-sized tapestry designed by Miró and woven by the artist Josep Royo inspired me to learn to weave. I like the very basic and straightforward technology of a loom. It is ageless. The loom is my tool to invent something unfamiliar. With each piece I begin to understand the limits of the loom and the potential. No forgiveness, no overpainting, no going back. Though like painting, I am making marks, lines, and saturating with color. The work is very mathematical, but there is also an element of chance. No matter how I map them out ahead of time, the unexpected is a given.o
I have no desire for order or perfection. Raw, chunky fringe and loose threads, holes and gaps, texture, kaleidoscopic, optimistic, and sensual. Chromophilia, a love of color. Color is emotion. Color has the potential to uplift, destroy, calm, energize, make you anxious. It is potent like a drug. I am hoping that the work resides on that edge between control and out of control, and somewhere in your body, there is a somatic response.
Friday, December 16, 6 PM
