Contributor post by Lisa Solomon
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| stemma installation view III 2006-07 kukui nuts, thread bell jar |
wendy kawabata
and i were in a show together in 2006 called the point of loose ends at
mira costa college in oceanside [southern california]. if you are
curious you can see installation shots from the show
here.
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| stemma, kukui nuts, thread, bell jars, 2007 |
for many reasons our work and lives felt synergistic.
i was a 1/2 japanese woman with a non-asian name. she was a non-asian
woman who married a japanese american and took his name.
we both made some tiny thread balls [her version pictured above].
we both were interested in domestic practices turned into "fine art" practices.
i looked at her work and wished that i made it.
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| The Gentleman, needle perforations through paper, 30” x 22”, 2010 |
i
love her series of drawings made from pin pricks. subtly violent... she
picks imagery that is really lovely and speaks about colonialism,
trying to figure out where you come from - in essence what is a sense of
place.
she lives in hawaii where cultures intersect and merge in ways that don't happen in other places in the world i think.
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| Withdrawn from Circulation (detail), installation at Corban Estate Art Centre, 2010 |
she's also a thinker and engrossed in a work ethic
that i admire. books. released from their duty. turned into a beautiful
grouping - constellation like. repurposed. renewed. the undesirable and
discarded refashioned into beauty.
of
course you know by now i'm a sucker for repetition. and i love seeing
the hand [but also fooled. her hand is so steady so "perfect" that you
know it's at work, but not in an obvious way].
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| Untitled (Acts series, II), gouache & colored pencil on paper, 30” x 22”, 2011 |
these
newer drawings are particularly compelling to me. simple - yet
technically masterful. i love the idea of taking something so tactile
[yarn/thread] and recreating it flat - in colored pencil. so wrong. so
painstaking. just look at the detail....
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| Untitled (Acts series, II) DETAIL, gouache & colored pencil on paper, 30” x 22”, 2011 |
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| Study, gouache & colored pencil on paper, 6” x 6”, 2011 |
and
this. yarn. but also a formal red line. i know what this looks like on
my desk. i love taking it from it's useful, utilitarian purpose -
removing it from any context. making yarn butt up against fine art. i
often look down at a pile of thread tails or yard that i need to
untangle and think it's beautiful. wendy's work only makes that impulse
clearer. purer.
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| Study, gouache & colored pencil on paper, 6” x 6”, 2011 |
so
this is the one i want. [although i'd take the red yarn piece in a
second too]. did you ever make those potholders on a tiny loom? this
reminds me of that - a more sophisticated, better color coordinated
version. if you look down at your clothing - really look - you'll see
this knit pattern. i love how she pays attention to it. makes me pay
attention to it. gives me a microscopic view.
wendy just recently received a
pollock krasner grant. i can't wait to see what comes out of her studio next.
follow my collection as it grows on
pinterest. until next time....
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