Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Mixed Greens� enterprising group exhibition “Common Thread,” on view through August 28, positions a 1973 Bauhaus grid study by Anni Albers and Ellen Lesperance�s 2009 grid-based gouache deconstruction of her pre-Josef Albers sweater pattern as aesthetic and cultural springboards for work by nine contemporary female artists. Restively contemplating traditional gender associations, these artists jettison the �iconic brushstroke� in favor of extrusion and fiber art. While duly recognizing their antecedents, they appear determined to move forward.
[Image at top: Ellen Lesperance; 1921, Anni Fleischmann Demonstrates Simultaneous Contrast Herself with the Help of a Knitted I-Cord Necklace; It Would Be a Year Before Even Meeting Josef Albers; 2009; gouache and graphite on tea stained paper; 22 � 29 inches.]
Appropriately, curator Heather Darcy Bhandari accords pride of place to three of Leslie Wayne�s celebrated �rag� paintings, in which she intricately folds thoroughly worked and conventionally rectangular paint skins to create three-dimensional works that resemble dishcloths, at once referencing and escaping the confinement of gender identity. For each painting Wayne draws on extant art � Paul Klee�s Characters in Yellow for one, Adinkra symbols used in Ghanaian textiles for the second, and a Joseph Hoffman drawing for the third � and thus suggests inclusive continuity as well as departure.
Wendy Edwards, BOD, 2005, oil on canvas on board, 26 � 24 inches.
Angela Teng, Golden Boy, 2015, crocheted acrylic paint on alu panel, 20 x 16 inches.
Danielle Mysliwiec, Nocturne IV, 2015, oil on linen covered wood panel, 54 � 9 inches.
Sarah Esme Harrison, Rug 15, 2015, oil on panel, 24 � 18 inches.
Michelle Grabner, Untitled (todo), 2007, Flashe and gesso on canvas, 80 � 80 inches.
UPDATE: We are sorry to learn via their Tumblr that 2015 will be the last year for Mixed Greens: “After sixteen years of programming, our final show will close on December 22, 2015…”
These threads are queer
Textility: Idiosyncratic materiality at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey