KARLA NIXON

2021

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State of the Art Gallery, Cape Town (17 April - 8 May 2021)

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Textiles, like paper, are so prevalent in every part of our lives; they adorn our homes, our offices, our bodies and has significace in almost every important moment in our lives.

 

Textiles can be an expression of self, a signifier of culture, of wealth, and embody and evoke memory. They can be both beautiful and mundane, embellished or plain, they have the ability to provide comfort or discomfort. It has this immense power; to be invisible and overlooked while simultaneously important. Textiles are fundamental to our existence, yet the industry is destructive, both socially and environmentally. It is the above dualities that this body of work was driven by in its making. 

 

The assembly of the torn pieces creates a play between traditional and contemporary themes. I have used or alluded to traditional techniques used in textile creation but attempted to push it beyond the confines of textiles by paring back, zooming in, sculpting, abstracting, and working with a material not associated with the craft. Paper and fabric are used for very different purposes but share common physical characteristics, which is highlighted in these works. This body of works attempts to recontextualising textiles through observing and reinterpreting the essence of textiles in paper. Finding beauty in the grids, patterns, weaves and sculptural nature in something as common as a piece of fabric.

 

Paper is central to my practice because of its fragility, it’s everyday usage, it’s recyclability, and because it is one of the most consumable commodities of our time. The magic and malleability of the medium is incomparable, and is fundamental to my approach.

 

This latest work departs from the comforts of the white page, which has become synonymous with my aesthetic, as well as a major shift from figurative to abstract. I have attempted to introduce bold explosions of colour created with washes of acrylic paint. Even with the introduction of paint and colour the materiality of the paper is still in the fore; creating colourful, textural tapestry like abstract work. The work is defined by acute concentration and care, it gives primary importance to the physicality of the material.