Live Wire
July 31–October 10, 2020
In collaboration with:
Española Valley Fiber Arts Center
Featuring:
Work by national juried and invitational contemporary fiber artists
LIVE WIRE: MATERIALS OF A REVOLUTION
(July 2020) form & concept is delighted to present Live Wire, a juried and invitational group exhibit made in collaboration with New Mexico’s Española Valley Fiber Arts Center. Encompassing the gallery’s entire atrium and ground floor, Live Wire showcases contemporary fiber work by emerging and established textile artists whose work explores the turmoil and transformation of social and political upheaval. Select artists on view include Tamara Burgh, Erika Diamond, Nika Feldman, c marquez, and Rosemary Meza-DesPlas, among several others.
“Fiber is the material of revolution,” writes Co-Juror and Gallery Director Jordan Eddy. “Think of Betsy Ross stitching an early version of the American flag or Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty holding colors aloft to usher in the French Revolution. In recent decades, fiber artists from Judy Chicago to Faith Ringgold have provided potent kindling for social and political movements.” Live Wire will explore fiber’s remarkable ability to conduct world-changing ideological currents.
The wide-ranging exhibition, originating from a national call to artists, features costume, tapestry, found object and large-scale installation. Nika Feldman, whose simple methodology of needle and thread playfully incorporates found soda tabs in a series of wearable artworks, investigates ritual, identity and deconstruction across cultures. In an exhaustively researched body of work by Tali Weinberg, climate data is translated into impeccably finished tapestries of plant-derived fiber and dyes. Martha Shade, who exhibited in the landmark show “Women Artists from the Land of Enchantment,” Co-Curated by Lucy Lippard, presents her unconventional interpretation of “crazy quilts” with woven depictions of pre- and post- 1948 Palestinian exile. Whether by hand, loom or studio team, each artist’s work on view presents fiber’s unique ability to renew and reclaim the profound histories that continue to affect and unfold today. Anchoring the comprehensive show is Priscilla Dobler’s woven Volkswagen Beetle, a life-sized actualization of corporate and capitalist influence in the arts.
Live Wire is an in-gallery exhibition with an online presence. A Live Wire Exhibition Guide is available on the form & concept website in addition to select work on view and installation photography. To make a private appointment or to request a guided tour, please contact the gallery at (505) 780-8312 or info@formandconcept.center.
