Soojin Kang - Untitled Bust I, 2023
Gathering Gallery is situated in London's Soho and is a new gallery discovery for me, as was the work on display there of Korean artist Soojin Kang and her large, figurative sculptural weavings. Kang explores the possibilities of woven textiles with techniques that employ knotting, winding and fraying hand-dyed linen. These textiles are then woven around figurative metal armatures to create strange humanoid forms. They are woven in such a way in which the dyed linen, jute and silks they are made from resemble plaits and braiding or the organic structures of human muscle tissues, such as sinews and tendons. The structural weaving process of some of the figures made them look as though they were the victims of post-operative medical procedures gutted and then stitched back together with very visible sutures. The head studies were unnervingly like masks or balaclavas, whereas the hand studies resembled gloved hands or dried claws. Kang creates sculptures that have an eerie, sinister beauty. There was something very reminiscent in the spirit of Kang's work of that of Magdalena Abakanowicz seen earlier in the year at Tate Modern (here), an important figure in the history of fibre artists who was a pioneer in pushing the boundaries of sculptural textile processes. Kang's work also brought to mind the uncanny woven figures of Ewa Pachuka discovered in another exhibition visited earlier this year celebrating women fibre artists (here).
Soojin Kang: To Be You, Whoever You Are
until 17th June
Gathering Gallery
5 Warwick Street
London
W1B
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