joseph scissorhands: Irapuru

Atta Kwami - Untitled 6, c.1999 (detail)

Back to the Goodman Gallery so soon after my last visit last month (here), to see another group show entitled Irapuru, the title of which is taken from Laura Lima's large textile work which is the first to greet visitors in the show. The textile piece is named after a district in the Brazilian city of São Paulo which has endured much upheaval under the rule of the military dictatorship of the Fifth Brazilian Republic. Irapuru is apparently also the name of a tiny indigenous Amazonian bird known as the 'Musician Wren' famous for the complex harmonies used in its wide range of songs and is celebrated in poetry, music and song. Lima's amazing textile piece would certainly provide the ideal home for such a bird with its complex (eco)systems of weaving, plaits and knots. I was greatly impressed by the coloured threads chosen and the techniques involved in its intricate construction. It is a cascade of gorgeous layered textures. Texture appears to be an unconscious thread which runs throughout and unites the works in this show irrespective of which media they have been executed in. The accompanying gallery blurb states that "the dual sense of something artistically adept, surprisingly beautiful, and aesthetically accomplished emerging from a place of upheaval and economic scarcity runs throughout the exhibition". Most of the artists are well established however, so economics aren't really a factor in the production of their work. A common geography in the African continent and the exquisite textures contained within the surfaces of the artworks are the elements that bind here. There are the wonderful geometric abstractions of Atta Kwami (1956-2021) featuring soft, painterly brushstrokes drawing their inspiration from his native Ghanaian environment and textiles. You can certainly hear the rhythms of Accra in Atta's painting in the upper gallery, it's an African Broadway Boogie Woogie. Further looser, more 'painterly' textures are to be found in the abstracts of Misheck Masamvu and Clive van den Berg, and even the photography of David Goldblatt and Carrie Mae Weems. There are yet more textures in the striking William Kentridge sculpture Stroke, a spiky black cat caught mid-stretch, arching its jagged back and barbed tail. El Anatsui previously here and here), is represented with another of his large, sublime, metal bottle-top cloths. The example here is a cool aqua green which looks as though it is being consumed by fire from within by contrasting fiery orange and red metal strips. Kapwani Kiwanga's cool, abstract sculpture Shifting Sands is another piece employing different textures smooth transparent coloured glass wedges against grainy sand all encased within an architectural glass column. It all makes for an interesting but harmonious mix of artworks whose practitioners hail mainly from across the African continent.