Wendy Wahl

Statement

"My art has always been a protest against what I have met with in weaving. I started to use rope, horsehair, metal, and fur because I needed these materials to give my vision expression and I did not care that they were not part of the tradition in the field. Moreover, tapestry, with its decorative function, has never interested me. I simply became extremely concerned with all that could be done through weaving. How one forms the surface reliefs, how the mobile markings of the horsehair will be put into place and, finally, how this constructed surface can swell and burst, showing a glimpse of mysterious depths through the cracks. In 1966 I completed my first woven forms that are independent of the walls and exist in space. In creating them I did not want to relate to either tapestry or sculpture. Ultimately it is the total obliteration of the utilitarian function of tapestry that fascinates me. My particular aim is to create possibilities for complete communion with an object whose structure is complex and soft. Through cracks and openings I try to get the viewer to penetrate into the deepest reaches of the composition. I am interested in the scale of tensions that intervene between the woven form, rich and fleshy, and the surroundings." Magdalena Abakanowicz, 1969, quoted in Magdalena Abakanowicz: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (Abbeville Press, Chicago, New York 1982).

Selected collections and exhibition venues

Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, New York (permanent collection); American Textile Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts,(RISD on the Road); Bristol Art Museum, Rhode Island, (Decorata Project); Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island (Uncovered Grove: Sculpture by Wendy Wahl); Lyman Allen Museum, New London, Connecticut (Child's Play) Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (permanent collection); Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts (Arboreal Anatomy: Sculpture by Wendy Wahl); University of Woolagong, Australia (Visions from North America); Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California (Dorothy Saxe Invitational: New Works/Old Story: 80 Artists at the Passover Table); Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony); International Textile Convention, Kyoto, Japan (Textiles for the 1990's); Art in Embassies, U.S. State Department, American Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.