Why contemporary artists are trading hard materials for the intimacy of textiles
In short: In a world dominated by rigid structures, many acclaimed artists are turning to soft sculpture to create sensory escapes and explore human memory.
The video features seven artists—including Sheila Hicks, Nick Cave, and Ernesto Neto—discussing how textiles shape their creative practice. For these creators, fabric serves as a medium for profound emotional expression: Neto uses cotton to offer a "sensory escape," while Cave utilizes discarded materials to create a "second skin" that obscures traditional markers of identity like gender and class.
The exploration of memory is central to the textile movement. To represent private memories, Kaarina Kaikkonen of Finland integrates pre-owned shirts into her work; meanwhile, Chiharu Shiota from Japan employs gowns to substitute for physical forms, illustrating hidden societal bonds.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: 7 Artists on Soft Sculptures: Why Artists Turn to Textile
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