I was told there was an exhibit of Gees’ Bend quilts at the Huntington. Turns out they have one quilt and a bunch of reproduction-simultions. I love the Huntington but no thanks.
So here I am at Hauser and Wirth and they have an exhibit called the new Bend, African American artists and their take on cultural issues today.
This one was the most surprising quilt of all to me, and needless to say, my favorite. By Dawn Williams Boyd, named The Right to my Life. I looked her up, on every other topic she far to the left, and yet here she is expressing something profound for the Black community. Too many have been aborted. I find it very interesting that the woman in the clinic is white, the woman getting out of a chauffeur driven car – to go get and abortion is white. In the foreground we see black people embracing their baby. We also see the pro life protestors who are a mixed lot of people. I am extremely sad that the powers that be managed to convince Californians that it is ok to kill a baby up until the moment of birth, and to put that in our constitution. Whatever happened to the idea that it would be rare and a last resort? I know many in the black community agree with this quilt – I’m grateful to see that it’s not just Church going conservatives. As for the message about adoption, I am the proud grandmother of a mixed race grandson who’s mother – thankfully didn’t abort him.
This is a beautiful computer designed woven tapestry, with some beading as well. I couldn’t understand the goodly-gook that the curator wrote about this. I can’t help but wonder if there is a connection between the angelic babies and there previous quilt – about aborting way too many of these babies.
This one is about the connection between the African American community and the Central American one. Like many other works, it’s more art work using textiles, than a quilt.
This one was the most traditional quilt, of course I love it for it’s design and simple quilting.
These two images don’t have any information. They actually are most like the original Gees Bend quilts.
Three works by the same artist, Got to love the bling! A lot of symbolism going on here.
Another mixed media that celebrates all kinds of textiles.
All in all, a worth while exhibit. Satisfied my need for textiles as a medium in art. There was also and exhibit of Cindy Sherman Photographs – very good, but doesn’t stir my soul. Then there was some kind of performance art – meh.
Leah