Date:
Nancy Brett
Parasol Projects @Nancy Brett: Over and Under :: Painting and Weaving @ 213 Bowery St
February 15 – March 8, 2020 | 11 am – 6 pm
Opening Reception: February 15 | 6 pm – 8 pm
Since the 1990s, Brett has moved away from a representational method of painting to one that celebrates the intersection between weaving and drawing. Each painting is comprised of layers of pigment (flashe and/or oil) on vellum, canvas, or wood. Similar to the weavings they are inspired by, her layered grids reveal structure, history, and gesture and appear three dimensional, as though they are caught in the midst of formation. Brett’s woven works incorporate a variety of unconventional and repurposed materials including wire, graph paper, silk, and various traditional and non-traditional pigments. Her materials are often personal or autobiographical and range from comic books from her childhood to film found in Hollywood movie lots. Referencinglanguage, architecture, and ancient textiles, Brett’s work blurs the boundaries between drawing, handwriting, text, and fiber.
Despite her innovations in the minimalist artistic landscape and rigorous studio practice, Brett’s work has remained largely unseen, both because she is a woman creating abstract paintings dealing with the grid and due to her exploration of materiality using textiles and weaving. Brett has spent her career confronting the biases around craft and weaving by creating a reciprocal interchange between both tenets of her practice, making paintings in ways that reflect the weaving process and incorporating painting in her weavings. This exhibition is a culmination of her practice to date, marking a resurgence of her work publicly. The title, Over and Under :: Painting and Weaving, exemplifies the equitable interchange between Brett’s two primary modes of making. Each work in the exhibition alludes to the significance of weaving for Brett’s creative process, while pushing the boundaries of the minimalist grid, the incorporation of language and drawing, and assumptions about abstract painting.
About the artist: