Current Show: FIBROUS
March 28 - April 26, 2025
Textile & Fibre Arts
Gagné Contemporary is pleased to present FIBROUS, an exhibition of textile and fibre art by nine artists who bring embroidery, sewing, dyeing, silkscreening, crocheting, collage, assemblage and sculpture to their work.
The artists hail from Toronto, New York City, Ottawa, Windsor, and Prince Edward County – so let's welcome Eva Ennist, Tanya Fenkell, BR Goldstein, Gitte Hansen, Sayward Johnson, Natalie Wai-Wah Leung, Alexandria Masse, Olivia Mae Sinclair, and Melissa Zexter.
The work is astounding in its range, and includes exquisite nests of reed, bamboo and cloth by Eva Ennist; Tanya Fenkell's watercolour on paper with threaded stitching work from her Reconciliation series; hardcore fabric "paintings" by BR Goldstein that use collage and quilting techniques; and the pluralist complexity of Gitte Hansen's work incorporating delicate stitching, quilting and screenprinting that result in abstract landscapes and dreamy seascapes.
Sayward Johnson brings two works from her "American Security Blanket" series, which look like delicately woven sheets trimmed in lace but in fact are bullet-laden copper wire fabrications. Beautifully designed, dyed and printed fabrics by Natalie Wai-Wah Leung will be hanging from the ceiling, while Alexandria Masse will present her soft sculptures – seemingly simple yet uncanny all at once (and surprise! – a giant crochet insect will be on hand).
Finally, Olivia Mae Sinclair's soft sculptures, screen prints and textile books stem from her "sloppy" aesthetic that starts with the artist's body (X-Rays, MRI scans) and ends with the ripping, tearing and fraying of cloth that complete her work. And from New York, Melissa Zexter's embroidered photographs ask us to consider the handwork of stitching photographs (unique, eccentric vs mechanical reproduction), alongside questions of memory and technology.
