PDF - Olga de Amaral

Copyright Surface Design Journal®. Not to be reprinted. All rights reserved.
i nr eview
New York, New York
Reviewed by Nell Znamierowski
Olga de Amaral: Places
Nohra Haime Gallery
Places, an exhibition by Colombian artist Olga de
Amaral at Nohra Haime Gallery in New York
(September 13–October 31, 2012), was a breathtaking show of textured and patterned gold
walls. Viewers were captivated by an ever-changing display of light reflected on 23 surfaces. Not
all were gold leaf, but the sum total was a show
that will long be remembered for its shimmering
beauty and inventiveness.
From her first appearance on the fiber
art scene more than four decades ago, de Amaral
has always had a definite signature. The work
produced in her Bogotá studio reflects the Andes
and the richness of early Indian art. I was introduced to this work in 1967 at the Jack Lenor
Larsen showroom in New York as a reviewer for
Craft Horizons. The pieces were all created in
boldly defined colors of two wool layers in slit
weaving that interlaced to form a single structure. Meant to be viewed on both sides, de
Amaral’s wall hangings seemed to have a direct
connection to the woven clothing of early
Andean weavers.
OLGA DE AMARAL Nudo 10 (Knot 10) Detail, gold leaf, linen, gesso,
acrylic, 177.17" x 11.81", 2011.
© Diego Amaral, courtesy of Nohra Haime Gallery.
Structure and color were the backbones
of her work from this very first exhibition. She
perfected all of this starting in the 1950s with
college architecture classes in her native
Colombia and weaving studies at Cranbrook
Academy of Art in Michigan.
In the decades that followed, she had
many solo and group shows around the world,
received awards and commissions, and found
OLGA DE AMARAL Pueblo Q (Village Q) Gold leaf, gesso acrylic, linen, 39.37" x 78.74", 2012. © Diego Amaral, courtesy of Nohra Haime Gallery.
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Surface Design Journal
Olga de Amaral: Places on display at Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, 2012. © Courtesy of Nohra Haime Gallery.
representation in both museum and corporate
collections. All this time the work was evolving
but never losing touch with the Andes. In 1971
she showed her “woven walls,” large fabric structures of plaited strips—the next step up from slit
weaving. Small, three-dimensional, wrapped and
coiled sculptures made their appearance in 1973.
I first saw gold leaf applied to her strip weaving in
1982. Since then, this preferred color choice has
become very much her trademark. As de Amaral
herself states, “Gold is the abstract of color.”
In Places, gold takes over the eye even
though not every piece has a shimmery surface.
All but three of the pieces follow a basic structural plan. Narrow woven strips of linen are hand
stitched together and then covered with gesso to
prepare for the final step of applying either gold,
palladium (a variety of platinum), or acrylic paint.
The accompanying video shows de Amaral
spreading the metal and paint on with wideopen, bare hands.
The stitched strips form a canvas that is
never uniformly flat. In each artwork, the manner
of sewing these strips together varies to form an
important part of the compositional flow. Some
strips are sewn into swirl patterns or orb and
rectangular shapes. The surface of Between Rivers
4 reminded me of waves. On Pueblo O and Pueblo
Q, plaited areas alternate with swirls and other
shapes. Some stitched strips bulge the cloth and
Spring2013
give the effect of hammered ancient gold. All this
background action results in an exciting, uneven
surface for light to play on, and the piece
becomes an ever-changing illusion.
The majority of artworks are solid
metallic in color, while others have acrylic paint
dabbed along the edges or inserted between
sections as a counterpoint to the gilt. Three totally acrylic monochromatic pieces lack the significance of their gold and silver neighbors. One
white “wall” with additional color is a lovely
textural piece but also recedes from its glowing
competition.
As complex and labor intensive as most
of the wall hangings are, three sculptural pieces
speak to the simplicity and beauty of plain fiber.
Thick hanks of fine linen yarn (painted gold,
black, and an intense blue) hang from the ceiling
by large loops that fall to pool on the floor.
Although visitors left the Manhattan
gallery bedazzled by the glitter and complex
artistry, it is interesting to note that the genesis
for all of the work is in the artist’s natural and
ancient surroundings.
www.nohrahaimegallery.com
—Nell Znamierowski is a retired textile designer, color
consultant, and professor at the Fashion Institute of
Technology in New York. She has written about textiles
and related subjects since the 1950s.
Copyright Surface Design Journal®. Not to be reprinted. All rights reserved.
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