RugLife at The Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco
The Museum of Craft and Design opens RugLife, an original exhibition on view from December 14, 2024 to April 25, 2025. Guest curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of ccurators quared, RugLife features the work of 14 contemporary artists from around the world who use the rug as a medium to address cultural issues such as religion, technology, social justice, housing, and the environment. RugLife examines this functional-object-turned-
c2-curatorsquared has selected a diverse roster of artists and designers from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, working across a variety of media including yarn, cardboard, repurposed carpets, and hair combs. The artwork featured in this exhibition is divided into four thematic sections: Interweaving Past and Present, Patterning a Communal Experience, Delineating a Sense of Place, and Looming Politics.
Image: Oksana Levchenya, Pac Man and Cossacks, 2022, hemp thread and natural dyed wool, 80 x 140in. Image courtesy of the artist.
Image above: Johannah Herr, War Rug III (El Paso Shooting), 2020, acrylic and wool, 28 x 48in. Image courtesy of the artist.
Interweaving Past and Present
Because the rug is an object of daily use throughout cultures, and across societal stratifications, it is familiar and widely approachable by all. This provides the context to merge past with present, serious history with pop culture, and stereotypically Eastern and Western ideologies. Ukrainian artist Oksana Levchenya produces traditional kylym rugs, a technique for carpet-weaving dating back to the 16th century. The tradition stops at the process, however, with her unique designs combining folk ornament and ethnic patterns with characters and elements from pop culture. Levchenya’s hybrid symbolism deploys historic Cossacks fighting against Pac-Man. These elements of humour belie the serious concern the artist has for historic and current cultural icons.
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