THREADS OF DESTINY
The Threads of Destiny presents the remarkable artistic partnership of Maryn Varbanov (1932-1989) and Song Huai-Kuei aka Madame Song (1937-2006), China's legendary couple whose life and work helped to transform the cultural landscape of economic reform-era China. Focusing on Varbanov’s columns and installations made with a traditional Bulgarian technique - using goat's hair and a cold-water centrifuge to produce felt - loosely resemble crowns of trees in a surreal forest. These seminal works helped bring him to the forefront of the fibre arts movement in Europe in the seventies. Shown alongside are Varbanov and Song's collaborative butterfly wall works of the same period which complement the columns with a definitive Yin energy. These elegant works, inspired by Zhuang Zi's famous butterfly poem, are at once magical and intensely feminine.
Image: The Estate of Maryn Varbanov, Untitled2, Sculpture, 200 × 120 cm, Goats Wool. By Maryn Varbanov&Song Huai-Kuei. Image above: The Estate of Maryn Varbanov, Bleu Mise en Rapport, Sculpture,Variable Size, Sisal, wool and silk thread. By Maryn Varbanov&Song Huai-Kuei
The playful and creative collaboration of Song Huai-Kuei and Varbanov not only foregrounds their shared artistic sentiments, but is a natural extension of their shared life and family which took them around the world. Produced in their Cité Internationale des Arts studio in Paris in the 1970s, these works act as precedent to the couple’s momentous return to China in the 1980s.
Image: The Estate of Maryn Varbanov, Untitled2, Sculpture, 200 × 120 cm, Goats Wool. By Maryn Varbanov&Song Huai-Kuei. Image above: The Estate of Maryn Varbanov, Bleu Mise en Rapport, Sculpture,Variable Size, Sisal, wool and silk thread. By Maryn Varbanov&Song Huai-Kuei
The playful and creative collaboration of Song Huai-Kuei and Varbanov not only foregrounds their shared artistic sentiments, but is a natural extension of their shared life and family which took them around the world. Produced in their Cité Internationale des Arts studio in Paris in the 1970s, these works act as precedent to the couple’s momentous return to China in the 1980s.
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1 comment
What a wonderful creative partnership. I’m wondering if this Bulgarian “felting” technique is in actuality “fulled” wool fabric – felt being a non-woven material. The terms are often confused.