With the beginning of daylight saving time in the UK last weekend and in the US this weekend, my thoughts turn to the long winter evenings. I visited one of my favourite stores in New York yesterday, Purl Soho, to stock up on some of their Season Alpaca yarn for a new project. On my last day before I returned home, I visited the Friedman Brenda and Alberta Brenda Galleries to view a carefully curated show that juxtaposed a selection of Central Asian Carpets with modern, post-war and contemporary works. It was inspiring to see this mix of works shown together and how artists have been inspired by this eternal subject.

Under the Night Sky explores the numerous ways in which the frontier of the night sky influences the human psyche and continues to hold artists in its grip. Spanning the spaces of Friedman Benda and albertz benda, the exhibition brings together significant works by modern, post-war, and contemporary artists and designers with a selection of seminal Central Asian rugs. The works in the exhibition engage with the night sky on both conscious and unconscious levels, featuring the interplay between literal homages to the night sky and works with looser interpretations of the theme, whose makers innately channel the emotive presence of night.

The centrepiece of this exhibition is a rare collection of 19th century Baluch and related tribes’ Mina Khani rugs. Palettes of midnight blues, coral and cherry reds, and emerald greens are often punctuated by white floral and geometric motifs, which symbolize prosperity and fertility. These textiles on an unconscious level evoke the visual effect of luminescent stars amidst the night sky.

albertz benda & Friedman Benda, New York City, NY, USA

Until December 15, 2018

Blog post by Polly Leonard.