“GREAT SCANDINAVIAN TEXTILES” AT BRAVURA
Circa the late 1960s. A sign of the times for yours truly was not the expected anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, campus riots or marches on Washington. Although these events were certainly important, this critic’s preoccupations evolved around motherhood and film studies. As a reminder of the social and political upheaval whirling outside the doors of suburbia, we bought a big, bright tablecloth for the dining room table.

It was the newest Marimekko design, representing liberation from the ordinary and unimaginative cloths on the market. It was our metaphor for freedom and daring. And an appreciation for other country’s (in this case, Finland’s) unconventional aesthetics. The oddly shaped brown and black flowers presented a bold statement, conveying to one and all our liberal attitudes. Six months later, another Marimekko cloth, this one with red and pink blossoms, replaced the first one. We were indeed flower children to the core.

Through the years, an appreciation for Scandinavian textiles has expanded to include pure design elements and particularly the application of such aspects to everyday objects. A trip to Sweden and Norway in the 1990s still leaves yours truly wishing our mundane objects, like dishes and even bobby pins, had such stylish flourishes.
Which finally brings us to the point: this critic’s association with Scandinavian textiles is mostly personal and anecdotal, but also, oddly enough, political as well. And so is the textile exhibition at Southampton’s Bravura Gallery. Besides yours truly’s cherished pink and red flowered cloth, there are others by Marimekko (Finland) and Ljungbergs Textiltryck (Sweden).

That textiles are art (as Jack Larson’s own collection and exhibition in New York a few years ago continues to prove) is a given. The salient point is that Bravura’s show demonstrates another aspect of the works on view: their social and political statements. Putting aside the 1960s “hippy flowers” of this critic’s experience, the blossoms now take on other meanings in the current decade, recalling Ross Bleckner’s poppy-like shapes at Guild Hall’s Seventy-Fifth Anniversary show. His bold blossoms were flattened and deformed, a metaphor for AIDS.

Marimekko’s flowers are hopeful; Ross’ shapes are despairing.
Other textiles are more mechanical or scientific in nature, however, like “Network,” which displays an airport’s infrastructure. “Bullet” is the name for a textile design which replicates Steve McQueen’s car chase through the San Francisco streets in the film, Bullet. Both works employ an unusual map-like format“Atomics” uses a grid format to suggest, we assume, the theory of atoms (post World War II).

The curators have done a fine job presenting the myriad of meanings possible in these textiles. It’s proof positive that such Scandinavian examples are among the best in the world.
The show will be on view at the Bravura Gallery in Southampton until Nov. 17. Call 631-259-2605.