Dan's Papers - January 11, 2008 - Art Commentary With Marion Wolberg Weiss

EAST ENDERS IN NEW YORK
Part II: Christa Maiwald's "Garden Party" at the Museum of Arts and Design

It's always a pleasure to experience an exhibition at New York's Museum of Arts and Design; the venue is easy to find (across the street from MOMA), elegant without being stuffy, compact and comfortable.

This critic fondly recalls textile artist Jack Larson's show there a few years ago. This time, the presentation also features textile art in a show called "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery."

One of the most striking displays is an installation by East Hampton resident Christa Maiwald, an especially engaging artist who through the years has grown in width and depth. While her themes are often consistent, her media/materials range from photography and video to embroidery. Wherever her art takes her, there's always the sense of plasticity and sensuality.

What viewers may miss, however, is Ms. Maiwald's sharp behavioral observations, which often become political statements as well. Her present installation is one such example. Not only does it signify Ms. Maiwald's worldview, but it also represents the artist's continuing commitment to conceptual art. How so? First, Ms. Maiwald uses little girls' dresses as a surface to embroider portraits of notorious despots like Saddam Hussein, Rafael Trujillo, and not surprising, George Bush. The dresses also serve as lampshades; the lamps glow brightly thus evoking these men's everlasting influence. The dresses are at once dainty and evil, suggesting the innocent lives corrupted by such individuals.

A similar notion exists in Ms. Maiwald's early video from the 1970s where a Ku Klux Klan member teaches a young girl how to use a gun.

There are other noteworthy works in the show that are also political, representing diverse cultural sources. For example, Daina Kaffemaa's "Arabic is not Spoken Here" combines unusual material, where sea squill and thistle are juxtaposed with embroidered Hebrew and Arabic text, respectively. Xiang Yang's piece, predicated on an optical illusion, features George Bush and Saddam Hussein as they morph into one image.

Some embroidery work is not precisely political, but combines a number of perspectives, including philosophical and sociological views. Ultimately, however, most interpretations have a political component. Paul Villinski's piece is an assemblage of lost/damaged gloves found in the streets. (The embroidery is the actual stitching of the gloves.) The fascinating aspect of the assemblage lies in its resemblance to huge bird wings. Such a configuration suggests the transcendence of earthbound human misery (lost gloves), transformed into a sky bound bird.

"Pricked: Extreme Embroidery" will be on view at The Museum of Arts and Design through March 9. Call 212-956-3535.