26 November 2012

Art I like - Mary Smull

"commercial needlepoint kit and all its contents" is the description of materials. Image from here; see more at http://www.marysmull.com.

For her "conceptual needlepoint," Mary Smull makes her own rules when completing needlepoint kits, and those rules become part of the title. She says: "My experiment poses two main questions. What is the relationship between rule- following and image-making in creativity? What is the relationship of convention to invention in aesthetic choice?"

"I work with needlepoint and other textile processes to expose the diversity of attitudes toward labor and the complex relationship between art history and domestic craft. Using established methods of Conceptual art – rule based making, appropriation, exquisite corpse – the work addresses unconscious biases we hold, both as makers and non-makers, about the way we value our time and the time of “experts” versus the time of “hobbyists”," she says. That agenda will resonate with a lot of people....

No comments: