T h e b ro a d g lo b a l m ix h e lp e d sp a rk a flu r r y o f
m ed ia atten tio n as w e ll as q u estio n s c o n c e rn in g th e
in te rlo p in g o f th e se art stars in to th e tim e -tested
w o rld o f an a n cien t w o v e n fo rm .
Opening receptions for tapestry exhibits aren’t typically associated
w ith glitz, glamour, security guards and lashings o f champagne.
But the gala for “ Demons, Yarns and Tales” in London’s Bloomsbury
district on N ovem ber nth saw the vast gallery space o f the D airy
bursting with everyone w ho’s anyone in the art world. Conversations
bristled w ith talk o f Elton John’s party at the venue the previous
w eek and w ith the courtyard set up as a gyro takeout joint, sm artly
dressed waiters worked the room w hile the sales team worked the
wallets o f potential buyers.
T h e reason for all the excitem ent and spending w as, o f course,
the tapestries, all designed by some o f the biggest names in the
contemporary art world—among them, Kara W alker, Grayson Perry,
Paul N oble, Fred Tom aselli, G ary Hume, Shahzia Sikander and
Peter Blake-and the global mix helped spark media attention as well
as questions concerning the interloping o f these art stars into the
time-tested world o f this ancient woven form.
T h is m eeting o f the art and craft worlds w as the brainchild
o f Christopher and Suzanne Sharp, the couple behind the Rug
Com pany, a handmade rug business w ith stores in London, N ew
Y ork and L os Angeles. A fte r 10 years o f building the business,
the pair decided to dip a toe into the commercial art m arket under
the name Banners o f Persuasion. T h e Sharps are m aking an im -
pressive go o f it, with the tapestries, made in editions o f five, selling
for between £15,000 to £85,000 ($22,412 to $129,2x9).
“ T h e idea w as to go back to that Renaissance m odel, where
you would commission someone to depict your life, your house and
your battles,” explains Christopher Sharp. “ N ot a lot has been done
w ith tapestry w ith contem porary artists, especially handmade
tapestries. I wanted to be very true to the medium and find a group
o f artists w ho w ere very international. W e looked at people who
w e felt had a connection to textiles or whose w ork w e thought would
translate well into textiles.”
T h e Sharps drew up a short list o f 30 artists and slow ly edited
that down to 16 w ho w ere asked to contribute, o f whom 15 (includ-
ing collaborators Ghada Am er and R eza Farkhondeh) said yes.
From idea to reality took three-and-a-half years, w ith the results
telling the tale o f how much w ork has gone into the collection
by organizers, artists and makers alike. T h e actual m aking o f the
tapestries w as outsourced to a team o f 30 tapestry weavers based
in the Chinese countryside north o f Shanghai, as the artists involved
lxad no direct experience constructing such w ork.
K ara W alker’s stunning
A Warm Summer Evening in 1863
was
the first piece to greet visitors walking into the gallery. Based on
an illustration published in
Harper’s Pictorial History o f the Civil War
(1866), W alker’s tapestry is an intricate and harrowing depiction
o f the ransacking o f an orphanage for black children in N ew Y ork
C ity. In the foreground, one o f W alker’s signatui-e silhouettes—
in this case, a felt applique o f a girl w ith pigtails, strung from a tree
by a pretty bow —depicts a very different story o f life and battles
than the typical Renaissance tapestry. T h e tapestry is Am erican
history w rit large, telling a part o f the African-Am erican story that
the history books seem to have ignored.
Am erican history is also the subject o f Grayson P erry ’s
Vote
Alan Measles For God,
though the period is far more contem porary
and the contrast in appearance between the tw o could not be more
marked. Based on blocky images often found in Afghani w ar rugs,
w hich frequently depict modern scenes o f tank battles, P erry’s
flamboyant pop-culture style is reflected in both color and design.
It is also the only tapestry o f the 14 made in needlepoint and is un-
doubtedly as much the star o f the show as W alker’s piece.
T o a
u . k .
audience P erry’s tapestry has been controversial for
its subject matter, and it might be even more an object o f outrage
to a u .s. audience. W ith the design originally drawn by hand and
then colored on com puter, the w ork features the T w in T ow ers
under attack, complete with falling bodies, and also refers to Osama
Bin Laden, the Pentagon and the torture o f Iraqi prisoners by
American troops. “ It has the whole iconography, from the Palestin-
ian occupation, to the Pentagon, the oil industry; it’s even got an
opium poppy in there som ewhere,” P eriy says. “ It’s got everything
faith-based intelligence got us into.” >
feb/niaro9 american craft 04c
