“Don’t look at the carpet, I drew something awful on it.”
p(. – David Bowie, Breaking Glass
Taking rugs off the floor and onto the wall is nothing new. Rugs have both been used as decorative necessities and revered as objects of art for centuries. Beautiful rugs are found in exotic and ancient cultures all over the world and as nearby and prosaic as chain home stores. The RUGS series honors that in format and spirit while also abstracting that tradition by creating a pattern that exists only as a drawing and not an object. RUGS is also a study in material — using pencil and paint to emulate textiles and the variety of techniques used for making rugs (woven, needle felt, knotted, tufted, flat weave, embroidered, hooked) while introducing elements of nature like jungles and starry cosmos. Each drawings plays with the idea that fiber arts contain anthropomorphic qualities and thus can be seen as unique, abstract interpretations of the natural world. Whether intentional or random, in the process of creation, these forms are ascribed human qualities through the personal vision of the craft-maker’s representation.
From Domm:
“I am also interested in what motivates individual artists who create something as meticulous as patterns and what the switch is between executing and planning. I think many artists are familiar with using media to motivate themselves through a repetitive section of a drawing or to help zen out during the process. For references sake, the RUG series took approximately 200 hours which can be roughly converted to 8 seasons of the show 24.”
The “RUGS”:catalog/34213 book is published by Miniature Garden and will contain many of the RUGS drawings interposed with collages. The book is 36 pg., 8" x 6", laser printed, hand-bound in an edition of 50. The RUGS book will also come with a unique RUG STAIN ink blot drawing for the launch, a collaboration between Rachel Domm and Denise Schatz of Miniature Garden. There will also be a takeaway newsprint poster of a RUG drawing and collage which will be part of the window display and a 16" x 20" RUG print, 2 color “silkscreen”:catalog/34214 in an edition of 40, printed by Kayrock Screenprinting.
