sculpture Vol. 36 No. 7 September 2017 Vol. 36 No. 7 A publication of the International Sculpture Center $7.

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sculpture sculpture September 2017 Vol. 36 No. 7 A publication of the International Sculpture Center $7.

1 sculpture sculpture September 2017 Vol. 36 No. 7 A publication of the International Sculpture Center $ September 2017 Vol. 36 No. 7 A publication of the International Sculpture Center

3 Revisiting Lin Tianmiao BY ANN ALBRITTON Protruding Patterns, Woolen carpets, 150 sq. meters cm.

Experimental artist Lin Tianmiao has been dramatically expanding her work in recent years, moving from her signature textiles, ribbons, and threads into found objects and sound.

4 Experimental artist Lin Tianmiao has been dramatically expanding her work in recent years, moving from her signature textiles, ribbons, and threads into found objects and sound. A recent visit to Lin s studio and home near Beijing offered an opportunity to see current works, as she prepared for upcoming exhibitions. Spread along the floor, an extremely long carpet composed of dozens of smaller woven carpets looked much like a tapestry, with purple and red yarn emerging in strong tufts. The surface illustrates the title, Protruding Patterns (2014), forming a relief of bulging Chinese characters and several English words, including Duchess and Cherry. Other works involved wrapping. For instance, a jumble of pink, undefined rods and curving shapes included everyday objects and intersecting gadgets swathed in yards of pink silksatin ribbon; closer examination revealed how the objects were trapped by their beautiful, girly wrappings. A similar work, bound in yellow satin ribbon, reinforced those ideas, which seem to comment on the place of women in patriarchal society. Earlier works throughout Lin s home and studio were familiar, but she has not rested there. What appeared to be a metal sculpture shaped somewhat like gynecological/ obstetric stirrups or the structure of the pelvic bone was actually covered in bronzecolored silk. Combining old forms with new ideas, Lin says that the fiber spheres in her works have evolved to reflect cancer cells. (Her mother died of cancer a few years ago.) Balls of thread filled large bowls around the studio and could be seen in various twoand three-dimensional works throughout the house. Lin references women and their precarious place in her own culture, as well as in others. In 2015, Lin s solo exhibition HOW in Wenzhou, China, featured several earlier thread works, as well as sculptures made of artificial bones and ordinary mechanical tools constructions that appeared more stereotypically masculine, though the bones were arranged according to size and type, eliminating gender. Toy #1, which appeared in the same show, took the form of a playful, revolving installation of multiple circular disks covered in abstract patterns; progressively decreasing in size along the length of a central support rod, they resembled an endlessly turning transmitter. For the Setouchi Triennale on Japan s Ogijima Island (2016), Lin installed Rotation- Revolution throughout the rooms of an empty house. In this multi-part kinetic work, found, discarded objects doubled as sound sculptures. Commenting on loaded words like respect, reconstruct, decontaminate, migrate, and forego, she says: These words contain the regard, curiosity, excitement, and respect that I have for the island. Through this I am attempting to use the old objects left over from daily life in an intuitive and tangible manner, tasting the traces of past lives. Further, in the name of art, I am reconstructing an old culture using new aesthetics, concepts, and taste to give it the potential of organic symbiosis. Lin points out that in Rotation-Revolution, she was attempting to endow objects with a new life, which also produces an aesthetic concept of surplus value. I look[ed] for a new way of interpretation to reactivate the objects that were left and forgotten in the house, to make them move again. Rotation-Revolution explored concepts from Japanese Shinto, making a connection between contemporary Japan and its past. The tree-like forms that appeared in several of the installations brought viewers up close, where they could examine the unusual assortment of items contributing to the moving whole. These objects ranged from discarded clocks to kitchen utensils and Lin s ubiquitous fiber balls. In one installation, which protruded from the wall, yellow silk balls dangled and spilled Toy #1, Polyurea, metal frame, engine, and mixed media, 3.3 meters tall, 3-meter diameter when rotating. 54 Sculpture 36.7

Above: Rotation-Revolution #17B, 2016. Below left: Rotation-Revolution #5, 2016. Below right: Rotation-Revolution #9, 2016.

YASUSHI around silver trays, while strings of thread hung into the space below.

From textiles and threads to found objects that turn and create sound, there is endless opportunity to question and to examine.

5 Above: Rotation-Revolution #17B, Below left: Rotation-Revolution #5, Below right: Rotation-Revolution #9, Multi-part installation consisting of polyurea, steel structure, acrylic paint, silk thread, and mixed media, dimensions variable. YASUSHI around silver trays, while strings of thread hung into the space below. Lin s studio and home reflect her complex use of materials in life and art. From textiles and threads to found objects that turn and create sound, there is endless opportunity to question and to examine. By reconstructing fast-disappearing traditions and ways of life through discarded items silks, threads, and everyday objects her work bridges past and present, uncovering echoes and correspondences. Ann Albritton is a writer based in Sarasota, Florida. Sculpture September

Online Exhibition Textile Activities for Students Kindergarten to Grade 4 Make Yarn Shapes Make a Yarn Painting Weave a Bookmark

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