Last Friday I went to MoMA. I haven’t been there in a while and there’re a couple of exhibitions I wanted to see, like  the exhibition “On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century”.

Julie Mehretu. Rising Down. 2008. Ink and acrylic on canvas, 96 x 144″ (243.8 x 365.8 cm). Collection Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, New York. Photo by Tim Thayer. © 2010 Julie Mehretu

This exhibition “explores the radical transformation of the medium of drawing throughout the twentieth century, a period when numerous artists subjected the traditional concepts of drawing to a critical examination and expanded the medium’s definition in relation to gesture and form”. ( in MoMA website)

One of the mediums explored by several artists was fiber and thread. No surprises here, if we think that embroidering can be seen as drawing with a needle and thread, and the first examples of embroidered work date back to a couple of centuries BC.

However, the way the following artists used a fiber medium to draw, either two and tri-dimentionally, it’s nothing but amazing.

 

Susan Hefuna (German, born 1962)

Untitled, Mixed media, embroidery on tracing paper, 2008

 

Cildo Meireles (Brazilian, born 1948)

Malhas da Liberdade (Meshes of Freedom), Cotton rope, 1976

 

Anna Maria Maiolino (Brazilian, born Italy 1942)

Desde A até M (From A to M) From the series “Mapas Mentais” (Mental Maps), Thread, synthetic polymer paint, ink, transfer type, and pencil on paper,         1972-1999

 

Ranjani Shettar (Indian, born 1977)

Just a bit more, Hand-molded beeswax, pigments, and thread dyed in tea, 2005-2006

(photo courtesy of http://artinthestudio.blogspot.com/)

The exhibition will be on view until February 7th. Well-known-and-renowed artists like Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Alexander Calder, Vassily Kandinsky and Eva Hesse are featured, as well as the highlighted artists and many many more.

Make sure you don’t miss it!

On Line: Drawing Through The Twentieth Century is organized by Connie Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings, The Museum of Modern Art, and Catherine de Zegher, former director, The Drawing Center, New York.