Brent Wadden: Sympathetic Resonance

New works by Canadian artist Brent Wadden. Influenced by folk and Bauhaus textiles, the language and techniques of traditional North American tapestry weaving, as well as painting movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Wadden complicates hierarchies of media and disciplines with his work, throwing the distinction between high and low into flux.

Working on backstrap and floor looms, Wadden creates his large-scale work by weaving linear and abstract forms that he then stretches over raw canvas. Influenced by folk and Bauhaus textiles, the language and techniques of women quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, as well as painting movements such as Minimalism, Wadden’s pieces balance full and empty spaces, throwing the distinction between high and low into flux and using technical mistakes to progress. His paintings complicate hierarchies of media and disciplines, surfaces and textures with his own woven arrangements.