Textile photos and paint inspired by the old master
So often the work presented in a gallery exhibition hides or eliminates any signs of the messy process. Despite the artist’s efforts for clarity and perfection the little errors notes and decisions along the way lead viewers towards meaning in the work. Discoveries with new materials or new thoughts are revealed. It also suggests what the artist wants what he or she is searching for.
Lethbridge artist Dagmar Dahle involves the viewer in her process. Her work Weaving Van Gogh as it appears in its third iteration at Stride Gallery is a puzzle an ongoing mystery. In it she confidently follows in the steps of Van Gogh across the sea and to the places he once sat had thoughts and painted.
To some this is strange behaviour. What if we all unquestioningly followed our curiosities for a living? Or more specifically if we copied our heroes as Dahle does methodically re-creating colour-for-colour Van Gogh’s palette? That kind of work might fall under capitalist philosopher Adam Smith’s “unproductive” category. Thankfully not everyone wants to do this. But Dahle makes following her whims worthwhile. The postcards notes bundles of yarn sketches and finished works are openly displayed for consideration.
Dahle’s sketches and photographs of her native Saskatchewan are next to photos of the fields in France where Van Gogh painted. Swatches of colour matching the grass and sky in Saskatchewan are next to the colours copied from original Van Gogh’s. The comparisons and interwoven influences break down historical art hierarchies by placing their practices and biographies side by side. This is where the criticality and so-called “productive” work comes in.
Dahle’s careful research into the specific palettes of Van Gogh also results in framed gouache and enamel paintings of woven horizontal and vertical lines. These paintings are abstracted versions of the original Van Gogh’s and communicate the emotions of the landscapes through colour. They also bring in two more historical art references: Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings and Agnes Martin’s delicate grid paintings.
From a feminist perspective Dahle is weaving another version of art history whereby traditional notions of masculine and feminine work are disrupted. Van Gogh saw the work of textile weavers (who were men by the way) as exemplary and used bundles of yarn to experiment with colour combinations. Martin and Dahle’s paintings use the grid which is usually seen as a male thing. And Dahle uses Pollock’s drip house paint technique which was formerly a “men-only” thing.
Hierarchies the idea of a singular genius and gender stereotypes are elegantly disproved. Even though there is plenty of analytical work here the preliminary wandering and discovering retains a meaning of its own. Dahle didn’t have to include the evidence of her process but because she did we are reminded of how historical figures can affect us personally and how sometimes you just gotta go with it.
