Audio By Carbonatix
By Lilia Menconi
About a year ago, I saw this:
and this:
So I totally freaked out and wrote this.
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Both pieces are by local artist, Denise Yaghmourian. I spied Hook Cube (top) and Label, Jumpsuits (bottom) – or, at least, works very similar to them – at the Tempe Public Library and immediately fell in love with Yaghmourian’s work. Since then, I’ve seen her pop up around town and was further impressed when I saw her work at Bentley Gallery in Scottsdale.
Tonight you can see her, along with eight other artists, at The Icehouse for “The Fiber of the Matter”. The exhibition tackles a range of issues including, mimicry, process of repetition, disease patterns, internal body parts…the list goes on. All artists use thread, string, fabrics and, well, fibers to explore these ideas.
I’m looking forward to the show as a whole and will certainly pay close attention to Yaghmourian who studied art at ASU and works as a full time artist. She creates her work using found objects, remnants of wood, sewing materials and other everyday items. She sounds like a perfect fit for this exhibition’s theme.
She’s crocheted together a mass of styrofoam craft heads for this show. That sounds completely ridiculous. In a very good way. If anyone can tie a bunch of creepy heads together and make it fabulous, Yaghmourian can.
As if that weren’t eye-bulge-inspiring enough, I’m also in for soft and fuzzy installations by Petra Groen and Christy Puetz, plush ladders dangling from the walls by Saskia Jorda and Karrie Hovey, giant human hair balls by Barri Chase (pumped for that, big time), a performance piece by Ana B. Hernandez, a tapestry of stitches by Ingrid Restemayer and a work that tracks the CIA flights to clandestine prisons by Mona Higuchi.
Sounds pretty wild. Oh yeah, I’m into it.
“The Fiber of the Matter (La Fibre del Asunto)” is at The Icehouse 429 W. Jackson St. in Phoenix through November 21st. Opening reception is tonight from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Visit www.theicehouseaz.com.
