Elodie Blanchard revitalizes the crumbs of fabric into vivid trees, bouquets and goddesses – Huge
The clothes we wear often have stories about our lives. The knee hole of a beloved jeans recalled spending hours bent over toward the vegetable garden, while greasy oil staining condemned a T-shirt that once wore a family barbecue.
For Elodie Blanchard, textiles have unlimited narrative potential. Working with friends, chunky and second-hand stores around the Brooklyn neighborhood, French-born artists and designers sew spliced sculptures, turns the materials originally used in landfills into vibrant forms. In search of something more specific (e.g., lekra, leather or fur), the artist clicked on her friends in the industry, as well as organizations such as art and factory materials.
The resulting works have many shapes. There are Blanchard’s hard-working trees that lay upwards and upwards the fabric stripes, creating visible rings surrounding the trunk. The stretching is crucial for these tree constructions, and the artist shares her tendency to alternately provide the content of the material, thus making small bumps and curves similar to organic life.
Blanchard found inspiration at the Greenwood Cemetery near her home to spread her bouquet series. She searched for trash cans for polyester scrap, ragged flags and other materials that once respected the dead. For example, “Happy Birthday”, for example, is achieved after the artist discovers a balloon with these words.
Whether it is creating a symbolic goddess or a three-dimensional ship, the material guides the form. “It may look spontaneous, but when I’m bringing the strips together, I think about the colors and patterns carefully,” Blanchard said. “If I wanted to make a ‘girl’ tree, I would look for haute couture fabrics; if I were to create a trophy that could show excess, I would look for bright gold materials.” But regardless of the form, Blanchard has a core goal: “Every time, I try to create a unique universe or personality.”
If you are in New York you can see some of Blanchard’s works Soft structureuntil August 8 on Jane Lombard Gallery. As part of New York Textile Month, she is currently working on open studios and exhibitions, where you can find more artists on her website and on Instagram.
