The New Bend

‘The New Bend’ is a group exhibition curated by Legacy Russell on view at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles. The show features contemporary artists working in textile practice. Their visual vernacular exists in conversation with, and in respect to, the contributions of the Gee’s Bend Alabama quilters – Black American women in collective cooperation and creative economic production – and their enduring legacy.


The show features 13 artists— Anthony Akinbola, Eddie R. Aparicio, Dawn Williams Boyd, Myrlande Constant, Ferren Gipson, Tomashi Jackson, Basil Kincaid, Eric N. Mack, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Tuesday Smillie, Rachel Eulena Williams, Qualeasha Wood, and Zadie Xa—and pays homage to Gee’s Bend quilters Sarah Benning (b. 1933), Missouri Pettway (1902-1981), Lizzie Major (1922-2011), Sally Bennett Jones (1944-1988), and Mary Lee Bendolph (b.1935), among others. The works in the show, therefore, are citational of very specific communal and radical traditions of textile and quilting practices of Gee’s Bend while also contributing to radically new approaches both within textile practice and beyond.


The exhibition runs until December 30, 2022.


"Forward walking boy on the edge where the sand meets the shore (from DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX)", 2018
Forward walking boy on the edge where the sand meets the shore (from DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX)

by Eric N. Mack
Silk organza, cotton handkerchief and tulle
101 1/8 x 185 1/8 x 119 1/4 in
© Eric N. Mack
Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

2018© Eric N. Mack Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

"Complements", 2022
Complements

by Ferren Gipson
Linen and cotton with hand-stitched sashiko thread
66 x 61 1/4 x 1/2 in
© Ferren Gipson
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Keith Lubow

2022© Ferren Gipson Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Keith Lubow

"Seeing", 2022
Seeing

by Ferren Gipson
Vinyl
74 1/2 x 29 x 1 1/8 in
© Ferren Gipson
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Keith Lubow

2022© Ferren Gipson Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Keith Lubow

"I am not a machine", 2022
I am not a machine

by Ferren Gipson
Stretched linen and silk fabric
78 1/2 x 30 x 1 in
© Ferren Gipson
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Keith Lubow

2022© Ferren Gipson Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Keith Lubow