Certain patterns seem unmistakable: the geometric diamonds of a Navajo blanket, the neatly arranged vines of damask wallpaper, or the interlocking initials of the Louis Vuitton logo. But what happens when you transform the classically sober brown and tan Louis Vuitton pattern into an explosion of bright colors intermingled with Japanese animation forms? Or pair oversized hip-hop clothing with damask wallpaper patterns? Combine fussy Victorian style clothing with vibrant, African prints? The meanings and origins of these patterns are transformed into something new.
Over the last two decades, artists have increasingly turned to pattern and dress as a language with which to communicate who they are and where they come from. The experiences of culture clash, immigration and multi-ethnicity in our globalized world have driven artists to use this visual language to chart their personal and communal histories. Through pattern and dress, artists compress time and cross geographic boundaries to illustrate the various influences that inform their cultural identities. The artists freely mix motifs from popular culture, history and art history to transform the meanings of patterns. Pattern ID features 15 artists of diverse origins who have seized on pattern and dress as powerful visual connectors between themselves, their histories and their audiences.
“The artists use pattern and dress to take up the 21st century challenge of locating one’s place in society against the backdrop of globalization,” said Ellen Rudolph, the museum’s curator of exhibitions. “Many of the artists in the exhibition have migrated from one culture to another, be it national, ethnic, racial, sexual, socioeconomic, political or religious. Rather than trade one identity for another, the artists in Pattern ID reveal ways in which identity can be cumulative.”
The approximately 40 works in Pattern ID include those of: Mark Bradford, (b. 1961, Los Angeles, CA); iona rozeal brown (b. 1966, Washington DC); Nick Cave (b. 1959, Jefferson City, MO); Willie Cole (b. 1955, Somerville, NJ); Lalla Essaydi (b. 1955, Morocco); Samuel Fosso (b. 1962, Cameroon); James Gobel (b. 1972, Las Vegas, NV); Brian Jungen (b. 1970, Fort St. John, British Columbia); Bharti Kher (b. 1969, London); Takashi Murakami (b. 1962, Tokyo); Grace Ndiritu (b. 1976, Birmingham, England); Yinka Shonibare MBE (b. 1962, London); Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971, Camden, NJ); Aya Uekawa (b. 1979, Tokyo); Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977, Los Angeles, CA)
