Small crochet - SOLD
Ben Coutouvidis (b 1970)
Small crochet
Wire sculpture
Diameter: 34 cm
Sold - 2010
‘Memory’ is a sub-theme in this collection of work. One of the salient qualities of working with wire is that one imparts a memory to it by bending and shaping it. The juxtaposition of the linear characteristics of irrevocable historical time, against the cyclical characteristics of resurrective ritual time, is captured in the wire circles as appropriate metaphors for memory.
A circle of crocheted wire plays on the idea that craft is often a communal undertaking. A poem by Sylvia Plath called “The Net-Menders” illustrates this beautifully - three ladies sitting outside mending nets:
“While their fingers work with the coarse mesh and the fine
Their eyes revolve the whole town like a blue and green ball.
Nobody dies or is born without their knowing it.
They talk of bride-lace, of lovers spunky as gamecocks.
…Earthen fingers
Twist old words into the web-threads”.
So the net becomes a metaphor for how memory is woven into craft and oral tradition and hereby creates community.
To view the gallery of oil paintings click here