Diversity of technique and subject matter is the hallmark of these intimate condensed works. In what is planned as the first of a series of miniature shows at Helen Drutt, some 80 internationally recognized artists from Japan, Holland, England, the United States and other countries constitute a near encyclopedia of top artists working in fiber. The works range from flat representations, like Helena Hernmarck's The Conversation, a painterly figure group in which stitches behave like brushstrokes, to small sculptures, like Lanny Bergner's tiny translucent silicone gourd form, to books, like Rise Nagin's Passage, in which pages of delicate silk are layered over translucent green ovoids to elicit unfolding movement through space. Lia Cook's photo-realist vision of lips suggests the fascinations of Man Ray, while Susie Brandt pays homage to Meret Oppenheim with a creepy but compelling miniature cup fashioned of fingernail clippings and caulk. Among several book works, Lewis Knauss is showing irregular paper leaves like gold and silver bangles.
Paper incorporates fibers from the same plant sources as fabric.
Lutz is meticulous. The self-contained seeming fragility of these works can be daunting. Some are sizeable but most are so light that the slightest breeze affects them. The interior was surfaced with copper leaf, but the opening has been covered with a translucent sheet of abaca, which reflects and transmits intimations of what is concealed. This also probably stabilizes the pressure and humidity inside and outside the work.