And Before One, What Are You Counting?
Roman Susan at 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago IL
August 7 - August 29, 2021
Tell me about your first solo show?
Before One, What Are You Counting? was my first solo exhibition. I applied to Roman Susan’s open call and was lucky to be chosen and to mount it at Roman Susan. There were seven works in the show. I chose the number seven intentionally because of the associations with time and the number of days of creation in some Jewish cosmologies. Three pieces were indigo-dyed sculptures, made of woven basket reed, and dyed to a dark midnight blue color. There were four weavings that were hung on the wall, which were made using various techniques such as overshot, woven shibori resist dyeing, and tapestry. Two weavings were made on floor looms and two weavings were made on tapestry frame looms with yarn that I had spun with a drop spindle and dyed.
Conceptually, all of the work was rooted in research and study of Jewish cosmology. I started in Bereshit or בראשית or Genesis, the first book of the Tanakh/Hebrew Bible. Bereshit has been the source of extensive commentary and intellectual exegesis within the history of Jewish mysticism. This study was my first encounter with Jewish metaphysical ideas as a significant element of my work. The sculptures were a huge breakthrough for me. It was really a kind of lightning bolt moment. This feeling doesn't come very often, but when you do get it in your studio, you experience a feeling of deep knowing of what you must do.
I made those three vessels, and I knew I needed to make another show where there would be 10 sculptures. That led to my next solo show, the creation of those 10 works, and into an even deeper study of the ideas of the sefirot/ ספירות , these hollow and voided spaces where the universe was crafted, written about in the poetic text of Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation). Historically, Sefer Yetzirah is the first mention of sefirot cosmology in Jewish metaphysical thought. The paradoxical and shapeshifting qualities of the sefirot fascinated me. I felt there was something to learn by studying them, I think one way to see it is as an exercise in possibility.
How do you interact with the intersection of the devotional practice of being Jewish and being an artist?
One of the reasons why I weave is that I connect the practice of weaving to infinity – to both ideas about infinity and a way I’m able to connect within that space. Giving your time to weaving becomes a devotional practice. Weaving is slow by nature but if you can allow yourself and you are fortunate, time can melt when you are inside of the process rather than feeling like you are swimming upstream against time. I have come to understand that weaving offers the opportunity for continual softening and humility. Weaving is a practice of returning, a practice of love, built by careful and nurturing attention. Each object is the product of not only the time it took to craft it specifically, but also all of the hours the weaver has spent weaving thus far in their practice and their entire knowledge of weaving as a whole. The work is also the product of millenia of weaving knowledge that has been accumulated by other prior weavers, line by line, inch by inch. Time becomes an intensity that is held within the object, solidified by collective inheritance and individual embodied dedication.
When I began weaving, simultaneously, I had spiritual needs that I needed to explore and fulfill for myself as a Jew. These are needs that I continue to have as a person, which is to reckon with forces greater than myself. What is Jewish about it all though? Aside from the fact that the work has been rooted in the study of canonical Jewish texts? One answer to this question is that I believe the work is part of Jewish art historical traditions that associates beauty and intricacy with infinity and sacredness. Another answer I think has to be even more complex than that.
When you get deep enough into a depth, it reveals only another additional depth. If we can understand (from the perspective of Jewish thought) that interpretation and creation are life giving forces, that they are actions and processes that have the power to create new firmaments. In this framework, meaning making and metaphysical action taking can be understood as one and the same. These ideas are shaped by our engagement with them. It’s not prescriptive. There is no authority that is too powerful to be questioned, re-examined or scrutinized.
I am about to undertake a four month writing residency with Writing Space in Chicago to work through the questions of: What is Jewish Art (at this threshold in history)? What can Jewish Art be or do? It has to go beyond simply that I’m working with these ideas that are rooted in this culture(s) or that I am a Jewish person making this art. The process of defining is rife with contradictions and stable ground is illusory. This is one of the many problems with categories, but it is necessary to engage the category in order to deal with questions of collectivity in this contemporary moment. I believe more needs to be said, theorized, talked through, in dialogue with other Jewish artists at this time. I am hoping to add to this conceptual conversation. I feel grateful. I would trace the beginning of this process back to my show with Roman Susan.
What does improvisational tapestry weaving mean?
The warp is the vertical axis of the weaving, held under tension by the loom. The weaver interlaces the warp with the weft (horizontal axis of the weaving). For these weavings, I started with a strong warp for weaving carpets, knowing it would be covered up by the weft faced tapestry. I had a sense that something was going on that was quite raw and needed space to show itself as the object itself was created. I approached the weaving process by showing the choices that were being made. I went into each piece with a rough sense of what it might look like. I knew I wanted to include intentional holes in the woven structure and that I wanted to weave it with indigo dyed hand spun yarn. I gathered everything in that palette, then sat at the loom and worked without a template or solidified plan. The weaving was finished when I reached the end of the warp at 22 inches tall.
Why is indigo important?
Indigo is important because working with it requires a philosophical approach as much as a technical approach. It’s a rigorous process that you have to approach with respect in order to achieve the harmony and balance necessary to work with indigo. It must be reciprocal or it will not work- there cannot be ego or attempt to dominate. You have to have humility and you must slow down.
Indigo is a color that evokes depths of all kinds and cosmic directions, like the sea and the sky.. I also associate indigo with more abstract spiritual ideas because I think it is a color that evokes the unknown and all of the complex associations (like:death/divinity/the psychic unconscious/contemplation of the infinite), etc) that go along with that. I am one of many artists who have worked with indigo to explore themes related to the universe or spirituality throughout history.
Where does this project lie in the context of your art practice?
I can’t seem to stop. I’m sure it would be a lot easier, as an artist, if I were to undertake different topics or work with different processes. It is meaningful to me to do this work. It continues to unfold for me, and sometimes, it's unfolding in a way that's even faster than I can fully understand or articulate. I’m trying to slow it down a little bit which is why I will be doing the writing residency and trying to tie together what has been revealed to me over the past six years of making this work.
My practice still requires a lot of reading and studying and researching, which was a big part of this show at Roman Susan. With this show, I came to understand how to create empty space within myself and how that hollow and void could allow the work to come through to me. As a result of opening myself up in this way, the show became possible to see. The works are different, but in a clear constellation together.
What is it like being an artist in Chicago right now?
There are a lot of amazing artists in this city, artists who I am lucky to call my friends and to do studio visits with and to learn from. There are people who are championing similar mediums and ways of working as me here. Artists can be very kind, supportive and generous. I love working with galleries and art spaces that love artists and understand artists.
There still needs to be more resources for artists – more no strings attached grants, public funding for free artist studios, free art schools and classes, funding for exhibitions and artist publications, universal basic income for artists. To name a few examples.
Cultural workers in this city are forming unions across so many different university, museum and library settings. Artists and cultural workers are standing up for better pay and benefits for all of us. Artists are working to create community studio spaces (like Lmrm and Firebird Community Arts) where the public can access resource intensive processes (like TC2 digital jacquard weaving and glass) outside of a university setting, which allows me to engage in these practices when I would otherwise not be able to access them.
I work tirelessly to secure needed resources, to realize ambitious ideas, and to continue to expand the possibilities of my studio. There isn’t anything I would rather do. This is my life’s work.
How do you see Roman Susan functioning in Chicago?
Roman Susan is a true friend that artists can count on. Their working approach is artist centered and they can empathize directly with the concerns of artists. I had a lot of freedom to do exactly what I needed and wanted to do for this project. I was really supported creatively and economically. I really appreciate the organization’s commitment to paying artists and to being W.A.G.E certified. Roman Susan offered me other artist talk opportunities after my solo show and Nathan and Kristin came to my second solo show. It meant a lot to me to be believed in and the show was crucial to my growth and confidence as an artist
I think it’s really important that Roman Susan offers a space that encourages experimentation and is non-judgemental. They were down to get into the details of the exhibition with me. I remember showing up during install because I wanted to paint the space blue and I had a thick chunk of blue paint chips in different shades. I laid them all out and I remember Kristin really looking at them all. That level of care is so spiritually needed at this moment in time, the opposite of extractive energy. It feels rooted in reciprocity and in values of friendship and cooperation that are important to me.
Other artist histories: hiba ali // Tallulah Cartalucca // Julietta Cheung // Kandis Friesen // Steven Husby // Juan Molina Hernández // Kevin Norris // Ruby Que // Chiffon Thomas // Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson