Demons, Yarns and Tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists

by Sarah Kent (Introduction)

With the recent recuperation of knitting and embroidery in the work of Ghada Amer, Tracy Emin, Emily Jacir and in the pages of KnitKnit magazine and last season's monograph on the tapestries of Dieter Roth and Ingrid Wiener, it comes as a pleasure to see tapestry retrieved as a medium in Demons, Yarns and Tales . Here, 15 internationally renowned artists explore wall-hanging tapestry, a craft foreign to their habitual practice. Three years in the making, the 14 tapestry projects of Demons, Yarns and Tales address a gamut of subjects--from fictive landscapes and architectural abstraction to fashion and flora--while incorporating into these themes the politics of race, gender, international conflict and ecology. In adjusting to this new medium and adapting to unfamiliar textures and surfaces, each artist has found ways to expand the scope of their skills and develop the ongoing themes of their work. This book sees them translate the familiar languages of paint, paper, pencil, ink on canvas, ceramics or wood panel into that of handwoven stitch and silk thread. The participating artists are Ghada Amer & Reza Farkhondeh, assume vivid astro focus, Peter Blake, Jaime Gili, Gary Hume, Francesca Lowe, Beatriz Milhazes, Paul Noble, Grayson Perry, Shahzia Sikander, Fred Tomaselli, Gavin Turk, Julie Verhoeven and Kara Walker.

106 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2009

About the author

Sarah Kent (born 1947) is a British art critic, formerly art editor of the weekly London 'what's on' guide Time Out. She was an early supporter of the Young British Artists in general, and Tracey Emin in particular, helping her to get early exposure. This has led to polarised reactions of praise and opposition for Kent. She adopts a feminist stance and has stated her position to be that of "a spokesperson, especially for women artists, in a country that is essentially hostile to contemporary art."