Threads are being laid bare at Hermès Liat Towers. Fortunately, it is not on items on boutique’s racks but on the Third Floor - an art space Hermès has had since 2006, for a rather interesting exhibition of tapestries, CERTAINTY | ENTROPY. The exhibition feature the works of artist Aiko Tezuka, who presents an unusual take on the art of tapestry that has us looking at an unraveling of weaves, in a quest for stories that lie hidden in the interlacing of threads.
The four works on display, conceptualised by Tezuka, were made through the efforts of the artist and her team of seven artisans in Holland. In them, the artists has sought to weave in a flavour inspired by Singapore’s diverse cultural mix, and mixed into the intricate patterns on the tapestries are motifs that represent Singapore’s rich flora and fauna. A closer examination does reveal more and the viewer will discover that mixed in with the symbols of Singapore, are the emblems of modern society that are in contrast with the more traditional patterns.
Tezuka in her unconventional display of tapestries that challenge the norms of the finished state, does seem very much motivated by how she perceives the world we live in, the baring of threads so that “the woven motifs fade out gently into blurred images of what the once were, probing untold possibilities of the world we inhabit”.
The ‘gentle fading of woven motifs into blurred images of what they once were’ …
The display is one that Terzuka seeks to portray the “strength in the tension between then and now, isolation and connectivity, construction and deconstruction” with the intention to provoke the viewer to “ponder the narratives of life, and encourages them to muse upon their histories and the paths that were not taken” - a path we in Singapore do seem to have taken. CERTAINTY | ENTROPY runs until 27 July 2014 at Third Floor – Hermès, 541 Orchard Road, Liat Towers, Singapore.
The author also blogs on The Long and Winding Road.