Danielle Andress
“1993” (2019)
handwoven polyester with sublimation printing, bubble wrap, acrylic paint, sewing pins, escutcheon pins, on stretched linen
28 x 26 in. | $4,500
I am an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily in nonfunctional weaving—both digital and manual. I am interested in the relationship between popular culture and art practices, especially when examining the effects of the Internet, digital archives, and social media on daily life. My work often utilizes colloquial language and takes the format of stretched weavings or assemblages. Loom development and early computing are linked in their shared dependence on coded, binary languages and theoretically through organizational structures as in the World Wide Web. The narrowed search results received through adaptive algorithms and artificial intelligence are creating a behemoth monoculture that is rippling through every facet of contemporary life. The hopeful potential once offered by online community is responsible for the increasingly polarized, anxiety-riddled, and anonymous experiences of everyday Americans. The loss of net neutrality, dissemination of false content, and accessibility of editing software makes this an urgent topic. The Internet is flattening the world, collapsing time and space, while limiting what we see and how we see it. My work reexamines fast and rapidly circulated images through the slowness of weaving and with the permanence of synthetic materials.
Weaving as an action is antithetical to the continuously optimized yet flattened experience of digital life. Pairing new technology with an archaic language points to seismic cultural shifts in production and labor. The process affords physical space for both the weaver and the materials being woven. In weaving, the physicality, repetitive action, and labor are fundamental to the work. The warp (the tensioned vertical threads) is gradually interlaced with the weft (the sometimes unstable, discontinuous horizontal threads) through the repetitive act of weaving. The work is slow, deliberate, and tethered to time. Paired with colloquial language such as clichés, idioms, and mantras, the tension of the loom is transferred to the weaving.
© Danielle Andress