Dovecot Gallery
Bernat Klein A LIFE IN COLOUR
31 July – 26 September 2015
Bernat Klein, Scandia, 1971, cotton warp and wool tapestry, Dovecot Studios, 99.1 x 99.1cm, photo courtesy Bernat Klein Trust
A Life in Colour is a retrospective exhibition featuring tapestries by Bernat Klein woven by Dovecot Studios, alongside other works by the designer whose signature vibrant mohair and tweed textiles were produced in the Scottish Borders for fashion houses in Europe.
Serbian-born Klein (1922-2014) studied textile technology at Leeds until 1948, after which he embarked upon a career designing woven textiles leading him to Edinburgh to work for Munrospun. In 1950 the company relocated to the Scottish Borders and two years later Klein established his own luxury textile enterprise, Colourcraft. Architect Peter Womersley was commissioned to modernise Colourcraft’s Netherdale Mill at Galashiels, and to design the award winning modernist house and studio near Selkirk where Klein remained until the end of his life.
As a reaction to the utilitarian and earthy colour schemes of 1950s Scottish fashion and interior textiles, colourist Klein embraced a bright new palette inspired by his natural surroundings. From his own Pointillist inspired oil paintings and designs for Chanel, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent fabrics, to the sumptuous furnishings and aspirational floral printed fashion synthetics seen in the iconic glamour photography of the 60s and 70s, colour technology was at the heart of Klein’s practice.
This eye for colour and design was applied to a variety of media by Klein, as illustrated in this exhibition of works spanning five decades, and including tapestries created in the 1970s with Dovecot.
Dovecot Gallery is proud to present this exhibition in recognition of the lasting contribution Klein made to Scotland’s international reputation for textile design and making.
Sponsored by Creative Scotland and Dovecot Foundation.
Mon-Sun, 10am-6pm
Outside August: Mon-Sat, 10.30am-5.30pm
Event
Kwang Young Chun: Aggregations Curator's Tour
30 July, 1 August, 1 August, 4 August, 6 August, 7 August, 7 August, 8 August, 8 August, 8 August, 11 August, 13 August, 14 August, 14 August, 15 August, 15 August, 15 August, 15 August, 17 August, 18 August, 18 August, 20 August, 20 August, 21 August, 22 August, 22 August, 25 August, 27 August, 28 August, 29 August, 30 August
11am
Free, but book here.
Dovecot Gallery
Kwang Young Chun: Aggregations
31 July – 26 September 2015
Kwang Young Chun, ‘Aggregation 06 - JN028’, 2006, 250cm diameter, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper, image courtesy Kwang Young Chun Studio
Aggregations, the first solo exhibition in Scotland of internationally renowned Korean artist Kwang Young Chun, unites the traditions of making and Eastern philosophy with the artist’s painterly interest in American Abstract Expressionism.
Chun constructs colourful and complex assemblages comprised of triangular forms in various sizes, which he views as ‘basic units of information’ creating both harmony and conflict. They are cut from polystyrene, wrapped in Korean mulberry paper and tied with hand-twisted paper string. Throughout his works contrasts are continually apparent - between personal and mass produced, between soft organic forms and jagged cracked fragments, between the whole and its various parts held in perfect tension, and between the specific traditions of a culture and the international language of art.
Chun’s distinctive sculptural forms marked a significant shift in his practice. Following a period spent exploring the language of Abstract Expressionism as a medium to convey his personal struggle with the divide between ideals and reality, Chun sought a new way to communicate his art in a Korean sentiment. A childhood memory of mulberry paper medicine packages with name cards hanging from the ceiling, observed during a visit to a doctor practising Chinese medicine, sparked the shift in the artist’s trajectory from two to three dimensional making.
Chun’s mindscapes have the appearance of quoting from textile - where repeated rhythms and rich and blended colours are combined in smaller elements to form the overall pictorial whole. This likeness to the process of fabric construction finds a resonance within the context in the Dovecot Gallery, which with the Dovecot Tapestry Studio celebrates artists who embrace traditional making methodologies to create contemporary works of art.
Sponsored by Creative Scotland and Dovecot Foundation.
Mon-Sun, 10am-6pm
Outside August: Mon-Sat, 10.30am-5.30pm