From rugs celebrating the female form to tapestried cityscapes, we spotlight three textile-based artists using Instagram to power the medium's renaissance
Contemporary society sees us inundated daily with digital imagery – from photography, films and 3D renders to pixellated faces and 8-bit games – and in this environment, artworks bearing the unmissable imprint of the human hand have become more enticing than ever before. Enter textile art, a medium which is seeing something of a renaissance of late, inspiring painters, illustrators and designers to pick up warp and weft and craft in an entirely new way. With that in mind, we select three of our favourite practitioners of weaving and carpet-making on Instagram today.
@coldpicnic
Brooklyn-based studio @coldpicnic has truly mastered the art of the rug, and indeed the art of depicting rugs on rugs, as its excellent Private Parts series – comprised of pale cream carpets sporting an array of private parts rendered in Matisse-esque, minimalist lines – proves. The studio's Instagram is a well of inspiration, and sees its woven creations dotted among dreamy imagery, ranging from Cy Twombly’s studio to a carpet-walled Olivetti showroom, making it a one-stop destination for both shopping and ideas.
@hannahwaldron
From bright, blocky illustrations for the likes of The New York Times and World of Interiors, to vibrant and abstract series of Map Tapestries, multi-disciplinary artist Hannah Waldron has done the rounds when it comes to artistic media, but her recent preoccupation with textiles, and more specifically with weaving, seems to have fallen upon a sweet spot. "I have found weaving to be a natural process to complement my grid-based image-making," her website explains – and, besotted as we are with her shape-led fabric works, we can’t help but feel Waldron has found her niche. There’s a wealth of crafting inspiration to be found in her feed, which is rich with colour and process shots, and will have you itching to take to a loom yourself.
@alexkeha
You might know her best for the sprawling, lawn-like carpet she produced for Dries Van Noten’s S/S15 show – sprawling lawn-like carpets are Alexandra Kehayoglou’s specialty, after all – but the artist’s output is, in fact, more diverse than this magnificent work might suggest. Kehayoglou’s rich textural works, created in the image of flora and fauna and lifelike enough to have even the most seasoned of gardeners looking twice, are largely created using offcuts from her family’s carpet factory in Buenos Aires, and blur the boundary between tapestry and rug, artwork and interior decoration. Her Instagram is a predictably sumptuous affair – shots of her references are interspersed with behind-the-scenes glimpses of her workspace and the awe-inspiring pieces themselves, presenting a refreshing treasure trove of alternative ideas.
