05/05/05 - Michael Radyk

Michael Radyk

05/05/05
Handwoven and Embroidered Wall Pieces

My work and weavings in the series 05/05/05 evolved spontaneously, as I explored the unlimited possibilities of color, pattern and texture through the deconstruction and reassembly of symmetrical lines. In musical terms, I think of these weavings as a raga, a traditional pattern of rising and falling notes in Hindu classical composition around which creative improvisations can dance and play.
In this approach there was a feeling of passing through a visual barrier that encompasses and expands the sensation of seeing, sound, rhythm and meaning, which are also elements of influence in this series of woven and embroidered wall pieces or wall blankets, as I think of them.

Hong Kong Fog 62” h x 32” w

Blue Peninsula 76” h x 66” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
This wall piece was inspired by the calming and ecstatic images of water and an Emily Dickinson poem.

A Snowman for Joseph 70” h x 79” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
This piece is an abstraction of one my happiest childhood memories and dedicated to Joseph Cornell.

Shipwrecked Sailor 72” h x 66” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
Inspired by the short story “The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I wanted to create the balance of possibility and fatalism which I was feeling as well as the theme in his writing.

Hydrangea 78” h x 68” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
I wanted to make a kind of royal cloth. A Purple cloth being the choice of kings and used in times of great devotion and religious processions.

Kili Watch 72” h x 60” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
This piece is titled “ Kili Watch” after the song by Johnny Hallyday . I wanted to create the frantic and amazing French Rock n’ Roll song frenzy, texture and swirl.

Johnny Hallyday’s Notebook #1 75” h x 65” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
Part of a series dedicated to the French singer, actor and idol Johnny Hallyday, especially his music and persona from the early Rock n’ Roll and ye`ye` era. This piece could be subtitled “Serre la main fou” (Shake the hand of the fool) after one of his hit songs.

Zeus’s Game 75” h x 68” w
Wall piece made of handwoven silk and cotton fabric, sewn, pieced and embroidered with mohair, silk yarn and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
The Red Zeus. Zeus’s blood. What game is Zeus playing?

05/05/05
After weaving many yards fabric, all my preconceived ideas of color, texture and material began to fall away and I started to make connections with textiles that inhabit a sense of depth. The woven fabric began to function less as pattern and began instead to serve embroidered motifs, in the foreground, increasing the levels of distance and space. I started to discover ways of embellishing the surfaces with asymmetrical lines and non-linear ways of marking on the cloth. The process of using the handwoven cloth as a kind of “found” canvas is what moved this series of 10 wall pieces into a discovery of the duality of the woven surface.

Runaway Horses 78" x 68" w

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