Lisette de Greeuw | WARP #2

About

The work of Lisette de Greeuw: inspired by a long textile tradition.

Lisette de Greeuw lives and works in Ghent. Her work revolves around thinking and its underlying structure. Her drawings are characterized by repetitive geometric symbols and lines, which are reminiscent of embroidery and knitting patterns. For her work, she uses her background in textile art, a discipline that historically can be linked to Tilburg as a textile city and binary systems. Lisette de Greeuw is the second artist to present her work in WARP, the new program with regional artists in the showcase of the SEA Foundation in Tilburg.

Complex systems inspired by textile traditions

With her work, De Greeuw tries to organize and give meaning to her thoughts, analyses and other information patterns. She shapes these thought patterns through invented systems that become increasingly complex and nuanced by repeating them. 

Her very meticulous drawings are reminiscent of embroidery and knitting patterns. Notation Language, for example, consists of a grid filled with precise hand-drawn symbols, each representing a colour. This allows the work to be 'translated' into a coloured version. Her drawings do not represent a visual reality, but demonstrate an invented system that can be read and translated. In this way, she refers to language as a communication system that is not always sufficient, and where things sometimes go lost in translation. What will be lost and what will be gained if we keep on translating? The viewer plays an important role in this, as he interprets the schematic drawing and maybe add things, or leaves things out. 

Lisette de Greeuw's work stands in a long tradition in which the art of weaving has paved the way for the now so important programming language. Where a binary computer code consists of zeros and ones, a woven piece of textile is constructed from the vertical warp and horizontal weft. The domain of the logical programming language is nowadays mainly seen as something 'masculine', but its basis lies in the 'feminine' textile tradition. This connection can be seen in the work of de Greeuw, who studied both textile art and discrete mathematics. 

Lisette de Greeuw

Lisette de Greeuw graduated in 2019 for her postgraduate degree at the HISK in Ghent. Before that, she took an MA in Textile and an MA in Free Art at the Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst (now LUCA school of arts). Her work is characterized by a systematic approach, in which repetitive patterns play a major role. With her work, Lisette de Greeuw exposes the underlying structure of information systems. She does this by inventing visual systems herself, which, with their lines, symbols and geometric forms, organise thought patterns and other information flows. 

WARP

WARP is a curated project that exhibits works of art in the restricted space of SEA Foundation’s vitrine. The aim of WARP is to establish a portfolio of regional and national artists and interlink the project with the successful international artist in the residence program. WARP is borrowing its name from a term that is widely used in the textile tradition. Warp is setting the direction of the threads when weaving. Warp threads run vertically and provide structure to the woof; the weft threads that are being wrapped around the warp. Organizations like SEA Foundation resemble the warp: a collection of threads being stretched in place presenting a frame and a given direction. For WARP we invite artists to produce new works and to draw their practice over and under like the weft threads. The result is a fabric made through collaboration, experiment, skills, and trust.

Exhibition dates: 10.07.2020 - 30.08.2020

Artist: Lisette de Greeuw

Venue: SEA Foundation, Tivolistraat 22, 5017HP Tilburg

Opening Hours: open 24/7

SEA Foundation

Artist-led SEA Foundation is a non-profit art initiative. Over time, SEA Foundation has become a synonym for exhibitions, art practice support, exchanges, and publications. From 2013, we also run an International Artist in Residence program that offers a unique environment, by providing time and space for research, experimentation, and professional advancement. Every year the program facilitates up to 8 professional artists, curators and art writers in all stages of their careers.