Rosemarie Trockel: Knitted Works

About

Skarstedt is delighted to announce its forthcoming exhibition in London of knitted works by German artist Rosemarie Trockel. Featuring iconic knitted wool paintings from the 1980s and early 1990s, this is the first exhibition in the UK dedicated to this early body of work.

Begun in 1984, the Strickbilder ‘knitting pictures’ represent an important part of Trockel’s practice which includes drawings, sculptures and mixed-media installations. Using a computerised knitting machine, these early works are characterised by their formal contrast of patterns, such as vertical and horizontal stripes and checkerboard designs taken from existing pattern books and women’s magazines, as well as iconic political and commercial motifs including the hammer and sickle and playboy bunny.

In choosing wool and knitting, a material and technique traditionally associated with the female domestic realm and craft, Trockel explores the negative connotations of these ‘inferior materials and skills’. Distinguishing her practice from traditional craft, Trockel made blueprints for her designs and had them produced by a technician using computerised machinery. By mechanically producing the knitted patterns, she questions whether the cliché of women’s art relates solely to the choice of materials or whether it is also influenced by the treatment of these materials.