Ever wanted to pull a painting off a wall and wrap yourself in it? Just yank it down, drape it over your head and have a nap, right there in the warmth of the gallery? No? Just me? Well, you might feel differently when you see this show of new textile-based works by Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté. There’s just something so tactile about them. But try to resist the urge – if you sleep on them, you pay for them. That’s how it goes in the art world.
Konaté has been at the forefront of abstract art in Africa for decades now. There’s a big drive in museums and galleries to look beyond the borders of Europe when exploring the history of art – just check out the new wing of Tate Modern for proof – and it’s way overdue. If you want a starting point into that whole world, you could do worse than step into Konaté’s exhibition.
Each large rectangular work here is made up of layer upon layer of hand-stitched textiles. Some are block colours, others embroidered with circular patterns, others tie-dyed. Light greens fade into dark, yellows into orange, sky blue into aquamarine, red into black. They’re like distant hazy visions of endless blue skies, expanses of rock and sand, or forest canopies.
Then your eyes get lost in them; you spot shapes, faces, figures with their arms held out, and you reach out and try to pull one down. No! Stop it!
These big works are at once filled with tradition and modernity: the history of fabrics in west Africa and abstract composition. But what really matters is that they’re simply, effectively and neatly pretty. They’re not hugely rewarding, but sometimes looking nice is enough.
