Beyond the loom, Olga de Amaral’s captivating works at ICA Miami transform humble materials into shimmering, architectural marvels.
WRITTEN BY: DAVID MASELLO
Fiber art is likely the most misunderstood medium. But through the artistry of Olga de Amaral, her works assume a presence visitors cannot ignore or forget. As the Colombian-born artist says of her works now on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami, “Tapestry, fibers, strands, units, cords, all are transparent layers with their own meanings, revealing each other to make one presence, one tone that speaks about the texture of time.” Indeed, every literal stitch of her work has a meaning.
To wander the galleries in Miami, however, is to experience fiber works that are anything but transparent. Among the most visible, ethereal, and affecting works in the show, on view through October 12, are Amaral’s Estelas, creations made of gold leaf whose abilities to absorb, reflect, and refract light rival those of the Florida sun or surf. They are, at once, two-dimensional works suspended from the ceiling, yet they assume a three-dimensional presence. As Stephanie Seidel, the Monica and Blake Grossman Curator of ICA, says, “Many of Amaral’s works are inspired by the different landscapes of her native country Colombia. This reference to nature and landscape also deeply resonates with South Florida’s unique ecosystem.”
While Amaral references the natural world through her use of natural woven materials, she also embraces the non-organic shapes of pure geometry. Her newest works are those she calls Brumas, a hypnotically engaging series that incorporates geometric shapes that work almost as holograms superimposed on the material. These works feature geometric imagery that, in some examples, moves from one material to another, one shape completing itself on another panel.
Seidel emphasizes how fiber art was one of several media that “were previously excluded from the art historical discourse, along with installation art.” Amaral proved to be one of the exceptions. As early as 1969, Amaral’s works were included in a group exhibition at New York’s MoMA, with her creations so striking that what is now the Museum of Art and Design in New York hosted a solo show of her work just a year later. “Amaral is a pioneer of international fiber, whose work uniquely resonates across the contexts of architecture, textile, and contemporary art alike,” says Seidel.
Her works hang throughout the third-floor ICA gallery space like clouds of color and form. While the show in Miami originated in Paris at Fondation Cartier, this version of the exhibition was designed by architect Lina Ghotmeh. The museum describes Ghotmeh’s design for the exhibition “as a vertical forest where the works appear to grow organically within the gallery.”
Visitors unacquainted with fiber work will be awed to see the monumentality they assume here. Materials that can actually register the wind or the simple movement of people as they pass by suddenly take on a permanent, fixed quality. What is diaphanous feels solid and vice versa. “Visitors can see Amaral’s magnificent transformation of humble materials into powerful, monumental works, taking away a deeper understanding of the vast and expansive repertoire of this unique artist and her central standing in fiber art,” says Seidel.
