February 22, 2024
Nathan Vincent
Teach a man to ...
Walter Maciel Gallery
January 6 - March 2, 2024
Nathan Vincent
Two installations featuring crocheted or knitted sculptures by Nathan Vincent are on view at Walter Maciel Gallery: Locker Room (2011) and Let's Play War (2015). In Locker Room, Vincent replicates a life-size typical male gym changing room equipped with two rows of lockers and benches surrounded at either end of the back room by three urinals and three showers, all to scale and tenderly crocheted, giving the hard-edged objects a feminine aura. Interested in contradicting stereotypical gender associations, Vincent offers an altered sense of masculinity— one that is softer and gentler than the norm. Though no longer functional, the objects are placed amidst institutional blue/green walls to further the illusion of a realistic space. The piece is simultaneously beautiful and unsettling.
Despite his mother's reluctance to teach him this craft, Vincent's interest in needlework began when he was young. In college, he began embroidering his painted canvases and eventually transitioned out of painting to fully embrace yarn as a medium for art making. For the larger works, he crochets around armatures or begins with foam and builds on that.
In conjunction with Locker Room (which went on view in November, 2023) are miscellaneous "soft" yarn-objects in the front room, as well as evocative pieces collectively titled Let's Play War, originally commissioned by the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), where it was shown in 2015. Here, Vincent presents figurative sculptures covered in green or tan yarn based on the iconic small-scale children's plastic toy soldiers. Approximately enlarged to the height of ten-year-olds, these figurines are positioned in acts of play (or war) acting out all too familiar scenarios. Some climb the walls, others recoil from attack. Meticulously crafted, Vincent faithfully replicates the subtle details of the readily available plastic soldiers using yarn.
Continuing the theme of war are other objects scattered throughout the space — Don't Make Me Count to Three! (2015) is comprised of piles of crocheted sticks of dynamite with a detonator, Joystick (2011), as well as Threat II pink, grey, teal (2017), a soft pink and teal hand-grenade innocently placed on a small shelf that calls out: Touch-me, pick me up, see if I am no longer a danger.
The works on view pose questions: What is a weapon? What connotes power? (How) can weapons and symbols of power become inert? Vincent is interested in merging masculine and feminine tropes to challenge accepted norms using what is often considered a "woman's" craft to make his artworks. The soft-sculptures on view are impactful as well as cuddly. It is ironic to think of hugging a crocheted soldier or hand grenade as one might a teddy bear and Vincent's works allow for that dichotomy and intrigue. While the pieces from 2011 and 2015 still resonate (almost ten years after their creation), there remains a curiosity about Vincent's current projects and where he has gone from these powerful and thought-provoking pieces.
Teach a man to ...
Walter Maciel Gallery
January 6 - March 2, 2024
Nathan Vincent
Two installations featuring crocheted or knitted sculptures by Nathan Vincent are on view at Walter Maciel Gallery: Locker Room (2011) and Let's Play War (2015). In Locker Room, Vincent replicates a life-size typical male gym changing room equipped with two rows of lockers and benches surrounded at either end of the back room by three urinals and three showers, all to scale and tenderly crocheted, giving the hard-edged objects a feminine aura. Interested in contradicting stereotypical gender associations, Vincent offers an altered sense of masculinity— one that is softer and gentler than the norm. Though no longer functional, the objects are placed amidst institutional blue/green walls to further the illusion of a realistic space. The piece is simultaneously beautiful and unsettling.
Despite his mother's reluctance to teach him this craft, Vincent's interest in needlework began when he was young. In college, he began embroidering his painted canvases and eventually transitioned out of painting to fully embrace yarn as a medium for art making. For the larger works, he crochets around armatures or begins with foam and builds on that.
In conjunction with Locker Room (which went on view in November, 2023) are miscellaneous "soft" yarn-objects in the front room, as well as evocative pieces collectively titled Let's Play War, originally commissioned by the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), where it was shown in 2015. Here, Vincent presents figurative sculptures covered in green or tan yarn based on the iconic small-scale children's plastic toy soldiers. Approximately enlarged to the height of ten-year-olds, these figurines are positioned in acts of play (or war) acting out all too familiar scenarios. Some climb the walls, others recoil from attack. Meticulously crafted, Vincent faithfully replicates the subtle details of the readily available plastic soldiers using yarn.
Continuing the theme of war are other objects scattered throughout the space — Don't Make Me Count to Three! (2015) is comprised of piles of crocheted sticks of dynamite with a detonator, Joystick (2011), as well as Threat II pink, grey, teal (2017), a soft pink and teal hand-grenade innocently placed on a small shelf that calls out: Touch-me, pick me up, see if I am no longer a danger.
The works on view pose questions: What is a weapon? What connotes power? (How) can weapons and symbols of power become inert? Vincent is interested in merging masculine and feminine tropes to challenge accepted norms using what is often considered a "woman's" craft to make his artworks. The soft-sculptures on view are impactful as well as cuddly. It is ironic to think of hugging a crocheted soldier or hand grenade as one might a teddy bear and Vincent's works allow for that dichotomy and intrigue. While the pieces from 2011 and 2015 still resonate (almost ten years after their creation), there remains a curiosity about Vincent's current projects and where he has gone from these powerful and thought-provoking pieces.