from nature stitching to drama stitching. large scale hand-sewn puppets and all, from DENMARK.
hey, its a big world out there. even among those who hand-stitch - there’s a vast terrain with extreme polarity !!

HELLE MARDAHL - ‘An Orgy’, limited edition print. 2009

last week to catch:
HELLE MARDAHL - ‘The Largest Possible Audience’
APRIL 29 - MAY 30, 2009
LaVIOLA BANK GALLERY - 179 EAST BROADWAY - LOWER EAST SIDE - NYC

HELLE MARDAHL (b. 1976) was formally educated as a fashion designer, obviously with an eye towards fashion, and serious seamstress and all-around sewing skills, at the Centre Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London.
Apparently, she currently plies her sewing skills, and creativity - not as a fashion designer, but as an artist.
and a fairly dark dramatic one, at that !!
Helle is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

HELLE MARDAHL - ‘The Ego Queen’, 2007. mixed media, including a lot of stitching. 104 x 47 x 43 in.

she’s also a graphic artist, as in illustration and painting.
HELLE MARDAHL - ‘The Balancing Pixie’, 2009. acrylic on linen. 65 x 28 in.

HELLE MARDAHL - ‘The Dependent Woman’, acrylic on linen. 76 x 27 in.
obviously - not !! a low-fi show !!
but she is coming out of somewhere. a contemporary deep dark collective unconsciousness.
see: MARNIE WEBER’S current show/MARC JANCOU !!

you can see more of the exhibit: here !!/HELLE MARDAHL

actually, we had a chance to stop by and see the exhibit in person.

there was a big, elaborate and highly detailed ‘tableaux’ against the back wall.
can you make out the 3 large puppets, in ‘gangsta’ pose !!

apparently Helle arrived with a 5 or 6 person crew to help her hand-stitch the final details of the installation.

‘The Ego Queen’.

a cut-out, colored, hand-stitched, and stuffed !! fabric piece.

like how Helle has put her name on the piece, and the way the shallow depth of the 3-D fabric piece is highlighted by the frame’s mounting.

delicate hand-stitching, even on the backgrounds.

HELLE MARDAHL - a painting on linen.

was told that Helle has a tradition of ‘mounting’ her name - in different ways for her shows. nice.

MICHAEL BANK CHRISTOFFERSEN . . .

and . . . ALLEGRA LaVIOLA - are the co-founders of the gallery which bears their names, and which is one of the brighter spots on the Lower East Side. The gallery space is a bit further out, but beautiful and spacious. high ceilings and all.
very modern.

ALLEGRA LaVIOLA.

. . . actually had a chance to meet HELLE MARDAHL !! - at center - when she was so nice to find time to drop my recent opening at OTHER MUSIC. we’re both into black and white, and stitching. esp hand stitching - so we had a lot to talk about.
she’s seems very sweet and very very smart.
ALLEGRA LaVIOLA and MICHAEL BANK CHRISTOFFERSEN are on either side.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH