11Feb/31Mar
IS IT POSSIBLE?
GILDA MAUTONE
Realised within the Italian Embassy in Copenhagen, this solo exhibition by Gilda Mautone temporarily sets aside painting and drawing to focus entirely on textile sculpture. At the centre of the room, a tall, totemic figure emerges from an accumulation of wool, cotton and heterogeneous fabrics crocheted together: colourful rosettes, fringes, tassels and braids overlap to form a kind of hybrid creature, suspended between tribal mask, fantastical animal and processional altar, with a long pink-and-purple train trailing across the floor. Alongside it, a wall panel gathers the same visual grammar in two-dimensional form: concentric crocheted medallions, pendants, tassels and printed fabric scraps are woven into a coloured web of threads, forming a dense, horror vacui tapestry that recalls both folk textile craft and collage. Within an institutional setting such as an embassy, Mautone's gesture — built from slow manual labour, humble materials and references to diverse decorative and ritual traditions — poses a direct question: is it possible, today, for a craft-based, ornamental language to claim full citizenship within the space of art and official representation? The exhibition's title remains suspended, more a question than a statement
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