Installations. The artist's work is testimony to the laborious process of grappling with unlikely, and sometimes unfriendly materials. Whether employing backhoes or individually constructed needles, Cole contrasts the domesticity of both his subject matter and gesture of knitting with the grandiose physicality of industrial materials. His work is about the repetition of gesture, the challenge of material limitation, and the creation of delightful, unexpected objects.
Installations
On the most American of holiday weekends, MASS MoCA
will present a truly monumental and uniquely American sculptural
installation by Dave Cole. Starting June 30, 2005, Cole will be in
residence at MASS MoCA with his project The Knitting Machine which
comprises two excavators specially fitted with massive 20' knitting
needles. The knitting project is expected to be completed by July 3rd.
The product of The Knitting Machine is an oversized American flag - a
flag which can be seen as both a celebratory gesture of pride and a
commentary on America's role in world affairs.
The Knitting Machine is one part of a three-part exhibition of Cole's
work at the museum. In addition to the installation, MASS MoCA will
show Cole's Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) (2005), a 5 ' x 9-1/2' foot
flag crafted of 18,000 plastic toy soldiers wrestling beneath an
impermeable glaze of red, white and blue; and The Evolution of the
Knitting Needle Through Modern Warfare (2001), a convincing display of
hypothetical army-issue knitting needles -- what Cole imagines Army
needles would have been had the Army mandated them as combat equipment
for seven wars, from the Civil War through the first Persian Gulf War.
Cole explains, "The Knitting Machine combines the feminized domestic
American tradition of knitting with the grandiose gesture of
construction usually associated with masculine labor. The Knitting
Machine challenges familiar notions of labor and production, while
expressing a complex understanding of patriotism." When the flag is
removed from The Knitting Machine it will be folded into the traditional
flag triangle and will be on display in a presentation case which Cole
describes as "slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle", accompanied
by the 20' knitting needles, and a video of the knitting process.
From a distance, Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) becomes an impressive
display of an American icon, the flag. Up close, Memorial Flag reveals
its source of texture - plastic men wielding guns. For the piece, Cole
obtained the exact specifications for an American flag from the
Government Printing Office and created his piece to those
specifications. Cole explains, "Memorial Flag isn't a representation of
a flag or an interpretation of a flag but is an actual flag."
In Evolution of the Knitting Needle Through Modern Warfare -- which
Cole describes as "hypothetical anthropology" -- each set of needles
references a specific war in American history. The piece contrasts a
basic form of production, knitting, with the progress of technology made
through war. It is a study of the relationship between technology and
violence.
Providence-based artist Dave Cole has made a name for himself by
knitting using unexpected materials. His work Fiberglass Teddy Bear,
for instance, is a 14 x 14 x 14 foot pink fuzzy bear. As Christine
Temin wrote in The Boston Globe, "It looks cuddly enough, but don't get
too close. It's made of hand-knit Fiberglas, not a material you want to
snuggle up to." Her review continues, saying, "Cole's message is that a
symbol of childhood comfort can turn sinister, that the world we inhabit
is dangerous. The huge teddy is, then, the opposite of Jeff Koons's
gargantuan Puppy sculptures, benign and intentionally banal. Cole's
teddy is one of the showstoppers in this [DeCordova] Annual."
Cole's work is testimony to the laborious process of grappling with
unlikely, and sometimes unfriendly materials. Whether employing backhoes
or individually constructed needles, Cole contrasts the domesticity of
both his subject matter and gesture of knitting with the grandiose
physicality of industrial materials. Cole's work is about the repetition
of gesture, the challenge of material limitation, and the creation of
delightful, unexpected objects.
Cole's exhibition is part of American Traditions, a Berkshire
County-wide celebration of more than two centuries of the unique and
diverse artistic bounty that only America could produce.
The John Deere excavators for The Knitting Machine were donated by
Schmidt Equipment in North Oxford, Massachusetts.
MASS MoCA
Marshall Street - North Adams
Gallerie hours: from 10- 6 every day
Admission: $10 adults, $8 students, $4 ages 6 - 16, free for children 5 and under and free for members at all times.