Becca Barolli, Out of Hand

Becca Barolli, Untitled (ripple) steel wire, 36inx36inx5in
Becca Barolli, Untitled (5 rings), steel wire, 65inx21inx3
Becca Barolli, Under the Rug, steel wire, 33inx32inx3in
Becca Barolli, Untitled (100 disk grid) steel wire, 40inx48inx5
BeccaBarolli, Untitled (100 hanging disks), steel wire, 38inx6inx6in
Becca Barolli, Untitled, small twining, steel wire

Center Gallery
February 14 – March 22, 2020

BECCA BAROLLI is a Gallery Route One Fellow for 2019-2020

Out of Hand features abstract steel wire sculptures which utilize textile processes to examine issues of obsession and control within the artmaking process. Becca’s work is handmade and unrelentingly labor intensive, consistently fueled by a compulsive need for repetition and reverence. Through endurance-based processes she repeats stereotypical feminine gestures, defying the intended industrial function of her materials.

Using steel wire instead of conventional fibers, Barolli subverts textiles as a medium and pushes the range of expectations that are normally associated with both hard and soft materials; this acknowledges the strength in what is often considered women’s work, as well as the vulnerability in what is commonly associated with masculinity and industrialization.

Traditional craft techniques such as weaving, braiding and knotless netting are used with varying degrees of density. In this way Barolli suggests the polar differences within opposing states, such as being emotionally open/closed, or relaxed/uptight, but she does so without passing judgement on either condition. Within her processs, a desire for control is highlighted in the inflexibly tight wire forms which she constructs in spite of the restrictions imposed by working with a single material. At the same time, in these pieces Barolli expresses not only an inherent acceptance of disorder, but also a creative departure from any expected use of the traditional materials of her craft.