Brent Wadden

Originally trained as a painter, Wadden taught himself to weave in early 2010s, eventually shifting to focus entirely on textiles. Nevertheless, his interest in modernism and the painters of the Bauhaus and Abstract Expressionism continues to be a leading influence in his practice. In this exhibition the influence of Clyfford Still is evident in the compositions that feature a diagonal line—a subverting of the grid. This negotiation of line and grid is inherent in the makeup of weaving as Wadden works within the confines of the warp and weft, but it is also greatly influenced by the restrained yet expressive visual language of Agnes Martin. Alternatively, works such as the large black and white or green and blue compositions, use rhythm and repetition in their patterning that is reminiscent of Bridget Riley. As well as painting, Wadden draws inspiration from other traditional craft-based practices, such as weavings by Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend in Alabama. In traversing such a broad spectrum of artistic influences Wadden has not only formed a practice that is distinctively his own, he also collapses the hierarchies of disciplines, interrogating the boundaries that separate painting from textile, art from craft, decorative from functional.

Gathering the material for his work is an integral aspect of Wadden’s practice—often choosing pre-owned or found yarn that he finds online via websites like eBay, Craigslist or Kijiji. He spends months building up his collection, waiting until he has enough of specific colours to start working on a composition. He explains, “I normally drive for an hour, which is great. Sunday adventures. You’ll pick up all this yarn from the seventies or eighties, from somebody’s grandma, or from somebody who’s stopped weaving.” In choosing preowned yarn, Wadden’s work not only speaks to issues of consumerism and the impact of wasteful fabric practices, as referenced in the exhibition’s title, it also quite literally, and poetically, weaves together the histories and stories that accompanies each thread of yarn.

These works evade classification, neither painting nor textile, but somehow both. Wadden enjoys this ambiguity—that these graphic works can simultaneously belong to both camps and to neither. Standing amongst this suite of new textile paintings, Wadden’s innate understanding of colour, pattern, and musical rhythm is undeniable.