Ethan Cook — Felman — Jeanrochdard Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: January 12 → February 16, 2013

I was born on this land. Conflict: creating new forms out of surroundings deliberate by design. There are not illusions here. The forms: (my)time represented and recorded my life, my work, me: Felman. I’ve lived here my entire life. All you see here before you I’ve made from scratch: cotton and timber. Cotton starts in the fields, timber from below. All my life lay here before you…

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft. The method in which these threads are inter woven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while weft threads are woven through them. he way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic designs.

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame. Modern canvas is usually made of cotton or linen, although historically it was made from hemp. It differs from other heavy cotton fabrics, such as denim, in being plain weave rather than twill weave.

Plain weave (also called tabby weave, linen weave or taffeta weave) is the most basic of three fundamental types of textile weaves. It is strong and hard-wearing. In plain weave, the warp and weft are aligned so they form a simple criss-cross pattern. Each weft thread crosses the warp threads by going over one, then under the next, and so on. The next weft thread goes under the warp threads that its neighbor went over, and vice versa.
Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions, also called the primary motion of the loom :

 Shedding: where the ends are separated by raising or lowering heald frames (heddles) to form a clear space where the pick can pass.
 
Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet, a rapier or a shuttle.

Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed.
The warp is divided into two overlapping groups, or lines (most often adjacent threads belonging to the opposite group) that run in two planes, one above another, so the shuttle can be passed between them in a straight motion. Then, the upper group is lowered by the loom mechanism, and the lower group is raised (shedding), allowing to pass the shuttle in the opposite direction, also in a straight motion.

Felman is american artist Ethan Cook’s first solo show in France.

Born in 1983 in Texas, he lives and works in New York. Ethan Cook has participated in numerous international exhibitions including recent shows at Youth Group Gallery (NY); Ed. Varie Gallery (NY); East Hampton Shed (Ny); Bodega (Philadelphia); NewGallery (London); Nudashank (Baltimore); and Apache Projects (Greece) among others.