Press Release
Vadis Turner (b. 1977, Nashville, TN) creates abstract textile-driven sculptures and mixed media works that challenge traditional narratives of femininity. In her practice, Turner encourages the misbehaviors and transcendence of domestic materials. Engaging the grid as an expressive structure, curtains and bedsheets are coupled with metal leaf, mineral wool and given a new voice. Becoming emboldened and mercurial structures, many works are titled after female figures from classical folklore, literature and mythology.
Crosscurrent Grid is part of Turner’s latest series of soft gold grids that are stirred and enlivened, rather than rigid. This work is composed of fourteen “window frames” made with gilded satin ribbon. The grids, a form largely associated with male artists, have bows at each cross section. The bows undulate in opposing directions as if they were windswept by the surrounding landscape. This site-specific work exemplifies Turner’s feminization of the grid and her longtime engagement with unconventional materials.