Grethe Sørensen

Grethe Sørensen’s desire to approach textile art from an optical, technological perspective has resulted in a series of fascinating Jacquard weavings inspired, since 2005, by various light phenomenon derived from nature as well as computer technologies. Sørensen’s ability to see possibilities in new technologies is manifest in the video animations she creates together with film director Bo Hovgaard which she displays in the exhibitions next to the large-scale wall tapestries. These videos play a double function both as sketches for the unique weavings, which are made by the artist at the Tilburg Textile Museum, as well as independent works dialoguing with the tapestries. 

While at distance, Grethe Sørensen’s woven wall tapestries may seem relatively similar to photographs, they become yet very different at a closer hold. The woven pixels create a vibrating, optical illusion of three-dimensionality, in which the transparent light is turned into a soft cotton surface. Time seems to gain a slower pace, possibly through the discovery of the amazing detail richness of the weavings, in which each pixel is translated into threads. The fascination behind Grethe Sørensen’s works seems to come from her masterly association of seemingly distinct worlds such as the digital pixel and the cotton thread, technology and the handmade. But not only. It also takes important aesthetic sense to compose such timeless, grave images of ephemeral light reflections, not unlike Seurat’s quiet, pointillist paintings.