Through the use of paper and thread, Larissa Nowicki’s exhibition, new narratives, disrupts the established canon of western art history. By deconstructing artist monographs and repurposing the pages and images as material, Nowicki utilizes weaving and sewing as a mode of reconstruction and communication. What was once pejoratively known as “women’s work” is now the focal point of these new artworks where the handmade is literally prioritized over the historical artworks of the male masters featured in the original monographs. Text and language have been cut away leaving blank book margins which provide Nowicki with material to create plain woven canvases upon which she draws, punctures, and patterns new narratives communicated through the language of the handmade.

In this show Nowicki has expanded from her last body of work where printed book pages were used as material. Now many of the pieces appear empty, quiet, absent of text. However, upon closer inspection, there is a depth of labor and repetitive action present in each piece which articulates a narrative of presence and persistence throughout this body of work. 

Jack Fischer Gallery