Carina Ellemers’ work moves between the world of tactility and caressability, on the one hand, and that of cool abstraction, on the other. We see that the often shiny fabrics have a warm appearance. From a distance, if you are not already familiar with her work, you have no idea that it is made of fabric. That it is composed of small pieces, often of the same fabric, stitched together and pulled around a muslin frame creating a twist in the fabric. They are no longer neat little squares, but squares and angled rectangles. To make it even more confusing, some of the works are painted, but in such a way that even the paint looks velvety. Carina manages to apply different media in such a way that it falls within a long Dutch tradition of abstract art, but is innovative in its use of materials. Carina has found a way to make cool abstraction seductive and sensual.
Diana Wind | formerly director Stedelijk Museum Schiedam