Draped across the entire stretch of the gallery floor at Galerie B-312 is Germaine Koh‘s seemingly endless Knitwork. The surf of plush, wooly waves looks inviting, and I had to fight the urge to take a dive and roll around in the fluffy cascade of knitwear.
Knitwork is a work in progress, begun by Koh in 1992. She unravels and re-knits used garments into a massive, undulating artwork. Walk to the end of the gallery space and you’ll see, tucked into the corner next to the window, a few round balls of yarn and two large knitting needles. When Koh began her work she used to knit in private, but now that her Knitwork has grown and is being exhibited internationally, she sometimes sits in the gallery and knits during opening hours. She wasn’t present when I visited Galerie B-312, but I can imagine her quietly resting on the floor knitting this colossal artwork, the source of river of wool. It is an absurd, Herculean task, but one that is poetic and sensuous. I try to guess at the length of the piece, the many stitches, the hours and hours of work, each band of colour marking the passage of time.
Koh keeps an exact records of the knitwear she unravels and re-purposes, a tidy typed list which she leaves out for visitors to flip through. Her process is both random and deliberate: she will work with whatever garments she can find at second-hand or goodwill stores, though by now many people have started donating their sweaters and scarves to her. Imagine your old turtlenecks being part of an artwork! However, if you look closely at the Knitwork, you’ll see that the artist also makes choices about the kind of stitch she uses (always a rough, textured purl) and the thickness of the yarn. Often several yarns are used together, to keep the thickness of the piece consistent.
It is an impressive, surreal work, fusing recycling and excess, time and space.
Also on display is an installation piece titled There/Here, which Koh created in collaboration with Gordon Hicks. It is a touching artwork, symbolic and poignant. I won’t say too much about it, there is a bit of a twist to it. But a hint: open the door!
Galerie B-312, space 403
Germaine Koh – Knitwork
Germaine Koh, Gordon Hicks – There/Here
February 10 – March 17, 2012
www.galerieb-312.qc.ca
