Gail Grinnell, Ruffle
Suyama Space, Itinerary, Seattle
Sculpture Magazine, November 2012
VOL 31, #9
Grinnell’s densely constructed, gossamer installations conjoin earthly corporeality and ethereal spirit. Using dressmaking patterns inherited form her mother, she structures spatial bodies out of stiffened, translucent fabric that accepts color, stain (from coffee and tea), and sumi ink lines. Fragile and transitory, her web-like environments spin remnants of ordinary human activity onto otherworldly landscapes imprinted with the inner workings of the body (intestinal coils, bones, tendons, blood vessels) and the structural elements of clothing (necklines, zippers, pleats). Metaphors for the mismatched, continually altered plans and desires that make up life, these works grow from design subject to contingency. RUFFLE continues her investigation into the creative body, combining theatrical experience with absorbing meditation on the archaeology of human nature.