Traces: Big Beach Baby

Lia Cook, Traces: Big Beach Baby, 2001, cotton, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995--2003), 2004.2, © 2001, Lia Cook
Copied Lia Cook, Traces: Big Beach Baby, 2001, cotton, 16056 in. (406.4142.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995−−2003), 2004.2, © 2001, Lia Cook

Artwork Details

Title
Traces: Big Beach Baby
Artist
Date
2001
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
16056 in. (406.4142.2 cm)
Copyright
© 2001, Lia Cook
Credit Line
Gift of the James Renwick Alliance in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995−−2003)
Mediums Description
cotton
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape — beach
  • Figure — child — bust
Object Number
2004.2

Artwork Description

To create her expressive "woven paintings," Lia Cook paints strips of fabric and weaves them together with a computer-aided handloom. Despite the use of high-tech tools, her figures appear lifelike, emphasizing the connection between the sensuousness of cloth and lived experience. In Traces: Big Beach Baby, Cook also uses fabric to suggest humankind's vulnerability and fragility: as the viewer moves closer to the work, an intimate family portrait dissolves into a dense field of threads.

Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019