Inextricabilia: Magical Mesh

La maison rouge’s exhibition Inextricabilia gathers works from art brut, African ritual objects, religious art, folk art, modern and contemporary art, all of which are inextricably linked to the symbol of the knot. At first glance, there is nothing that connects an Art Brut sculpture by Judith Scott with a Nkisi divination statue from Congo, a 18th-century German reliquary or Annette Messager’s net of photographs, and yet despite their origins in different lands, cultures and eras, there are surprising overlaps in the materials and techniques used, and in the process behind their creation. All these objects display striking analogies in the entwining, entangling and knotting of hemp cord, hair, strips of leather, gold threads, blades of grass, raffia, rope and fabric. Whether organic, plant or metal, these fibres are ingeniously assembled, stitched, woven or knotted together into inextricable meshes that are also highly symbolic objects.

These resemblances go beyond form and technique: each piece is instilled with healing, purifying or protective powers that will drive away evil, endowing them with a spiritual, religious or magical role. The exhibition Inextricabilia attempts to untangle these knots that give form to the sentient, the incommunicable and the elusive.

The body of work exhibited includes objects and artworks by Arthur Bispo do Rosario, Pierrette Bloch, Cathryn Boch, Louise Bourgeois, Peter Buggenhout, Antonio Dalla Valle, Heide de Bruyne, Erik Dietman, Teresa Ottallo, Lisette H., Sheela Gowda, Jules Leclercq, Marie Lieb, Jean Loubressanes, Man Ray, Annette Messager, Marc Moret, Michel Nedjar, Virginie Rebetez, Borbála Remmer, Judith Scott, Pascal Tassini, Jeanne Tripier, Giuseppe Versino, Chen Zhen, and numerous anonymous creators from public and private collections across Europe, California and Brasil.