Established Gallery is proud to present Silk Wrangler, a new exhibition by Natale Adgnot. This is Adgnot's third solo exhibition at the gallery. We will be hosting an opening reception on October 3rd, from 7-9pm.
In Silk Wrangler, Adgnot continues her autobiographical explorations from her series Saddle Couturage, reconstructing materials and sculptural forms to create new relationships with identity and bridge cultural gaps. Adgnot, the daughter of a Texas horse trainer, highlights saddle forms in her latest works, using vintage garments like a kimono, Western snapshirts and denim together with horsehair and thermoplastic.
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Rather than forming literal saddles, these works abstract saddle patterns, stitched, stuffed and painted into hybrid sculptures. These forms become a kind of personal map, tracing influences from Adgnot’s childhood in Texas, a decade working in Paris couture, and years spent living in Japan.
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“When sewn together using intuition instead of instructions, these works inevitably leave holes. I fill them with horsehair and tulle or with little thermoplastic windows that reveal or obscure what’s underneath, using techniques and materials I picked up in France while working in couture. Everything is stitched together with gold thread, a visible mending method that was inspired in part by the Japanese tradition of kintsugi.” – Natale Adgnot
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Adgnot’s thermoplastic hooves, horsehair stuffing, and wave-like patterns echo Japanese art traditions, while her use of bleached, dyed, and gold-leafed Western garments reimagine the equestrian culture of her upbringing. The resulting works oscillate between couture, craft, and cultural artifact, embodying the transformation and reconstruction of both materials and self.
About Natale Adgnot
Natale Adgnot is a sculptor and fiber artist who uses mixed media to explore cognitive bias and logical fallacy. Best known for wall sculptures made of painted thermoplastic adhered perpendicularly onto panels, she increasingly incorporates a variety of materials that are emblematic of her personal history into her work.
Adgnot earned a BFA in graphic design in Texas and studied fashion in Paris, eventually becoming a dual American/French citizen. Her experience making garments for haute couture runways led her to focus on sculpture. Later, while living in Japan, she began using thermoplastic (an artist-grade shrink plastic) to work three-dimensionally and has expanded her mediums to include fabrics, horsehair, and other materials that signify all of these places.
She has been featured in solo and two-person exhibitions in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Group exhibitions include SPRING/BREAK, “Black & White” at BWAC juried by Jenée-Daria Strand of the Brooklyn Museum, and “I was not born alone” at Transmitter. Adgnot is also the owner and director of the seasonal art gallery N/A Project Space and a curator-member of Underdonk gallery. She lives and works in Brooklyn and New Paltz, New York.
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Artist Statement
I use abstract sculpture to explore bias and faulty perception as byproducts of a monocultural upbringing. At its core, my practice is a dismantling of the dogma of my childhood. The daughter of a horse trainer in Texas, I was raised with little awareness of the world beyond my town and church. My exposure to different cultures and viewpoints came later while living in France and Japan.
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A metaphor for my yearning to bridge cultural gaps in understanding, my work combines materials that tell my life story. Western-style clothing and horsehair represent my childhood in Texas. Cotton muslin, a fashion prototyping staple, is representative of my decade living in Paris and working in couture. Kimono silk and gold thread (deployed as a stand-in for the gold laquer used in kintsugi) are a nod to the three years I spent living in Japan. And finally, the feather-like protrusions and other shapes I affix to many of my sculptures are made of thermoplastic, a versatile and shape-shifting material that represents my current life in New York City where people are free to take many forms.
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Website: https://www.nataleadgnot.com
Instagram: @natale_adgnot