You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry
Curated by Su Wu
Opening 11 April 2025
Caroline Achaintre, Hellen Ascoli, Yto Barrada, Diedrick Brackens, Melissa Cody, Negma Coy, Jovencio de la Paz, Josh Faught, Christina Forrer, Sanaa Gateja, Yann Gerstberger, Marie Hazard, Ane Henriksen, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Suzanne Jackson, Sanam Khatabi, Tomasz Kowalski and Alicja Kowalska, ShinJa Lee, Candice Lin, Goshka Macuga, Christy Matson, Mai-Thu Perret, Sarah Rosalena, Analia Saban, Kiki Smith, Mika Tajima, Clarissa Tossin, Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang.
Caroline Achaintre, Hellen Ascoli, Yto Barrada, Diedrick Brackens, Melissa Cody, Negma Coy, Jovencio de la Paz, Josh Faught, Christina Forrer, Sanaa Gateja, Yann Gerstberger, Marie Hazard, Ane Henriksen, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Suzanne Jackson, Sanam Khatabi, Tomasz Kowalski and Alicja Kowalska, ShinJa Lee, Candice Lin, Goshka Macuga, Christy Matson, Mai-Thu Perret, Sarah Rosalena, Analia Saban, Kiki Smith, Mika Tajima, Clarissa Tossin, Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang.
Dallas Contemporary is pleased to present You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry, a group exhibition bringing together thirty artists, and opening 11 April 2025. Organized by Mexico-based curator Su Wu, the exhibition is at once a taxonomical examination and categorical collapse, offering extended engagement with tapestry while reflecting how contemporary artists have magnified and challenged the material, ideological, and narrative conventions of the age-old medium.
Expanding on a recent spate of exhibitions featuring historical textile works, You Stretched Diagonally Across It presents contemporary tapestry as an active inflection point for unresolved inquiries into the human condition: including notions of tradition and authenticity, durational effort in the face of technological mediation, and depictions of vastness and omniscience in physical form.
To accompany the exhibition, Los Angeles-based vintage textile library and shop Kneeland Co. will take over and activate the Dallas Contemporary store, featuring specially designed ceramics, textiles, jewelry, and collectibles, for sale exclusively in the shop. All pieces are specially designed for and inspired by You Stretched Diagonally Across It, and will even include works by artists featured in the exhibition.
Caroline Achaintre, Seeker, 2024. Hand tufted wool. 98 ⅜ × 65 ¾ inches. Courtesy the Artist and Art: Concept, Paris. Photo by Annabel Elston.
El Anatsui, Topos, 2012. © El Anatsui. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Portrait of Su Wu by Ana Fernandez Laframboise
Su Wu is a writer and independent curator based in Mexico City, examining forms and concepts drawn from the history of art and design to investigate premises of function, capability, and use. Across commissions, collaborations, and curatorial projects, Wu is part of a new generation of curators in an emerging field of post-disciplinary discourse at the intersection of art, craft and design, while considering the conditions and strategies that turn one into another. You Stretched Diagonally Across It is her first museum exhibition. Recent curatorial projects include a survey of 100 years of Mexican art and design across three sites at Rockefeller Center; and the first exhibition of Ana Mendieta in Oaxaca, where the artist made her most significant works, at public art space La Clinica. Wu’s writing has been published widely in periodicals and artist monographs, and she currently serves as Curator-At-Large for MASA in Mexico City and art editor for n+1.
Kneeland Co. featuring fabric work on the wall by Blair Saxon-Hill, ceramic vessel by Chelsea Beck, and a ceramic swan by Claudia Rankin. Photo: Tyler Whiteside.
Kneeland Co. was founded in 2010 by Joanna Williams as a framework for sharing her ever evolving collection of discoveries and inspirations. Now headquartered in Los Angeles, Kneeland Co.’s services are categorized along four avenues; as a textile archive, a brick and mortar retail store, an online store, and an advisory service. As a thoughtfully assembled textile archive, Kneeland Co. offers designers inspiration for developing their collections, operating in a business-to-business capacity. Reflecting her extensive travels, the store focuses on one-of-a-kind, globally sourced home goods, jewelry, and art, celebrating the unique history and significance of each piece. With regard to advising, drawing on the expertise of over a decade working in fashion, textiles and interiors, Kneeland Co. offers specially tailored visions for the enhancement of both residential and commercial spaces.
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This exhibition is generously supported by Pace Gallery; Loewe; Catalina Gonzalez Jorba + Santiago Jorba; Dr. Rodger Kobes + Michael Keller; Ann + John McReynolds; Jill Parker + Rod Sager; Brian Thoreen; Headington Companies; LALO Tequila; and SWOON, the studio.
Header image credits:
Mika Tajima, Negative Entropy (Deep Brain Stimulation, Yellow, Full Width, Exa), 2024 cotton, polyester, nylon, aluminum, and wood. 135" × 204-3/8" × 2-3/4" (342.9 cm × 519.1 cm × 7 cm) © Mika Tajima, courtesy of Pace Gallery. Photographer: Charles Benton.