Sheila Held at June Basel
Sheila Held’s tapestries negotiate themes of the humanities, magic, science, religion, and nature. We sense this both directly and indirectly in her offerings. Color and composition push into realms of the psychotropic while otherworldly encounters occur between figures, symbols and space. The woven objects are generous to the viewer, utilizing information that exists within our periphery. Held invites us to become entangled within the potentiality of her work.
Held started weaving during the early 1970s in Berkeley, CA. Her early ventures involved production of fabric for garments. Held transitioned into weaving tapestries during the mid-80s and has been focused on this approach since. For the past four decades she has innovated a technical approach to the floor loom resulting in a unique and visionary style.
These tapestries have always been reliant on found imagery. Held brought Photoshop into the studio during the early-90s, allowing the opportunity to aggregate source material. She has since used Photoshop as a drawing-tool to not only composite found media, but also, edit, manipulate, and layer information. Held additionally relies on preset PSD filters to generate unexpected visual scenarios. A sort of intuitive image processing emerges via this interfacing with found media and the computer.
A leap of faith occurs as these digital files are translated into analog by the artist onto the loom. A detailed graphite drawing acts as the intermediary, interpreting the visual occurrences of photoshop to a physical, binary code she follows while weaving. As yarn is woven, Held is hindered somewhat blind, only able to view the tapestry from behind as the final face of the tapestry is revealed when complete and removed from the loom. This is further complicated by color. What we see is reliant on a spectrum of available dyed wool yarn on the market. Held approximates what she observes on screen in a way similar to a printer dealing with color that is out of gamut. Through this process, we are left with intricate moments of translation between the digital and physical; unique descriptions of time, space, perspective, and being.
Sheila Held currently lives and works in Milwaukee, WI.
June Art Fair takes place during the week Monday 13 - 19 June 2022.
The fair will open Monday 13 June with a VIP Preview and remain on view to the public until 19 June 2022.
Preview:
Monday: 1-8 pm
Public days:
Tuesday - Saturday: 11-7pm
Sunday: 11-5pm
Location:
Riehenstrasse 90B
4058 Basel, Switzerland
To request VIP access please send an email to vip@june-art-fair.com
Early access and guided tours for museum patrons and collector groups can be organized. Inquiries can be sent to info@june-art-fair.com
June Art Fair is a gallery-led alternative to the conventional art fair viewing experience, prioritizing an open format and distinguishing itself with a highly-selective, intergenerational group of participants amongst whom dialog and collaboration is encouraged.
Founded in 2019 by galleries VI, VII (Oslo) and Christian Andersen (Copenhagen), the fair is more akin to a meticulously curated, collaborative, public exhibition that serves as a platform to promote the work of emerging artists and to encourage the discovery of under-recognized figures.
June takes place in an iconic concrete bunker designed by Pritzker Prize winning architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. Its modest scale and convenient location, in close proximity to Messeplatz and Art Basel, are notable attributes that make it a key destination during Basel Art Week.
This year’s participants will include:
VI, VII, Oslo / Eliza Douglas
Arcade, London and Brussels / Rebecca Allen, Caroline Achaintre
Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam / Eva Beresin
Christian Andersen, Copenhagen / Sidsel Meineche Hansen
Downs & Ross, New York / Pauline Shaw, Jens Kothe
Établissement d'en face, Brussels / Group show
Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam / Tyna Adebowale, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz
Fabian Lang, Zurich / Tobias Bradford
Foxy Production, New York / Petra Cortright
The Green Gallery, Milwaukee / Sheila Held
Jacky Strenz, Frankfurt / Lin May Saeed, Markus Ebner
Galerie Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam / Oscar Abraham Pabón, Vytautas Kumza
Meliksetian Briggs, Los Angeles / Bas Jan Ader
Misako & Rosen, Tokyo / J. Parker Valentine
Parisa Kind, Frankfurt / Benjamin Echeverria
Red Tracy, Copenhagen / Jordan Strafer, Andreas Rønholt Schmidt
Sentiment, Zurich / Yannic Joray
Stigter van Doesburg, Amsterdam / Melissa Gordon, Daya Cahen
Sydney, Sydney / Hilarie Mais, Lewis Fidock & Joshua Petherick
Special Projects:
DARP, Derbyshire
PROVENCE, Zurich
Gina Folly
Juneart.io / Curated by Jared Madere
Janina McQuoid, presented by June Art Fair with the support of Projecto Vênus, São Paulo