exhibited: 24.09.–26.11.2022, Mai-Thu Perret. Portrait of a woman, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck, AT The tapestry “Vertical-horizontal composition” (2015) shows a geometric pattern in the colours turquoise, peach and black and is a tribute to the Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943). Her reference work bears the same title and was created almost exactly one hundred years earlier. During Taeuber-Arp’s professorship of the textile class at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts (1916-1929), she taught with the conviction that art, design, craft, and everyday life could be combined in a creative way — an approach that is also echoed in Perret’s works. For the three metres high tapestry, Perret first made a small gouche, the brushstrokes of which are still recognisable in the hand-woven version. The drawing process and brushwork are particularly prominent in the pieces woven with silver thread, adding a personal, gestural accent to the geometric composition. Perret already explored rhythmic geometric abstraction in early works, such as her paintings on plywood, as well as Constructivism and Bauhaus design. (Madeleine Freund, excerpt from the text for the exhibition, Portrait of a woman, Innsbruck 2022)