NATALIE NOVAK
  • Ballerina Music Box
  • Meditations / Manifestations
  • Live, Laugh, Rococo
  • Hair Cut pt. 2
  • Bunion Bath
  • Discharge Diary
  • Goodie Bags
  • Untitled
  • You Left a Tissue
  • Fear Foods
  • On Habituation
  • 7,160
  • Paintings + Drawings
  • About
  • Contact
  • Ballerina Music Box
  • Meditations / Manifestations
  • Live, Laugh, Rococo
  • Hair Cut pt. 2
  • Bunion Bath
  • Discharge Diary
  • Goodie Bags
  • Untitled
  • You Left a Tissue
  • Fear Foods
  • On Habituation
  • 7,160
  • Paintings + Drawings
  • About
  • Contact
NATALIE NOVAK
Meditations / Manifestations
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
Pink nylon tulle, acrylic paint, fabric paint, gesso, cotton thread
2021-22

Over the course of four months, I explored the haptic qualities of tulle through a touch-oriented process of painting, layering, ripping, stitching, and reconstructing the material into several temporary installations. 

I am intrigued by the common associations and usages of tulle in Western culture. Especially in the color pink, tulle is often perceived as a soft, delicate, and “feminine” fabric, and in my process I continually test its strength and durability. Tulle is employed to embellish spaces and objects, and it's notably utilized in the costume arenas of ballet, theater, and fashion since the fine-netted fabric can be molded and shaped to give structure/form to a body. 

By working with the materiality of tulle as a primary subject, I want others to see this fabric for what it is: fluid, flowing, expandable, unpredictable, malleable, performative. As for the treatment of the surface, I am interested in portraying how the fibers feel to be touched, inhabited, and repeatedly worked through. Infused with a complexity of marks, scars, care, and violence, the surface becomes a visual manifestation of time and labor- a reflection of my attentiveness and utter curiosity of the material’s potential to subvert its cultural connotations.
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