The Magic of the Pattern
The eyes are the windows of the soul, as the saying goes. They reveal you if you smile with your mouth, but are actually sad. They can convey what you are unable to say. They can be closed, to shut out the world. Eye contact is one of the most important and most intimate forms of communication between two people.
Main content
In Vibeke Riisberg's textile works the eyes are deprived of their usual role, detached, separated from the face they belong to. They are inserted into a new context, as the main components of a pattern. Even if the basic subject is the same, the pictures are different. One is marked by orange tones, showing identical pairs of eyes, repeated in straight lines throughout the picture. The pairs of eyes are reminiscent of Apollo butterflies, both in shape and color.
Dark shades of blue are interrupted by flashing white in one of the other textiles. Here we see no pairs of eyes, just single eyes placed diagonally and seemingly randomly in a complex pattern, that still constitutes a balanced whole. The third textile is in shades of brown, and also shows individual eyes, this time placed so close to other eyes that it can look like they are in pairs - but if we look closer, we see that the relations are not "right". Digital tools have provided textile media with new opportunities, including the creation of magical patterns like these.
Vibeke Riisberg (1951 -) is a textile designer. She produces both textile art and design. Her textile patterns are often produced using purely digital methods. Riisberg is interested in sustainable design, and focuses on maintaining the aesthetic qualities in a sustainable use of the fabrics. In 2006 she submitted her PhD thesis, entitled Design og produktion af trykte textiler – fra analoge til digitale processer (Design and production of printed textiles - from analog to digital processes). She works as a lecturer at the Department of Product Design at the Design School Kolding.
NORA SØRENSEN VAAGE