Brigitta Váradi:
A cloak of red, slow as a Carpathian rock

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River Valley Arts Collective is pleased to announce A cloak of red, slow as a Carpathian rock, an exhibition of commissioned felted wool works by Brigitta Váradi. The title references the Polish playwright Józef Korzeniowski’s dramatic work Carpathian Highlanders (1843) that depicts lives of resourcefulness and survival in a remote mountain region. A song in the play describes the traditional dress of a young Carpathian shepherd and celebrates the natural beauty and wildness of the landscape throughout the changing seasons.

Váradi’s practice pays homage to the labor of sheep farming communities, past and present, including her family whose origins are rooted in the Carpathian Mountains. For these remote residents, a subsistence-level lifestyle to maintain food and shelter and survive extreme mountain conditions preoccupies daily existence, yielding traditions of labor the artist aims to preserve and honor. Memories from visiting her great-grandparents–cold quiet walks in the mountains, scents of wool and lard, and folk textiles in vivid colors–are animated and imbued in the new works.

The exhibition is anchored by two wall installations that showcase the artist’s unique felting technique–a physically demanding and time-intensive process. A large-scale felted work of natural, undyed wool spans the length of one wall in Al Held's former drawing studio. Part textile and part painting, Váradi composed it by placing individual tufts of the raw wool arranged according to color, texture, and length. Part cloak, the work recalls a hunia, a traditional Carpathian wool garment worn as protection against the severe mountain climate but also as ceremonial dress, incorporated into baptisms and weddings. Part animal, the work’s materiality is foregrounded, while it also assumes a life-like presence within the space.

In contrast, a mosaic of colorful dyed wool and silk hangs on the opposite wall. The palette of magenta, cobalt blue, lemon yellow, orange and green references the colors of cross stitch textiles the artist recalls from her childhood. Subtle variations of pattern and color in this traditional craft are highly localized, dependent on inherited practices and availability of material. For instance, artist Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit (1927-1998) traveled to isolated Carpathian Mountain villages sharing the technology of synthetic dyes with local women who enthusiastically adopted the new palette. (Horytsvit, also a photographer, documented Carpatho-Rusyn life and her photos constitute what little record exists of this largely unknown ethnic minority). Presented anew through Váradi’s deconstructed material collage, the riot of color is juxtaposed against the natural grays, browns, and blacks on the facing wall.

In keeping with the artist’s long standing engagement with sheep farmers and their distinctive practices, Váradi sourced the wool for this exhibition from Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY, who generously donated the material. Turkana Farms raises American Karakul sheep, descendents from one of the oldest sheep breeds in the world and believed to be the breed with which the art of felt making originated. Historically, Karakul and Carpathian Mountain sheep share their valuable role within their communities as providers of clothing, shelter, and sustenance. Like Carpathian wool, Karakul wool is coarse, suited for rugged climates, and constitutes the rich shades of black and brown in Váradi’s new work.

In addition, and in the spirit of generosity, the artist hand rendered and produced a cream, individually jarred for visitors to take. The cream is a traditional folk remedy one would apply to the chest for colds or a part of the body in pain. Váradi’s grandmother adapted a recipe inherited from her godmother, who was the village medicine woman and midwife. Made of pig lard and both wild and cultivated calendula from her grandmother’s garden, it is lovingly referred to as “Mama Cream.” The artist intends for a piece of her family’s heritage–which Váradi has only recently begun to activate as a catalyst for her work–to be shared, drawing resonances between traditions, memory, and the present.

Brigitta Váradi is a Hungarian-born self-taught artist who lives and works in Pine Plains, NY. Her recent solo exhibitions include Civitella Ranieri, Umbria, Italy; Burlington City Arts Center, Burlington, VT; Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY; Budapest Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; and Leitrim Sculpture Center, Leitrim, Ireland. Váradi’s work has been included in group exhibitions at the Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY; Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC; Equity Gallery, New York, NY; Marfa Open, Marfa, TX; Hunt Museum, Limerick, Ireland; National Design and Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland; and Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France, among others. Váradi has been awarded residencies at MacDowell, Peterborough, NH; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbria, Italy; Saltonstall, Ithaca, NY; TransBorder Art, Governors Island, NY; NARS Foundation, New York, NY; The Marble House Project, Dorset, VT; Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY; LOCIS-European Cultural Program, Sweden, Poland, Ireland; and Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Leitrim, Ireland; among others. Váradi is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work.

Brigitta Váradi: A cloak of red, slow as a Carpathian rock is curated by Marisa Espe. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Al Held Foundation in Boiceville, NY. The Al Held Foundation is not open to the public, however pre-scheduled and by-appointment guided tours are available.

This project was supported, in part, by Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. The artist gratefully acknowledges the MacDowell residency program where she developed this project; and is thankful for generous donations of wool from Turkana Farms and leaf lard from Fat Apple Farm.

River Valley Arts Collective is grateful for generous support from: Agnes Gund, Mara Held and Daniel Belasco / The Al Held Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, ASD Fund of the Essex County Community Foundation, Mark di Suvero / Athena Foundation, Cabbage Hill Farm Foundation, The Coby Foundation, Mark Dion, Kristen Dodge, Stef Halmos / Foreland, Andrew Howarth, John B. Koegel, Esq., The Linda and David Zackin Charitable Gift Fund, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The O’Grady Foundation, Robin Panovka, Martin Puryear / Puryear Family Fund, Clay Rockefeller, Rydingsvard Greengard Foundation, Richard Salomon Family Foundation, The Schwimmer Family Charitable Fund, Kiki Smith, Hart Perry / Southwood Wood Products, Janice Stanton and Ronald L. Windisch, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, The Swimming Hole Foundation, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, Helen Toomer / Stoneleaf Retreat, Luke Ives Pontifell / The Thornwillow Institute, Turkana Farms and SJ Weiler Fund.

For more information, please contact info@RVACollective.org