An unusual yarn: Klaas Rommelaere’s textile art is larger than life
The artist’s family members have morphed into giant embroidered puppets in his richly woven new solo exhibition at Texture museum in Kortrijk
Knitting circles
Dark Uncles draws its name from the Swiss term for doppelgängers – a folklore fact that Rommelaere, a cinephile, discovered when watching HBO miniseries The Outsider.
The exhibition, which has a strongly autobiographical slant, stars 10 larger-than-life embroidered puppet doubles of the artist’s family members – plus his two beloved childhood golden retrievers. These effigies move in a procession through the exhibition space, which also features an avenue of totem poles and a series of tapestries and embroidered works.
“It’s an examination of my own life, my own history,” the Roeselare-born artist explains. “People now always want new things, want the future, want everything fast. To handle that speed you have to be very grounded, and the way I ground myself is by looking at where I come from.
“As a kid I sometimes had the feeling that we were just this really normal family, this feeling of being small in a huge world. Somehow it’s about putting that smallness into a big installation, about putting everyday life on a pedestal.”
Artist’s independence
Rommelaere graduated in fashion design from Ghent’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2013, having discovered textiles in his first year. Besides being a cheap way to put his graphics onto fabric without machines, they suited his rhythm: an embroidery piece can take six or seven months to complete, which leaves plenty of time for refining the message.
The way I ground myself is by looking at where I come from
Embroidery remained a constant during his internships for designers Raf Simons and Henrik Vibskov – though he swapped fashion for art seven years ago. It was partly owing to the harsh realities of finding a job in the industry, partly to his thirst for an artist’s independence. Dark Uncles, which is hosted by Texture in collaboration with contemporary art platform Be-Part, is his first solo show.
From the start, Rommelaere has drawn on outside expertise to create his painstaking pop-handicrafts, initially working alongside his grandmother. After moving to Antwerp, he began working with a group of 30 mature Flemish women – his “madames”.
“Their houses are already full of handcrafted things, and they can’t make them anymore for their children, who don’t want them, so they’re really happy to have something to do,” he says.
“Every Tuesday afternoon we meet and the whole afternoon we sit together and talk and work. They’re really, really good friends of mine. They have a different vision on life, on art and on beauty. That tension makes it very interesting for me and also for them I think.”
A welcome distraction
More hands were needed for the Texture exhibition, with 60 further textile makers across Flanders responding to Rommelaere’s call. Social distancing measures in place owing to Covid-19 meant meeting in person was impossible, so Rommelaere improvised, sending his knitting circle “home kits” to fill in and interpret.
The process was chaotic – with endless email exchanges and WhatsApp threads to monitor progress and coordinate the efforts of his yarn army. But Rommelaere welcomed the distraction. “I didn’t have time to think about corona,” he says. “I had too much work to do.”
Dark Uncles runs at Texture in Kortrijk until 31 January, with a comprehensive new catalogue, Dark Uncles, also now available from Art Paper Editions. The show is part of WONDER, a new “corona-proof” city festival in Kortrijk from 15 October to 15 November.
Photo: Courtesy Erich Spahn, Galerie Zink Waldkirchen
