The highlight of the current exhibits showing at the
Textile Museum is the art piece called "
The Last Supper". Part of an exhibit called Shine, which focuses on shiny materials in clothing and art, this work is bright, colourful, whimsical and yet ironic, intelligent and full of social commentary and critique about consumerism, waste, and mass-marketing.
Depicting numerous examples of North American "junk food", the title "The Last Supper" morphs beyond its traditional religious connotation to take on a literal one–that this food is detrimental to the health and could literally be your last supper if you keep eating it. Strips of recycled materials from shiny pop and beer cans were weaved together to form these images, making the work self-referential, since the material used to make the work to reflects the subject matter.
Other shiny fabrics included gold metal threads found in Japanese kimonos and Indian silks, reflective mirrors and glass buttons in Pakistan wedding attire and a court robe from China which featured what looks like Nazi swastikas, but are actually ancient Buddhist symbols of good fortune.
The work called "
Music of Chance" used a single roll of aluminum foil to make molds of hundreds of common-place silver-coloured objects including kitchen utensils, musical instruments, jewelry boxes, picture frames, etc. The result is a single thirty-foot "chain bracelet" created using one continuous sheet of aluminum foil.
The second exhibit featured works from the Finnish company
Marimekko and its designer Armi Rati, who brought bright, bold printed patterns to North America that was popular in the psychedelic 60s. You picture girls in short dresses and long go-go boots when you see these patterns.
The Textile Museum of Canada
55 Centre Ave (near City Hall)
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