{"id":429238,"date":"2026-05-15T16:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/429238\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:53:11","slug":"lucid-perturbations-the-sewn-drawings-and-books-of-china-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/429238\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Announcement<\/a><\/p>\n

This exhibition at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art marks the first major solo exhibition of the artist\u2019s hypnagogic artworks.<\/p>\n


\n \"Zane
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Lucid
\n China Marks, \u201cAt the Winter Palace\u201d (2018), fabric, thread, fusible adhesive, wood and ceramic beads, Jade glue, 20 x 25 1\/2 inches (courtesy the artist, all photos by Jeffrey Scott French unless otherwise noted)<\/p>\n

Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks<\/a> at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, NM, presents over 200 artworks from China Marks\u2019s sewn oeuvre, offering the broadest survey of the artist\u2019s hypnagogic tableaux of storytelling to date. China Marks dedicated the last 23 years of her active art practice to producing more than 600 sewn works<\/a>. Lucid Perturbations, on view from May 15 to July 11, reveals the depth of Marks\u2019s artistic psyche and the range of her intuitive responses to the travesties and phenomena of our world, its power dynamics, and the tragicomedy or psychology of human relationships. The exhibition title comes from Mark\u2019s own observation of how each work \u201cremains lucid despite the perturbations of the fabric,\u201d speaking to the paradox in coherence of imagery despite the disjointed, the disconcerting, and the enigmatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am after as complex a truth as possible. My drawings reflect the world in all its glory, horror, and absurdity \u2014 its workers and slugs; sleepwalkers and prophets. Who is in charge, and who suffers because of that? Why does the past keep biting us in the ass? What does it mean to be in love?\u201d
\u2014China Marks\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Left: China Marks, \u201dAbove and Below\u201d (2022), fabric, thread, fusible adhesive, Jade glue, 49 x 52 inches; Right: China Marks, \u201cThe Reckoning\u201d (2009), fabric, lace, thread,\u00a0screen-printing ink, buttons,\u00a0plastic googly\u00a0eye, fusible adhesive, Jade glue, 54 x 55 3\/4 inches (photo by Dan Dragan)<\/p>\n

In 2000, at age 59, Marks decided to pivot from painting, printmaking, and sculpture to exclusively sewing together the many joys, sorrows, and contradictions of life into emotionally resonant, if not beautifully bizarre, scenes that are, in turns, uncomfortably familiar and cryptic. Until now, Mark\u2019s many worlds have been a universe predominantly private to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marks\u2019s works immerse viewers in a world where iconic tropes of Western culture are inverted \u2014 stories of divine sacrifice become allegory for racialized violence; the geopolitical quagmire of the Middle East becomes a sardonic condemnation of Western apathy; and tragicomic scenes of intersubjectivity become mirrors of our human condition.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Left: China Marks, \u201cA Junkyard in the Jungle\u201d (2019), fabric, thread, colored stones, lace, tin ex-voto, fusible adhesive, 41 1\/2 x 53 inches; Right: China Marks, \u201cThe Giveaway\u201d (2016), fabric, lace, thread, screen-printing ink, sequins, button, fusible adhesive on a contemporary tapestry copy of the \u201cManchester Madonna,\u201d an unfinished painting creditably attributed to Michelangelo, 40 x 30 inches<\/p>\n

Zane Bennett gallery director, Carina Evangelista, posits that Marks\u2019s scenes foster \u201ca literary kind of pareidolia,\u201d the human tendency to perceive figures, especially faces, within random patterns. She notes that in viewing Marks\u2019s work, one tries to limn \u201cthe narrative, the proverb, the political message, or dirge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marks refers to her composite pictography as \u201can accumulation of truths that are remarkably honest and sometimes cut to the bone.\u201d In Marks\u2019s hands, fabric scraps and thread become the medium for narrative painting. To her, \u201csewing\/drawing is the essential transformative agent, an uncanny truth-teller.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more, visit zanebennettgallery.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Announcement This exhibition at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art marks the first major solo exhibition of the artist\u2019s hypnagogic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-429238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}