DOPPELGÄNGER PROJECTS PRESENTS:

Lea Thomas | Currents

Trestle Gallery
850 3rd Avenue
Ste 411
Brooklyn, NY 11232

April 12 - May 8, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, April 12, 7:00 - 9:00pm

I am writing all this down in blue ink, so as to remember that all words, not just some, are written in water.

― Maggie Nelson, Bluets

Trestle Gallery, together with Doppelgänger Projects, is pleased to present Lea Thomas | Currents, at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY from April 12 - May 8, 2019. An opening reception will be held on April 12, 2019 from 7:00 - 9:00pm.

A drop of dark blue appears, its stain spreading over the surface. Tendrils stretch across, their circuits entwining and dispersing, carving lucid pathways in their wake. The deepest blue requires more than just one application, it is a multitude of layers blended into one another, with slightly different circumstances and results each time, as sapphire streams ebb and flow concurrently. The azure currents of time, energy, and memory upwell and merge in union.

Lea Thomas applies this aesthetic philosophy in her practice, creating a pool of the deepest blue for her hand-woven textiles. With a lineage harkening back to the traditional use of Japanese indigo in its process and symbolism, Thomas’s work echoes the motion of her predecessors, diving far under the waves of deep time. As the fibers submerge into a vat of natural dye, so does one’s consciousness surge in connection to our environment, our humanity, and the depths of our psyches. “Tidal currents course through our deeps and shallows, yielding to the rhythmic pull of moon and sun. The undulations of our myriad intensities combine in ever-changing patterns reflected on our surface, just as the patterns of wave trains -- are endlessly reconfigured over the face of the sea” (The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images, Taschen, 2010).

It is with this in mind that we present Lea Thomas | Currents at Trestle Gallery. Creating a dynamic environment with textiles, viewers may walk amongst the cerulean channels of nature and human identity, providing a space of reflection and rumination amongst the billows of blue.

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Lea Thomas is a New York-based fiber artist and musician. Originally from Maui, Hawaii, Lea’s work reflects on her unique perspective of the relationship between person and place. Informed by both academic and self-directed study in botanical sciences and traditional folk herbalism, Lea uses organic fibers and plant-based dyes to create weavings that celebrate the intelligence of the natural world. Specifically, Lea’s frequent use of indigo pigment is symbolic of her Japanese heritage, honoring a lineage of kimono makers and textile artisans in her immediate ancestry. Lea was an artist in residence at the Montello Foundation in Nevada in 2018.