Paisley - exploding the teardrop

16 November 2007 – 19 January 2008

In collaboration with the Pattern Lab, PM Gallery is presenting a show of new work exploring the roots of paisley – its origins, development over the centuries and the myriad uses to which it has been put. Eight international artists contribute to this sumptuous exhibition, which is sited across Sir John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor-House and Gallery.

Paisley - exploding the teardrop reflects the first appearance of the teardrop-shaped buta (buta means ‘flower’ in Hindi) or paisley motif in Babylon and its travels through time, continents and cultures. Paisley’s evolution can be traced in textiles, painting and tiles, across India and into Europe in the18th century, mass production of the paisley shawl in Paisley, Scotland in the 19th century, followed by its widespread appearance during the 1960s, epitomising the influence of Indian culture on psychedelia.

The ‘buta’ or paisley motif is surrounded by myth and legend. It has been likened to the young shoots of the date palm, which was necessary for existence, as it provided food, wine, thatch, wood, paper and string and is thought to have been the ‘prototype’ for the tree of life. Today the irrepressible paisley motif is part of the popular iconography of contemporary art and design.

In Rekha Rodwittiya’s ‘Home Coming’, the traditional Toran gateway, which evolved into a decorative banner, is symbolic of welcome and good luck. Rodwittiya is exploring notions of journeying (this work was brought from Baroda in Gujarat, India) and the home. Paisley-born Lisa Busby has created a multi-sensory work combining textiles, sound and performance that uncovers the stories of Paisley’s townsfolk or ‘buddies’ as they relate their hometown’s rich textile heritage. Kathleen Mullaniff’s series of heavily decorated, shimmering gold paisley paintings incorporate areas of wear, reflecting the both the seductiveness and ultimate fading of beauty.

Gurdeep Sehmar’s video work celebrates the organic vibrancy of paisley, with a soundtrack that relates to the visual flow of the film and reflects the history of the motif. Laurie Addis weaves dense textiles on a computer assisted “thread controller” loom at Kent State University, Ohio. These highly textural, subtle works mix pixels from a digitized paisley flowering tree motif with mathematically generated, open-ended systems and improvised processes. Jane Langley’s vibrant paintings explore the serpentine movements of the paisley motif.

Jennifer Wright work gives a transformed view of the garden through the code of an embroiderer’s chart alongside a series of embroidered and printed panels and a carpet from Hama beads, combining the motifs found in both paisley and in the earlier designs of historical Garden Rugs, which celebrated the domestic space as a utopia. Delaine Le Bas looks at paisley’s complex and intertwined relationships; personal, cultural and political with an installation that reflects the modern day state of the original places where the buta and paisley pattern developed.

Seen through the eyes of the eight artists, paisley is not just that ‘friendly old shape’ but also a perfect metaphor, embodying all the complex shifts and evolutionary changes that are fundamental to life.

With thanks to the Sakshi Gallery for ‘Home Coming’ by Rekha Rodwittiya.