essentials III

Pia Ferm’s works undermine the limits of medium specificity. Her tapestries are based on watercolor drawings, which she, working by hand, then translates into three-dimensional woolen surfaces. Oscillating between painting and sculpture, the tapestries adopt elements of abstract formal language and make reference to expressive lines in painting and drawing. They possess both spatial properties and haptic qualities. Ferm also works in stone, producing sculptural pieces with very different materiality to the textile works, but comparable in terms of their elaborate process of production.

Ferm has produced two small tapestries and a stone work for the Kunstverein’s 2021/22 annual editions. One of the textile works depicts needles, the other one a knife, while the stone sculpture "essential III* represents a cartoon-like bone. In what she calls her “three-dimensional drawings,” Ferm reflects on the tools which have always been essential to the making of things. A number of different linen threads, as well as dark green and blue wool yarns, have been used in the textile pieces. The coloring of all three works is characterically subtle, mainly in muted tones. These are objects through which Ferm continues her exploration of representation and description.