Create! is thrilled to share the announcement of Zak Ové’s first solo show at De Buck Gallery, Canboulay.

Textiles hold stories, our past, our family history. Objects like quilts, doilies, and knitted blankets or clothing often get passed down as gifts, family heirlooms that are embedded with the love, care, and attention from the hands who made them. There is much more than stitches and patterns within fabric, but rather a combination of voices and experiences from those dedicated to the craft.

If you are from the midwest, your exposure to textile art may come in the form of quilts. For me, being from Indiana, a quilt was usually made by a maternal figure, often created by combining leftover scraps of fabric, creating a history woven together. Many of us have similar textile objects that we find comfort, joy, and memories in. For artist Zak Ové, this object is the doily. In his new work, he simultaneously captures and abstracts the form of the doily to create complex, textural patterns. The different types of knitting and/or crochet patterns used to create doilies are combined and overlapped in Ové’s paintings, fusing together shape and color to create a kaleidoscope of new forms.

Ové’s solo show at De Buck gallery features these monumental doily paintings, inspired by memories of Canboulay, the masquerade festival which evolved into the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. The artist’s upbringing in London and Trinidad influence his work. As De Buck Gallery explains, the artist’s work featured in the exhibition “create’s a dialogue between tradition and contemporary life. Through titles, color, and material, the doily works reference the masquerade costumes traditionally donned at Canboulay, an event which originated as a harvest festival that involved dancing, chanting, and music which became the root of calypso.”

The exhibition will be on view at De Buck Gallery at 507 West 27th Street from October 21 to November 20, 2021, as well as accessible online as part of the gallery’s digital programming. While the exhibition will be opening on October 21, the gallery will be hosting a reception in the presence of the artist on Thursday November 11, 6-8pm.

All images courtesy of De Buck Gallery.