Carol Padberg
Primary Medium: Collage
Other media: Textile
Email: cpadberg (at) sbcglobal (dot) net
Website: http://carolpadberg.com
Artist Statement
In these new works I explore abstraction as a vehicle for cultural expression. Recent installations have investigated the Helvetica font as a carrier of the values of modernism – and subjected the font to a digital “mash up.” These small works allow me to shift from architecturalscale to intimate works in new materials.
My collages utilize encoded abstraction such as barcodes, numbers, quilts, projection maps of the earth, and African textiles. I compose an information-age pattern that uses the structure of strip woven textiles. Warp and weft also refers to barcode checkerboard squares. This digital checkerboard also provides the black and white binary color idea for many of these works . Some of the abstractions refer to bodies (quilts, woven textiles, maps of the earth) and some of them are carriers for disembodied or ethereal information (numbers, binary code, and square barcodes which can be used to connect to the internet). Materials include recycled billboard vinyl, adhesi
Other media: Textile
Email: cpadberg (at) sbcglobal (dot) net
Website: http://carolpadberg.com
Artist Statement
In these new works I explore abstraction as a vehicle for cultural expression. Recent installations have investigated the Helvetica font as a carrier of the values of modernism – and subjected the font to a digital “mash up.” These small works allow me to shift from architecturalscale to intimate works in new materials.
My collages utilize encoded abstraction such as barcodes, numbers, quilts, projection maps of the earth, and African textiles. I compose an information-age pattern that uses the structure of strip woven textiles. Warp and weft also refers to barcode checkerboard squares. This digital checkerboard also provides the black and white binary color idea for many of these works . Some of the abstractions refer to bodies (quilts, woven textiles, maps of the earth) and some of them are carriers for disembodied or ethereal information (numbers, binary code, and square barcodes which can be used to connect to the internet). Materials include recycled billboard vinyl, adhesi
Selected Works
|  bitmap #1 - 2009 - Collage - 22-3/4" x 15" - $400.00  bitmap #2 - 2009 - collage - 14-3/4" 14-1/4" - $400.00  bitmap #3 - 2009 - collage - 12" x 10-1/4" - $350.00  bitmap #4 - 2009 - collage - 11-1/4" x 8-3/4' - $350.00  bitmap #7 - 2009 - collage - 9" x 12" - $350.00  bitmap #8 - 2009 - collage - 12" x 11-3/4" - $35.00  textile #1 (Franklins 1) - 2009 - cotton textile - 36x24" (folded size) fabric length - $350.00 [Fundraiser] This is part of an edition of 5. Each piece is 45" wide, length variable. The works in this series on globalism use Benjamin Franklin's aphorisms in a format reminiscent of African wax print fabrics, where text is placed in the margins. Design patterns are created from world map projection shapes, barcodes, quilt patterns, adinkra designs and numbers. See detail shot in image #10.  Textile #1 (Franklins 1) - detail - 2009 - cotton textile - 36x24" (folded size) fabric length - $350.00 [Fundraiser] detail of image #9 (see description of image #9 for more information on this work.) |
Artist Bio
Carol Padberg's work has been exhibited in galleries, alternative spaces and museums in the US and abroad. In 2011 her work will be the focus of a solo exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art. Recent venues include Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in New York; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland; Kunstlerhaus, Hamburg, Germany; and Gallery Woong in Seoul, South Korea. Padberg has been awarded a Skowhegan Fellowship, two grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, as well as numerous residencies. She has been a visiting lecturer at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and the University of Connecticut, Storrs. An Associate Professor at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, Padberg is currently preparing for a solo show at Cova in Barcelona.