Collection: Annette Cords

Bio

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Annette Cords received her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and currently lives in New York City. Cords’ recent Jacquard tapestries investigate how we read and decipher visual information in order to construct meaning and navigate our environment. Recent solo exhibitions include Shape/Shifters, Project: ARTspace, New York; Breaking the Grid at Kang Contemporary in Berlin; Sideways, New York Public Library; Diamond Days, Villa Rosenthal, Jena, Germany. Her work has appeared in group shows at venues including the Queens Museum, Flux Factory, The Drawing Center, Kentler International Drawing Space, and Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles. She has been the recipient of grants and residencies, including a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and an Open Sessions Residency at The Drawing Center.

Statement

'My work spans diverse media, from painting and weaving to installation and sculpture. I explore the possibilities of mark-making, examine writing systems and vernacular styles, and ask how we process and interpret visual information. Frequently, I incorporate ideas from other disciplines. My Jacquard tapestries focus on the convergence of visual and textual languages, making connections between text and textile. In dialogue with the material culture of weaving, I examine how weaving intersects and augments developments in writing, painting, and abstraction.

Specific themes persist in my art: an interest in structures, the potential of mark-making, notation and writing systems, an exploration of vernacular styles, and how perception is shaped through context and relationships. By merging ideas and transforming materials, I place my work in conversation with a range of topics, while inviting close reading and looking.'