Arabesque

Hostler Burrows Los Angeles is pleased to announce a solo presentation of new work by Astrid Krogh (Danish, b. 1968), on view in the gallery’s exhibition space through April 4, 2024. Krogh creates large-scale textiles and light-based public installations that delve into the microscopic structures of biological life and the elusive organization of the universe. Her foundation in textile design led her to a structuralist approach to the study of unobservable and overlooked phenomena, mixing rational inquiry with wonder. She is drawn to “patterns that embrace changeability,” in her words.

For Arabesque, Krogh has designed a botanical metalwork tapestry on the form of taraxacum (the common dandelion), a hardy and undomesticated plant species endemic to the cracked pavement and urban landscape of cities like Los Angeles. Cut from sheets of aluminum, the silhouettes of serrated leaves and puffball heads are overlaid on the building’s brick facade. Their surfaces are gilded with 23 carat gold to reflect the warm hues of the California sun, casting shadows into the gallery’s interior and sending light refracting across Melrose Avenue. The use of gilded surfaces speaks to a long tradition within textiles in representing sunlight’s luminous, celestial, and transcendent qualities. “Flowers and plants offer a means to articulate correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm, between the detail of nature and the laws of the universe,” Krogh remarks.