·2022-04-11

TWS Broadcast. S02E05: China Marks: Drawing with Machines

China Marks is a New York based artist who hacks machines to create drawings using fabric and thread.
Under China’s hand, scraps of patterned fabric come to life, utterly transformed into characters and narratives that reflect the world in all its glory, horror and absurdity. The industrial sewing machine, China’s tool of choice, creates the stitched line which unifies fragments of found fabric into singular works of humor and poetry.
China’s work is shown in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, and at the Owen James Gallery in NYC. She has received numerous grants and awards, including fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2005, 2011, and 2017, and grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2013 and 2021.
We visited China’s studio to talk with her about her own story, her work, influences and process.

The episode:

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The Weird Show Broadcast is sponsored by NEW, a project based art collection designed to foster artist collaboration and empower creative expression.

To learn more about their program and the artists they work with, go to newcollection.com

China Marks’ work

China Marks, *Just Horsing Around*, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, fusible adhesive, Jade glue, 18.25 x 23 inches

China Marks, *A Loaded Question*, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, goggle eye held by coated wire and thread on the verso, fusible adhesive, 16.5 x 16 inches

China Marks, *Put a Woman in Charge!*, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, Jade glue, beads, sequins, machine parts, fusible adhesive, colored stones, 20.5 x 24 inches

China Marks, *You Can’t Always Get What You Wan*t, 2021, Fabric, thread, lace, Jade glue, fusible adhesive, 15 x 21 inches

China Marks, *Recent Martyrs*, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink on lace, Jade glue, fusible adhesive on a contemporary tapestry copy of a painting of Saint Barbara, 24.5 x 18.5 inches

China Marks, *The Usual Suspects*, 2021, Fabric, thread, lace, screen-printing ink, fusible adhesive, 14.25 x 14.5 inches

Kazimir Malevich, *Head of a Peasant*, 1928-1932

China Marks, *Summer*, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, fusible adhesive, Jade glue on a contemporary tapestry copy of *Head of a Peasant* by Kazimir Malevich, 17 x 13.4 inches

China Marks, *Ghosts in the Machine*, 2021, Fabric, thread, brass rings, screen-printing ink, fusible adhesive, Jade glue, c. 19.5 x 25.75 inches (irregular)

China Marks, *Ghosts in the Machine*, detail

China Marks, *The Last Tree*, Short Subject, 2021, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, lace, fusible adhesive, 16 x 21 inches

China Marks, Ghosts in the Machine, Owen James Gallery

Find more about China Marks on her website

This episode was produced by Máximo Tuja aka Max-o-matic.
Interview by Andrea Burgay
Edition and sound design by Matías Rossi
Mix and mastered by Adrià Navarro

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