Boro

Fascinating exhibition at Somerset House of this Japanese textile work made up of patches and layers of cotton made as bed covers dating from the 17th century to the 20th.

Think of a sort of patchwork made from worn out biker jackets! Although they came from a need of poverty they had a certain gentle artistry with a limited colour palate of brown, blue, grey and black as those were the colours commoners were restricted to wearing. The cloth was traded by merchants as disused documents almost like shoddy. Not many have survived as the Japanese establishment were embarrassed at the poverty from which they came.

Some of them have a wonderful feeling of depth as the material has been layered complete with its holes. Some of the top layers are little more than threads. This makes you look at them really carefully and speculate on the lives of those who made them.

It’s odd but your eye makes modernist art out of them although there is no evidence that the modernists saw them. Some have a definite feeling of Paul Klee.