Kabaja van wit linnen batist rondom afgezet met een geschulpte strook machinale kant c. 1900 - 1920

This "Kabaja" was made anonymously from white linen and machine lace. It's a strange painting, no? Or, wait, not painting - it’s clothing! But when an object is isolated from its context, it can become abstract, and almost painterly. What interests me is the process of its creation: the labor and the thought that went into its making. Look at the way the linen falls, its subtle creases, and the delicate machine lace, all of which remind me of gestural brushstrokes. The lace, especially, is a kind of drawing, a delicate line tracing the edges of the form, emphasizing its shape. It makes me think about Agnes Martin and her subtle grids or the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenburg. Both artists are interested in the everyday, in the poetics of the ordinary. Like them, this anonymous maker has transformed a simple material into something beautiful and evocative. It's a reminder that art is everywhere, in everything, if we just take the time to look.