For Gallery Bruthaus and Art Rotterdam, Thomas Renwart (Les Monseigneurs) developed a tapestry that appears flat in colour but incorporates no fewer than eight colours. The work, which is dominated by a moth as a symbol of freedom, has become a key work in Renwart's oeuvre.
Where butterflies are associated with freedom, lightness and ephemerality, moths represent the weight of the nocturnal hours. For Renwart, the moth is at odds with the life of a 'successful' citizen with a 9-to-5 job. As a threat to civic morality, Renwart sees the moth’s elusiveness as freedom in the truest sense of the word; living in harmony with nature and oneself, both during the day and night.
The different yarns that Renwart and the product developers selected for the tapestry create the impression of transience; the moth's powdery pigments seem to dust the canvas, and different types of yarns and materials create the game of the found moth in late autumn.
What makes this project special is that Renwart and the TextielLab worked together completely remotely. Renwart submitted the design digitally, and the final tapestry was produced based on video calls and the exchange of samples. In addition, rubber yarn and Elirex copper yarn were incorporated into the fabric to give it the desired structure and sheen.
Thomas Renwart (1995) graduated in 2019 with a master’s degree in textiles from Belgium’s LUCA School of Arts. He initially used the alias Les Monseigneurs, but since September 2021 he has worked under his own name. His textile pieces combine craftsmanship with almost poetic representations of nature, flowers, butterflies and hybrid scenes of landscapes and still lifes. Using techniques such as jacquard weaving, embroidery, quilting and digital printing, he creates a tangible world out of his written stories. Besides textile art, Renwart also makes artist's books. His first book, 'Comme si de rien n'était', was published by MER in early 2021.
Mélanie Huchet. ‘Thomas Renwart maakt wandtapijten met een poëtische twist’.
De lage landen, 24/09/2021.
Link to article of Thomas Renwart
