![](./../images/tentacular-objects/Memories_Fragrant_Tang.jpg)
Tentacular Objects
A series of embroidered paintings; digital and hand embroidery, pigment, ink, watercolour, oil, linen, 2021-
Tentacles, vines, roots, yarn: systems of connection that are tangled or knitted together; knots. The Tentacular Objects series of embroidered paintings explore webs on a fundamental level, webs as a concept. The work is concerned with networks - from the digital to ecosystems, networks of kinship and mycelium, social networks and the collective consciousness. It centres the vast complexity of systems and intertwined forces at play rather than singling out and elevating individuals.
This ongoing series fits into a long-standing interest in my practice in networks - be they human, non-human, cybernetic, fungal, or social - and on a critical reflection of the power hierarchies underlying advancing technologies. The merging of technology and textiles reflects an approach to techno-social commentary that rejects the ever-increasing accelerationism in which most discourse about technology today is steeped.
"Gretta Louw refuses a simple classification, her artistic practice is rather an exercise in systemic thinking, a combination of disciplines and a breaking of narrow art historical categories." - Anabel Roque Rodriguez, independent curator and writer
![Memories of Species Turned to Dust, install view at Tang Contemporary, 2022](./../images/tentacular-objects/memories.jpg)
![Memories of Species Turned to Dust, 2022, detail](./../images/tentacular-objects/memories_detail.jpg)
![Fragrant Mountains of Eternal Now (ee cummings), install view at Tang Contemporary, 2022](./../images/tentacular-objects/Fragrant mountains of eternal now.jpg)
![Knot Theory, install view at Galerie Wundersee, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knot theory_install.jpg)
![Knot Theory, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knot theory_studio.jpg)
![Knot Theory, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knot theory.jpg)
![Knot Theory, embroidery detail, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knot theory_detail1.jpg)
![Knot Theory, detail of hand embroidery, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knot theory_detail2.jpg)
![Primordium 3, 1, and 4 (L-R), 2022-23](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium3, 2, 4.jpg)
![Primordium 3 (rose), 2023](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium 3 (rose).jpg)
![Primordium 1 (lilac), 2022](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium 1 (lilac)_.jpg)
![Primordium 4 (mint), 2023](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium 4 (mint).jpg)
![Primordium 1 (lilac), detail of hand embroidery, 2022](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium1_detail.jpg)
![Primordium 2 (blue), 2022](./../images/tentacular-objects/primordium2.jpg)
![Knowing has no weight, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/knowing_exhib.jpg)
![Knowing has no weight, 2021-23](./../images/tentacular-objects/knowing.jpg)
![Knowing has no weight, 2021-23, detail](./../images/tentacular-objects/knowing_detail.jpg)
![Artist portrait in the studio, 2021](./../images/tentacular-objects/portrait.jpg)
- Exhibitions
- Glimmer Shrine, Tang Contemporary Hong Kong, curated by Charlotte Lin, 2022
- Going Baroque - Das Neue Barock, LAProjects, curated by Jorg Ludwig, 2022-2023
- Hope on the Edge, Yvonne Hohner Contemporary,curated by Anabel Roque Rodriguez, 2022
- Automatic Dreams, Galerie Wundersee, curated by Florian Kuhlmann, 2021-22
- Acknowledgements
- Selected photos courtesy of Tang Contemporary, Hong Kong
- Selected photos courtesy of Galerie Wundersee and Andreas Wundersee