March
2008
"Black
Light District- Primitive Occult Adornments"
Barbara
Doherty
Reception
Saturday March 8th from 6pm to 10pm
The
iconography of occultism applied to personal adornment is my passion.
I create garments/decor for those with a dark visionary aesthetic who
share my enthusiasm for fetishy macabre expression. The forbidden fruit
of the tree of knowledge, the machinery of spells, astrological decipherment,
are some of the thematic territory I explore. Organic chaos seizing
geometric balance marks my work. Serpentine linescoiled and twisting
through strictly controlled mathmatical structure with a sense of antiquity
and captive magick. I employ textured fabric
manipulation featuring gathers, flounces and frills, as well as chainmail,
scales, spikes and nails. Densly coagulating into an industrial Victorian
nightmare.
Barbara
Doherty is a self taught artisan living and creating in Verplanck NY
in cramped, impossibly wretched conditions. Mostly isolated for many
years with virtually no social life, she entered therapy in 2002 to
deal with anxiety attacks, agoraphobia and extreme insomnia. Medications
proved ineffective. The method to achieve
sanity has involved a return to her roots through indulgence in art,
music and the occasional consensual sadomasochism. She is inspired by
traditional craft methods such as the unit construction of Irish crochet.
Pieces are formed using leather and found materials, infused with religio-fetishistic
design and a bdsm
aesthetic. She is compelled by a disdain for the brainwashed media controlled
masses and a healthy touch of paranoia. Her future plans are to live
happily ever after in a secluded sanctuary
with her beloved boyfriend and 20 feline accomplices.
