SHIRLEY PETTIBONE

CLOTH OBJECTS 1970-1973

Shirley Pettibone: Cloth Objects 1970–1973 presents a focused selection of the artist’s soft sculptural works, developed through her experimentation with stained, cut, and sewn fabric. These “Cloth Objects,” formed from painted muslin and stuffed with batting, occupy a space between painting and sculpture. Neither fully flat nor fully dimensional, they translate painterly gesture into bodily form.

As described in Pettibone’s own reflections, these works emerged from a desire to move beyond the limitations of traditional painting, incorporating physical substance while retainig a sense of ambiguity and poetic suggestion. The resulting forms—tubular, knotted, or suspended—evoke bodily associations without resolving into explicit representation. They suggest skin, organs, or organic growths, while also maintaining a formal rigor aligned with the conceptual concerns of the period.

Pettibone’s use of sewing and fabric introduces a material language historically coded as feminine, transforming it into a structural and conceptual device. The works engage with contemporaneous movements such as “Eccentric Abstraction” and “Soft Sculpture,” yet remain distinct in their synthesis of intimacy, process, and restraint. Despite their innovation, these works were created within a context in which women artists were often marginalized, their contributions overlooked in favor of their male counterparts.

Shirley Pettibone: Cloth Objects will be on view at Duane Thomas Gallery from May 15 through June 15 2026