Unbrided: Textile & Computer-Generated Works by Deborah Brod

The Cincinnati Arts Associations Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts presents two new exhibitions: Unbrided, Textile & Computer-Generated Works by Deborah Brod, an autobiographical exploration combining textiles and digital images, and Sex Machines and Related Objects/Activities by Peter Huttinger, a provocative and tongue-in-cheek examination of sexuality and materialism.

Cincinnati artist, Deborah Brod is highly regarded in the tri-state arts community for her evocative textile assemblages and intimate bookworks that personify ongoing investigations into femininity, personal psychology, and spirituality. In her most recent exhibition of work, Unbrided, Brod extends this investigation to include new explorations into computer-generated images that combine her fascination with the "soft" and sensuous nature of textiles with the "hard" digital technology of computers to create new images that merge both worlds.

Brod's work has at its core an autobiographical nature reflecting upon different experiences in the artists life. Attracted to the tactile and sensual appeal of textiles, she is especially fond of silk with its translucent and enigmatic quality, which for the artist represents intimacy and transcendence. Images are often layered into her textiles through the inclusion of actual objects that have personal meaning as demonstrated by two prominent works in the exhibition: Band-Aid Mandala, which features a circular pattern of adhesive bandages (inspired by her young daughters fascination with their seemingly magic healing powers) sewn into a silk backdrop, and Retired Combs (from the Weintraub Collection), a collection of combs gathered from her grandparents, presented in silk pouches sewn to a black velvet background.

Brod's impressive body of textile work serves as the foundation for her explorations into the world of digital images. Working within the challenging and sometimes intimidating capabilities of the computer, Brod successfully captures the essence of her textile work by combining scanned images and digital photographs in a sensitive and delicate manner. By combining two distinctively different approaches to art, Brod opens new possibilities for the fertile generation of form and ideas. Deborah Brod has exhibited her work extensively locally and regionally since earning a MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati in 1992. Her artwork is represented in the Robert J. Shiffler Foundation; Collection and Archive, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.