Ashley V. Blalock is a Californian artist who has been making site-specific sculptures with huge, hand-crocheted doilies since 2011. Blalock’s Keeping Up Appearances art series was spread out across gallery walls, stairwells, ceilings, and floors in 2014. The red cotton crochet doilies are still getting bigger as they spread to more places inside and outside.
Blalock’s textile works can be as tall as 15 feet and look like huge spider webs. The large size and bright colours of these works turn the harmless doily into a structure that is meant to make the viewer feel uneasy. Blalock says, “The doilies themselves show a desire to keep up the appearance of gentility to the outside world, which is shown by how things are arranged in the home…”The colour red shows that this is pointless and hints at the discomfort that lies beneath an obsessive need to organise and control.
Blalock’s website has more of her Keeping Up Appearances exhibit and other art.
American artist Ashley V. Blalock covers both indoor and outdoor areas with huge handmade doilies.
The ongoing installation art series, titled Keeping Up Appearances, sprawls across gallery walls, stairwells, ceilings, and even trees.
Resembling giant spider webs, Blalock’s textile installations sometimes span as high as 15-feet tall.
