In the Interstices of Sculpture and Poetry: Sewing and Basting

Abstract

In The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes reminds us of the etymology of the word and its close connection to textile and texture, weaving and binding (Barthes 64). In Writing and Difference, Jacques Derrida defines sewing as basting: is sewing on the outside which does not bind the textile tightly (Derrida xiii). Therefore, by introducing the notion of looseness, he suggests that the text may not hold, that it may come apart. I borrow this image of basting from Derrida as a metaphor for examining Barbara Chase-Riboud's art practice, one that crosses the frontiers between art and literature, sculpture and drawing, sculpture and architecture. I use it not only to point out the passage from one mode of creation to another and the dynamics underlying them, but also to highlight the tenuous space in between them that is both a space of connection and disjunction, unity and separateness. My intention is to analyze the problematic of the double enunciation and the concept of in-betweenness to bring out the possible links between the linguistic and the iconographie while maintaining the specificity of each mode of creation. The theoretical approach of this analysis draws upon semiotics, iconography, and deconstruction so as to show what binds and/or unbinds the iconographie and the linguistic, namely the poetic text and the sculptures. The word interstice suggests images of separation, of gaps and cracks between things, but can also be interpreted as a structuring space that brings heterogeneous ele ments together. It is a space where things take shape, slip through, and where meaning is produced. It is also an empty space, a gap or void that signals depth and can be construed as the signifier of absence and difference as distinction and differ anee, in the Derridean sense of the term, implying that separateness and distinction are co-dependent and shifting. The idea of movement, passage, and interaction is underlined by the textile imagery used by Barthes and Derrida which aptly describes Barbara Chase-Riboud's sculptures, through her choice of fabric as well as her technique of combining, binding, and tying up. Furthermore, it is an appropriate image to qualify the poet's handling of the linguistic material and her subtle weaving of form and content. I will therefore examine first the writer's method of constructing space and shaping the poetic text through a selection of poems singled out for their iconographie quality. These are emblematic of the work of an artist who likes experimenting with various mediums and who is sensitive to the visual and auditory texture of words. Most poems address the issues of race, color, self-exploration, and self-discovery, and what links them together is the perception and representation of the body. This will be the focus of the second part which articulates the link between the body and creativity through the artist's handling of the surface of the sculptures. The last section will be centered more specifically on the various devices used by the author to overcome the tensions and binary oppositions that underlie both her poetic and her plastic work.