An expansive cascading work, with gracefully undulating rhythmic contours, Etüden für die Linke was created by Viktoria Strecker with pen on paper using both her left and right hands simultaneously. With each hand movement shaping Etüden für die Linke intricately interwoven lace-like lines, Strecker pushes herself beyond the innate, balancing control and intention with experimentation and acceptance of the unknown.
An intelligent venture outside Strecker's own comfort zone, the drawing blossoms and flourishes in waves under the spell of its own courage. The composition’s architectural symmetry is met with flashes of unpredictability as erratic lines emerge from the left side of the delicate lattice work. Idiosyncratically authored by Strecker’s left hand, irregular forms bring about spontaneity and liberation, breaking from the overall organic order. Glimpses of playful discord eventually settle back into the overall flow of form, making way for a display of harmony in grand scale—- the large scale forming an identity almost independent from it’s filigree parts: an Iteration takes place creating several dimensions to experience. Strecker’s deliberate interplay between structure and chaos echoes an underlying integration --and simultaneous tension-- between the cognitive left and right side. Within the drawing process both hemispheres of the human brain start to interact in a playful rhythm, the left hemisphere which is there for using language and analytical thinking is leading the right hemisphere which is responsible for intuition, creativity and visual thinking and the other way around.
Strecker`s brave experimental approach to artistry in Etüden für die Linke— where she consciously cedes control of the outcome while learning to trust in the power of the unpredictable-- is a study inspiring of the bigger questions in life. Let go, immerse, and permit the artwork to take you as far as you can go.
Strecker's Etüden für die Linke has been recreated by our talented Karigar partners, with hand, thread and needle over hundreds of hours. The stunning embroidery is laid on an extra long featherweight soft cashmere hooded cardigan. Thumb hole gives extra length to the arms. This ligthweight knit is fluid and flowing -- perfect for an evening summer stroll along the beach.
Etüden für die Linke: Featherweight cashmere cardigan
This featherweight pure cashmere knit is made in Nepal
This piece was hand-embroidered by talented Karigar parterns in India