John K. Rausteins starting point for his artistic practice was textile art, and he used it to investigate the relationships between invisibility, exclusion, privilege and resistance.
In his work he explores the textile tradition’s many possibilities – materially, conceptually, and sculpturally. Methodically he works, transforming emotional and tactile memories from his own childhood, upbringing, and present life into abstract works of art. His interest lies in how current events can transport us back to an earlier place and time.
The works are about remembering things one didn’t know one had forgotten. They seek the triggers – a mental image, a flash of something, a colour, a sound, a smell, or a place – and strive to make visible a feeling of existential dread. His works are often made of a simple and unassuming material, cotton canvas, and in a restricted colour palette. The execution is based on techniques that seem simple, but, countless hours of sewing and stitching by machine and hand are needed, as well as hundreds of meters of cotton canvas. There are innumerable repetitions of sewing one piece of cloth onto another. The pieces stand as a manifestation of time, and in this way, they relate to the invisible labour often associated with the textile tradition.
