| Aaron Cobbett Brooklyn-based artist Aaron Cobbett started his career in the 1980s a a window dresser at New York's famed Bergdorf Goodman department store. Simultaneously participating in the vibrant East Village drag scene, this confluence of experiences - also within the context of the AIDS crisis - informed and shaped Cobbett's artistic practice. Working across textile, video, installation and photography, his color saturated, high concept portraits have become a cornerstone of New York queer visual culture.
As a survivor of the AIDS crisis and a longtime caregiver, quilting has provided me with solace and a creative space deeply grounded in the nurturing rhythms of domesticity. I create textile works from salvaged and saved materials from past sets, costumes, and drag, and re-purposed household textiles.
The origins of the fabrics and materials used in my work create a unique oral history that exists alongside the works By wrapping monolithic forms, long emblematic of power and wonder, I'm "blanketing" power structures, while simultaneously elevating the quiet grace of caring for another human that quilts embody. The history embedded in the fibers, processed through hours of meditative labor make them alive. As these new beings emerge, I'm repopulating my life, filling the void left by those who’ve passed on. What were once fragments of fabric become new spirits who assert themselves into present space and time to declare: I'm alive, I'm here, and I remember. |
