In her latest body of work, Unwind, Saar Scheerlings (NL, 1990) invites the viewer into a vibrant, joyful space where the act of creation itself takes center stage. Known for her highly labor-intensive Talisman sculptures—meticulously crafted through cutting, sewing, stuffing, and knotting—the artist steps back from these totemic forms to explore the materials, leftovers, and inspirations that inform her process.
The title, Unwind, speaks to the artist's approach in this show: a deliberate slowing down, undoing, and recalibrating. It is a space of letting go, of creating new gestures and actions with the materials at hand. By shifting her focus from the finished sculptures to the essence of the materials themselves, the artist opens up a dialogue between the unspoken histories and possibilities embedded within them. What happens when we strip away symbolism, narrative, and representation? What remains is the material, the traces of actions—unbound and uncontained.
For Saar, the question is not what the work represents, but what it is—before it tells a story, before it becomes a symbol. It is the raw ingredients: the colors, the pigments, the textures, the craft. Much like breaking down a dish into its components, she seeks to explore the elemental nature of what it means to make. These elemental aspects serve as the foundation from which new creative possibilities are born.
This exploration finds parallels in the artist's technique. The shroud of Turin, for example, serves as a reference point—how does one "paint" without the painter’s presence? The folds of the shroud, akin to the processes of Shibori dyeing, are mirrored in the artist's works: instead of applying paint with a brush, Saar uses techniques from textile practices to let the image emerge slowly, almost passively. Folding, soaking, and dyeing take the place of gesture and brushstroke. There’s an intentional surrender of control—a willingness to let the material speak, to allow unpredictability into the process.
The folding techniques used to dye the works create patterns that echo floorplans or structures—grids that seem to promise order but slip away upon closer inspection. These are not rigid frameworks but forms that resist categorization, as if they are trying to say: “We will not be pinned down.” In this gentle defiance, the work gestures toward openness, process, and possibility.
While this approach may seem to lack narrative or clear intention, it in fact opens the door to a different kind of story. Unwind is an invitation to step away from the search for fixed meanings, which often trap us in familiar representations and expectations. In a world where we are constantly looking for symbols, definitions, and narratives, we can become stuck by these frameworks, losing sight of the potential for true creativity. The artist invites the viewer to unwind— to let go of the pressure to interpret and instead embrace the fluidity of creation itself.
