Rob Pruitt x YOOX. Migration Moving Blanket, 2018, is a project conceived exclusively for YOOX by the American artist, Rob Pruitt. YOOX presents this new series of forty unique, limited-edition blankets, each accompanied by a certificate of authenticity that has been numbered and signed by the artist.
Known for his exuberant and ever-changing style, Pruitt’s work transcends specific art movements and techniques. His myriad forms of expression have made use of everything from pandas to dinosaurs, therapy journals, celebrity signatures and even tires. Pruitt inserts visual quotations from our Anthropocene era that he re-presents in sumptuous displays of shape and color. Pruitt uses art as vehicle for social critique that cuts to the core of fundamental cultural and political issues.
Rob Pruitt x YOOX. Migration Moving Blanket, 2018 comments on the phenomenon of migration, on an anthropological and natural perspective. In the natural world, species of all types migrate seasonally to find safety and comfort, whilst, similarly, humans migrate to escape from tyranny and autocracy, or more simply relocate with the hope of finding a better life.
Following Pruitt’s recent presentation of his American Quilts series, this limited-edition artwork – created exclusively for YOOX – was conceived as a repurposing of moving blankets which are sewn together from scraps of industrial textiles. Pruitt then overlaid these factory made blankets with silk-screen prints of migratory geese. The design references digital pixilation as well as the traditional building blocks of quilt makers, known as quilting squares.
Rob Pruitt responded with enthusiasm and generosity to the invitation to create a special project for our gallery. We chose him because he is an artist who is not afraid to confront the reality that surrounds him, even when it is uncomfortable or difficult, and because he is able to undermine what is common place and taboo with ironic gestures that hide depth of analysis and thought. The unique artworks he created for YOOX represent a witty commentary on the complexity of migration, yesterday and today: not multiples but forty unique pieces, one different from the other, as unique and individual are the stories of the people, who find themselves having to leave their homeland for a new place, with their load of fears and expectations for the future.”
Beatrice Trussardi, curator of the YOOX Design+Art section
As human animals, we wander from the privacy of our homes to public social spaces, and it interests me to see expressions of political conviction in both places.
Rob Pruitt
Rob Pruitt x YOOX. Migration Moving Blanket, 2018 will debut online on YOOX from February 7, 2019, simultaneously with the opening of the art and design fair, Nomad St. Moritz, where the work will be exhibited in absolute preview.
