Mixed-media artist Brielle DuFlon’s work speaks of comfort in bold ways. Imagine putting on your favorite sweater, wrapping up in a fuzzy blanket, or donning a lacy garment. DuFlon takes those emotional aesthetics to a textile reality in her show, “huddle,” at New City Arts.
Using repurposed and reclaimed materials, DuFlon’s dramatic pieces are a playful tug of war between exciting and calming that confronts the viewer with vulnerability and honesty. She describes them as “physically deep works, that the audience looks into, rather than at.”
DuFlon has been showing her work publicly since 2011, and “huddle” is her first solo exhibition in four years. Creating these pieces, she says, taught her about trusting herself with unusual materials. And timed with our societal need for closeness and empathy, DuFlon says she could not have predicted how relevant the theme of her show would be when she began working on it in the spring of 2019.
‘Legacy: heirloom’
Brielle DuFlon: “This piece, a jacket made completely of plastic produce mesh packaging, is one of three ‘legacy’ pieces in ‘huddle’ that speak to what we leave behind, as individuals and as a species. The concept of an heirloom garment is widely known, but in this case the piece is handed down to the next generation because it cannot biodegrade. ‘Legacy:Heirloom’ is a coming together of my passion for environmentalism and my flirtation with garment making (and yes—it actually fits me!).”