PPOW gallery has always been among my favorites. In January they moved to a new location that I personally find thrilling. Fiber artist Erin M. Riley’s exhibition The Consensual Reality of Healing Fantasies could not have looked better in their airy bright gallery space.

“Sourcing wool from shuttered textile mills around the United States, Riley washes, strips and hand-dyes her yarn before weaving on a Macomber loom. The resulting meticulously crafted tapestries depict intimate, erotic and psychologically raw imagery that reflects upon relationships, memories, fantastic, sexual violence and trauma. Collating personal photographs, images sourced from the internet, newspaper clippings and other ephemera to create her woolen compositions, the Brooklyn-based weaver exposes the range of women’s lived experiences and how trauma weighs on the search for self-identity.” (PPOW)

I found it remarkable to learn that all the tapestries were woven since the beginning of the pandemic.

In 2011 I went to PPOW, when they were in their Chelsea location, for the first time. I went there to see Robin F. Williams’ solo exhibition Rescue Party. That show has forever stuck with me. I have been a fan of both Williams and PPOW ever since. If you want to hear more about PPOW, here is a good article to read.