VITA COCHRAN

Vita Cochran describes her Quadraphonic coats as multi-generational gatherings. These coteries of coats are samplers, gatherings of fragments unpicked from garments made and worn for multiple occasions requiring different forms of protection. The previous lives of these clothes, hinted at by occasional traces of wear, are unfathomable now they are regrouped in symmetrical formations that recall the bold markings of some of the world’s most glamorous beetles.

Vita takes us on a direct route to the wonder of the ordinary that resides in our wardrobes: the punctuation mark-like silhouettes of collars, cuffs and facings; the unexpected architecture of checked shirt sleeves. The DNA of these works is in the simplest most expedient forms of make-do quilting that retain the unaltered shapes of garment pieces.

The artist’s unerring instinct for colour gives these works verve, but their liveliness may also be attributed to the tension between their status as documentary artefact and new form of expression. Lightly tethered by herringbone stitch, Vita’s Quadraphonic Coats are the joyful offspring of a tailor’s archive and Matisse butterfly.

Vita Cochran was born in Wellington in 1975 and now lives in Sydney. She received an MA in art history from the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau in 1998. Her recent exhibitions have showcased her work with the sampler, rag rug and bag. Cochran regularly presents workshops to engage others in her knowledge of textile making traditions. She is currently artist in residence at the Library of the University of Technology Sydney where she is hand embroidering realistic moths on woollen furniture. A series of her 2022 Exploded Coat works will shortly be shown at Objectspace, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Vita’s work is held in private and public collections including those of Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, the Dowse Art Museum, Te Papa Tongarewa and Tūhura Otago Museum.