"Shapes of Serenity"
- a solo exhibition by Tine Otto curated by Josephine Fity
In Shapes of Serenity,"Shapes of Serenity" Tine Otto invites us into the world of embroidery, a realm that
demands our focus and presence. Here, craftsmanship, art, and meditation merge into
works that explore the boundaries of what embroidery can achieve—from flat, graphic
expressions to sculptural and spatial forms.
“I view embroidery as a way of drawing and shaping, where threads serve as my brushes
and yarn as my colour palette. The process is often improvised, allowing the material to
guide me.”
Thread by thread, her painstakingly crafted embroidered canvases take shape as a kind of
visual meditation, inviting calm and reflection—for her as the creator and for those
experiencing her works. Tine Otto explores contrasts by combining coarse, raw yarns with
fine, delicate threads, creating tension and depth. The process is deeply material-driven;
how the threads fall or interact determines the next step. By letting the materials take the
lead, she explores the balance between chaos and control, giving her works a unique
dynamism.
Her works combine the formalism and abstraction of modernism with a personal narrative
rooted in a legacy that traces back to her grandmother's early introduction to the craft.
Situated at the intersection of modernist formalism and subtle narrative structures, her
pieces blend the disciplined language of abstraction with an organic, almost
archaeological, layer-by-layer method. Here, the placement of threads and the texture of
the yarns not only create spatial tensions but also serve as visual codes representing the
history and evolution of the patterns.
Inspired by the shapes and colors of nature—such as shells with their intricate patterns—and
drawing from modernist pioneers like Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Lucio Fontana, the
Eames, and Arne Jacobsen, Tine Otto works with contrasts and harmonies. She actively
uses the void of the canvas to highlight the embroidered elements’ dynamics, creating a
light, floating tactility. Despite their abstract expression, her compositions reveal themselves
as interpretations of soft landscape contours or magnified lines and patterns from her
surroundings.
Each piece evolves organically, inviting exploration of the many layers and details that only
emerge upon closer inspection. The works offer a sensory experience, where embroidery
becomes a medium for artistic exploration and a kind of visual meditation, inviting
contemplation and connecting the viewer to a larger narrative and tradition.
Tine Otto’s practice is deeply rooted in a broader cultural-historical discourse, where
embroidery has traditionally been considered female craftwork and marginalized as an art
form. Through conceptual reinterpretation and formal experimentation, she represents a
new wave of artists redefining traditional craftsmanship and its role in contemporary art. Her
work traces back to the history of women's needlework, while simultaneously pointing
forward and challenging the medium as an artistic form. Her pieces present an artistic
universe that is as uncompromising in its materiality as it is poetic in its storytelling.
/ text by Josephine Fity