Anna Betbeze
Photo by Brad Ogbonna
Anna Betbeze makes paintings from handcrafted luxury Flokati Greek sheep’s wool rugs, reminiscent of the now-dated American 1970s shag rugs, which she dyes, burns, and sews together in patchwork patterns.
Her work focuses on how time inscribes itself on materials, with regard to both aesthetic historical trends and the ways that stains, tears, and other imperfections can point to the object’s uses and users. Betbeze’s multi-sensory rug objects range in size, scaling up to full-size installations, and suggest lineages in art traditions including female fabric craftwork, the felt obsessions of Joseph Beuys, and found-object assemblage of Robert Rauschenberg.
New York, NY
Born 1980, Mobile, AL. Raised Columbus, GA
2006 MFA Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
2003 BFA University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Athens, GA
2001 Yale Summer School of Art and Music, Norfolk, CT
2000 Lamar Dodd School of Art, Cortona, IT