Laundered Paintings

Daniel Walcher
Laundered Paintings
Ink on cotton canvas, metal hanger, plastic wrapping, and paper tag
Painting
2023

Laundered Paintings is an ongoing series in which each piece derives from a personal clothing item belonging to the artist’s closet. In this peculiar painting practice, each canvas is treated differently presenting on itself different ink-marks patterns permeating the unprimed surfaces. The canvases are then brought to a dry cleaner service that processes the pieces.

Stemming from weekly trips to the dry cleaner, the Laundered Paintings series is a work in which the line between canvas and clothing becomes blurred. With introductions, specific for each painting, to the dry cleaner the canvas and ink of each painting gets partially erased, ironed, and folded.

When exhibited, the Laundered Paintings are both shown in the exhibition space and at the dry cleaning shop. In the exhibition space, the canvases are shown following an archival system that stores each piece according to the washing parameters, originating clothing item, and ink used. At the dry cleaner, each piece could be experienced during the opening hours of the dry cleaning service by asking for the paintings.