After a life in the fashion industry, which began as a fit model in a Polish state-run clothing factory and progressed to running her beloved NYC-based brand ‘A Detacher,’ Mona Kowalska struck out as a visual artist. Six years later, her second solo show at Kerry Schuss Gallery in Tribeca demonstrates her continued interest in bodies, expressed through textiles. A sculpture of a thick and curvy, Smurf-like lower torso and legs crafted in impressively thick lengths of hemp rope rests near a dress and boots made in the same material. Nearby, a bowl-like wooden form attached to the wall and covered with black netting suggests a figure partially disguised by a face veil. Another mysterious visage emerges from two socks joined by a single string, a shaggy, wall-mounted sculpture made of goat hair that effects a fairy-tale-like merger of human and animal forms. (In view in Tribeca through Oct 25th).
