Seven sins are sown in glass, from rootmost branch to crown they pass; climb left to right, take first of breath, the code shall wake in life or death (2025)

Tiffany stained-glass, lead came, zinc, and embroidery thread on linen.

Long before the printing press and widespread literacy, when oral tradition was the norm, storytelling and cultural memory were preserved and communicated through visual and tactile forms. Embroidery, valued for its portability and durability, played a key role in this tradition. Medieval textiles such as vestments, altar cloths, and tapestries often depicted biblical scenes and historical events. Meanwhile, stained glass flourished in European cathedrals between the 12th and 15th centuries, serving as visual Bibles for largely illiterate audiences. Sequential panels, similar to modern comics, portrayed scripture and saints’ lives through light. At the same time, the perplexing figure of the jester, the fool, infiltrated nearly every artistic medium. It was found in illuminated manuscripts, printed books, engravings, tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and everyday objects alike.

Drawing from these layered histories and tapping into a past where material and message were inseparable, Gottlieb and Sjögren merge their respective practices to weave a riddle through glass and thread. In this work, materiality is juggled with. When peeking through the glass, reality appears veiled and distorted, an embroidered semblance of truth. A fool is seen journeying through life toward an unclear goal, his decisions suspended between condition and consequence.

The artists gesture toward a time when images held both sacred and communal power, communicating moral lessons, spiritual truths, and societal roles through texture and light. For them, the figure of the fool is especially compelling. As a pervasive boundary-crossing character who is both wise and naïve, comic and tragic, the fool becomes a fitting guide for exploring ambiguity and uncertainty. A perfect narrative vehicle for layered perception, misdirection, and unstable truths.

Observe, interpret, search for meaning in what is only partially seen, partially concealed. And as you find yourself squinting through the surface, hoping for answers in a deliberately unstable picture, remember that Seven sins are sown in glass, from rootmost branch to crown they pass; climb left to right, take first of breath, the code shall wake in life or death.