Viewing 9,983 Rows: Annie Shead

At the recently opened FreddieFoulkes Gallery, Annie Shead’s 9,983 Rows takes knitting and turns it towards painting. Made using a late-1970s knitting machine, the works are built from rows of lambswool and melange wool stretched across wooden frames, forming striped abstract compositions that sit between textile and image. Shead calls them ‘Machine Paintings’, and the title points to the repeated labour behind them.

Shead exposes the absurdity of art-making: while knitting has long been understood in a domestic realm, with connotations of practicality and sentimentality, it has rarely shifted into a gallery context.Seams, knots and slight irregularities stay visible, so process becomes part of the picture rather than something concealed. With their restrained colour and graphic clarity, these works test where painting begins and ends. A confident first solo presentation.