Panda Landa "Altar Vii" Hand-Dyed Fabric, Mini Quilt Block Textile Art in Rose and Marigold, California Desert Art, Original 10 X 10 Inches, 2024

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In this hand-dyed textile wall art by Joshua Tree artist Panda Landa, a square spiral of cloth winds around a … Read more In this hand-dyed textile wall art by Joshua Tree artist Panda Landa, a square spiral of cloth winds around a dusty rose center: a strip of marigold yellow across the top, a block of hot pink at the left, a pale lilac L-shape closing the lower right, and a slim edge of saffron down the left side. A narrow border of pale violet and a bright pink hem at the bottom frame it. The colors are saturated but sit in a faded, sun-washed key thanks to the hand-dyed cloth and its soft clouding. Panda Landa's ALTAR pieces use centered, layered bands, and this one feels like a tiny quilt block, warm and slightly irregular, sewn by someone who trusts improvisation.

A lively little square for a gallery wall, a shelf, a dressing area or a nursery. The rose, marigold and lilac combination suits white and cream rooms, and adds energy to a plain wall near a mirror or a desk. It sits well with brass, rattan and mixed-pattern textiles, and works in a cluster of small pieces or on its own in a tight spot.

Hand-dyed fabric on stretcher bars, 10 x 10 x 0.75 in (25.4 x 25.4 x 1.9 cm). Unframed.

Panda Landa builds each piece from second-hand fabric that is dyed by hand, then cut and sewn together by instinct and improvisation, letting the composition develop naturally. Seams join the cloths into bands, arches, triangles and spirals, and the dye is left to pool and bloom, so the mottling in each cloth stays part of the surface. The sewn panel is stretched over wooden stretcher bars about three quarters of an inch deep and is unframed.

Panda Landa (b. 1982) is a queer, non-binary visual artist and filmmaker raised in the Nevada desert and now based in Joshua Tree, California. Self-taught, they work through instinct and improvisation, making mixed-media textile pieces from second-hand fabrics that are dyed by hand, stitched and stretched over frames. Sustainability is central to the practice, and every cloth arrives with its own history.

Their ongoing series, including PORTAL, ALTAR, ECLIPSE, VESSEL and RITUAL, touch on queerness, identity, ancestral narrative, healing and transformation, and more recent beaded panels carry short, tender phrases in color. Landa made the 2022 film In the Middle of Everywhere and has offered a workshop on giving new life to clothes at the Joshua Tree Music Festival. See less