Fish 1000 - 1476

This is a tapestry of a fish, attributed to an artist named Rimac, and is currently housed at The Art Institute of Chicago. Immediately striking is the work’s composition, where we see a fish depicted not in realistic detail but rather as a series of structured forms. The artist uses a limited palette of browns, blues, and creams to define the fish's body, delineating its internal and external structures. The design incorporates geometric patterns—horizontal lines, zigzags—that create a sense of rhythm and order. This emphasis on structure over naturalism aligns with a formalist approach, focusing on the artwork's intrinsic elements. The tapestry can be seen as an exploration of signs, where the fish is rendered through simplified shapes and patterns that reference the idea of a fish rather than its actual likeness. It invites us to decode its underlying structure. This challenges our expectations of representation and engages with new ways of thinking about form and perception.