Reined In
A Solo Exhibition by Natale Adgnot
September 19 – November 1, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday September 19th, 5-8pm
Left: Erupt, 2026, Western snap shirt, reclaimed kimono silk, leather, horsehair, 16.5 x 13 x 3 in.; Right: Wildly Signaling To Be Let Out, 2026, Acrylic on denim, western snap shirt, reclaimed kimono silk, thermoplastic, leather, horsehair, 17.5 x 14 x 12 in. (Images: Trevor Baca)
Peep Space is pleased to present Reined In, a solo exhibition of new and earlier works by Natale Adgnot from her ongoing Saddle Couturage series. Incorporating garments, horsehair, thermoplastic, and equestrian tack, Adgnot’s soft sculptures consider “fit” as both a material condition and a social demand. Across the series, garments and equestrian equipment become systems of measurement, pressure, and restraint, linking bodily fit to broader expectations of class, identity, and cultural belonging.
Raised in Texas by a mother who trained horses, Adgnot draws on the material language of Western workwear and horsemanship, which intersects with fabrics and techniques connected to her lived experiences in France, Japan, and New York. Wrangler-style denim, snap shirts, kimono textiles, saddle-making patterns, and Japanese sewing and mending traditions are cut apart and recombined into an autobiographical vocabulary. Many arrive already marked by use, leaving color, pattern, wear, and chance partially outside the artist’s control. “I don’t get to choose what the raw material is,” Adgnot explains, “but I get to choose what I do with it.”
The resulting sculptures retain the architecture of clothing while abandoning its function. Stiffened denim holds the trace of an absent wearer, while hand-smocked fabric acquires the density of flesh or internal anatomy. Equestrian tack brings that implied body into contact with systems of control. With use, leather gradually takes on the shape of its wearer, becoming almost a second skin. But bridles, reins, and saddles, made of skin themselves, are instruments for directing the flesh of other bodies. “I think the body can be disciplined,” Adgnot says, “but not without cost.”
Throughout Reined In, refinement meets abjection: kimono silk, gold thread, saturated color, and intricate smocking coexist with frayed denim, exposed seams, stains, and felted horse body hair. The body is rarely represented directly, but it is persistently felt through volume, pressure, openings, wear, and the memory retained by clothing. Adgnot’s sculptures occupy the unstable point where proper fit begins to break down, where a seam opens, a form protrudes, or the body exceeds the structure designed to shape it.
Natale Adgnot is a sculptor who combines garments, thermoplastic, and various fibers to create abstract soft sculptures and wall panels. Focusing on the connotations of each material, she layers high- and low-brow elements to tell the cross-class and intercultural story of her life. The daughter of a horse trainer, Adgnot was raised in Texas. She earned a BFA there before immigrating to France in her 20s, eventually becoming a dual American/French citizen. While living in Paris, she studied fashion. Originally a painter, her experience making garments for haute couture runways led her to focus on sculpture. Later, while living in Japan, she began using thermoplastic (an artist-grade shrink plastic) to work three-dimensionally. Her mediums have expanded to include textiles, horsehair, and other materials that signify all of these places. Adgnot has been featured in solo and two-person exhibitions in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Group exhibitions include SPRING/BREAK, “Black & White” at BWAC juried by Jenée-Daria Strand, and “I was not born alone” at Transmitter. Her work has appeared in Hyperallergic, Whitehot Magazine, Art Spiel, ArtForum, The Japan Times, and more. Adgnot is the founder/director of N/A Project Space and a co-director of Underdonk. She lives and works in Brooklyn and New Paltz, New York. nataleadgnot.com | @natale_adgnot
DIVINATION
October 10-November 15, 2026
~~~~more info coming soon~~~~
Peep Space 