SORRY, I AM RIGHT-BRAINED!

This work answers the questions I posed in my previous post. 

I have stitched a self portrait using what seems to be a juxtaposition of two different techniques, however, the red paint-like-drops sit on what was the actual back of my initial piece, which has now become the front. Here, the black thread draws a very sketchy line, but in fact the other side shows the opposite: a very controlled pointillist contour. 

By doing this, I want to bring together the two methods, the unconscious and the conscious stitching, both on the same surface. This allows me to enhance the texture and colour of the upper right hand side of my face and, therefore, draw attention - in a symbolic way - to the functionality of that same side of the brain, where any creative process begins. 

In this case, the eye itself has a very important relevance, for it is, in philosophical and pictorial terms, the connection to the soul; it also places an emphasis on the actual observational process related to creativity. 

Voilà!

Thread on linen (work in progress), thread on linen, 6" hoop

- front -

'La Creatività' (finished), thread on linen, 6" hoop

- back -


Please see my: 'You are two-faced...' post.

YOU ARE TWO-FACED...

These are images of the reverse of some of my stitching works. I think they are visually very interesting considering that the patterns created are unintentional.

VERSATILE THREADS

thread on canvas, work in progress, 20x20cm

STITCHING DROPS

My aim is to mimic pictorial accidents, or occurrences, by replacing altogether the most fundamental medium; in my paintings, in fact, there is no trace of paint yet its presence is still traceable. The explanation to this lies in the long process of combining and then eliminating, one by one, all the media involved in my work at a particular moment in time, until paint itself was no longer needed, for its essence had been transposed onto the other compositional elements of my work, most of all: thread.

'Zeffiretto', thread on linen, 20 x 20cm, SOLD

'The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain', 

Thread on canvas, 92 x 92cm

As an important and foremost contingent aspect of my practice, time is essential for the development of my ideas of imitation, however, it becomes the contrasting element of my work, for the execution of a paint drop, which is normally created in seconds, takes much longer when reproduced by stitching its features on canvas. 


'The Fountain of Good', 
Thread on canvas, 
20 x 20cm, SOLD

I wanted to use paint's density and texture, but without actually painting.          

PINS ON TREES

'AWAKEN'

Dress-making pins on a log 104cm high

This piece, made appositely for Bucheli Gallery, revolves around the idea of artificial growth. Although the aim of the piece is to describe the physical world and pay homage to Nature, it also exploits the human ambition of imitating and, often, recreating Nature itself.

My attempt here is to bring together the organic and the artificial by integrating them and, at the same time, challenge the viewer's perception of what constitutes a natural phenomena. 

The log has been enlivened by artificiality; I achieved this by presenting the viewer with a common pattern to be found in Nature, employing, instead, an ordinary object, for example a dress-making pin, and placing it within a different context.


With 'Awaken' I wanted to try to incorporate all the concepts that I learnt by doing on-site installations during my MA year at Wimbledon College of Art (University of the Arts London). I wanted to work in a more intimate, practical and accessible way; I thought I would achieve this by creating a movable sculptural object.


This installation with dress-making pins (below) was called 'The Present' and would occupy the outdoor and indoor spaces of my MA studio in Wimbledon:

Note how a spider came along and made my pins his home!