Still Here...

I am making new plans for my textile works, which involve a slightly new concept, as well as a more professional and permanent site, therefore, my absence from here will mean the pursuit of such projects and the building of a more suitable place to display and talk about them. 

Below, you can see a sneak preview of what is my new style of blending abstract and figurative stitching together.

I will post my new website address here as soon as it is up and running.
Please keep checking, thank you!

(work in progress)

'La Lillalba'

Here the see-through quality of the fabric allows the back of the work to be visible as well:

'La Lillalba', thread on fabric, 20x20cm

detail

PRESENCE

I intend to take my work further by adding more structure to it. This will be accomplished by introducing one or more outer circles to the cluster that normally occupies the centre (see below) or side corner of my paintings. This will allow a much stronger compositional arrangement and also could be adapted into a series of works.

The photographs here illustrate the first part of this process, which is the stage that I would usually get to, however, where the thread dots become thinner, I am now going to be introducing an outer circle/cluster. 

This idea came about while I was designing some greeting cards. I would use some cut out shapes and position them next to each other to then form a sequence of concentric circles. The overall image would appear somewhat symmetrical, but it is not exactly symmetry I'm after, I need a structure that contains my work and gives it a certain order. 

I want to achieve an effect that would be rather impossible to achieve by using paint splashes, yet I hope that the viewer will question such possibility...and for a moment even see it materialised before their eyes.

'Presence', work in progress, thread on canvas, 20x20cm

FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST CHOOSE A SELF AND STAND BY IT!

I think that the above title goes perfectly well with this particular stitching work. Although it describes a sense of frustration and it underlines a kind of indecisiveness, at the same time, it also calls out for hope, a need for change and action, a sense of possibility and belonging.

This painting (see the pictures below) is part of a small series and is actually called 'For God's sake, just choose a self - or a side - and stand by it' Part 2 (of 3). The other two paintings (Part 1 and Part 3), not shown here, are quite similar in concept: they are compositions made by pristine areas and thread 'drops' of the same colour, which interchange with each other, to make a mark, assert their presence, be noticed and acknowledged.

I like the thought of empowering such a minute, insignificant, unpredictable component, which is a dot, by allowing it to subdue the pristine (linen) surface, but also bringing out its qualities.

My emphasis, perhaps, is on our own indecisiveness as human beings, who are often afraid of showing the world our differences, or, rather, who we really are, no matter if what makes us so special is something as vulnerable and delicate as a drop of colour.

The background of this painting is made up by sewing together a dark, green cotton fabric with a piece of linen. By using the same colour thread as the fabric, the stitched drops create a contrast to the smooth defined vertical section on the left of the painting. 

Here, intentional and accidental elements juxtapose and for a second, or even longer, this mimicking of pictorial gestures will deceive the spectator's eye. It may be dismissed or overlooked, but what's beyond is purely craft.

                                

Pic 1. 'For God's sake, just choose a self and stand by it!' Part 2 

thread on linen and fabric, 20x20 cm

Pic 2. linen detail

"NEW HORIZONS"

11-16 February 2013

It has been another successful show at Room 212!

To everyone who supported me throughout the week: thank you for showing so much interest in my art and ideas, and kindly buying my paintings and smaller works! Please keep following me!

"New Horizons", thread and acrylic on primed canvas, 60x80cm, SOLD

"New Horizon", detail

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

'TROJAN HORSE'

Here is the amazing work of Susan Collis, one of the most inspiring artists I came across during my Ba at Manchester Metropolitan University. I thought I would include her in my writings because I strongly feel that the concepts and ideas behind my own paintings, and three-dimensional drawings, relate, in some ways, to what Collis tries to communicate with her installations.

The beautification of the banal, the re-staging of the elements, the victory of the over-looked...that is what I am talking about!

"Susan Collis's work might at first glance appear to be out of place in an exhibition, and you have to look closely to discover it. Mundane things, seemingly left behind from a previous exhibition, are actually meticulously worked by hand."

Susan Collis, 'Since I Fell For You', 
2010, 100% Cotton, 2002, 
Boiler suit, embroidery thread, 
63 x 183/4in.

'Since I Fell For You' (detail)

Susan Collis, 'Enter, Us', 2009
Screw made of  18 carat white gold,
White sapphire and turquoise

Susan Collis, 'Trojan horse', 2007, 

wooden table, diamond, fresh water pearl, oyster pearl, 

mother of pearl, conch shell, Brazilian opal, white opal, 

white howlite, magnecite, gold mother of pearl, 

cultured pearl, agate, orange calcite 

'Trojan horse' (detail)

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.