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KUMI YAMASHITA

Japanese born and New York City based artist Kumi Yamashita employs simple materials to create complex and conceptually innovative works that invite the viewer to reassess the relationship

between what we expect to see and what is actually perceived. Much of Yamashita’s artwork is constructed using only one or two elements such as a single sewing thread, alphabet blocks,

denim or bed sheets. For her “Constellation” series, Yamashita has mastered a painstaking process of weaving a single unbroken thread between thousands of tiny galvanized nails attached to a

wood panel. The intricate web of thread creates a subtly modulated portrait. Works in Yamashita’s “Warp and Weft” series are created by taking regular denim material and removing particular

portions of the weave, which again result in a realistic portrait.

With great attention to detail, Yamashita’s works are exhaustively complex and precise— yet they remain deeply human. She explains of her work “I find myself choosing materials that are

integrated in our daily lives. I find it enjoyable and also surprising to see how these everyday materials and objects can be transformed into something not-so-daily-life like.”

Kumi Yamashita received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Glasglow School of Art. Her solo shows include: the Seattle Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, Yerba Buena Centre, San Francisco, the Esplanade in Singapore, Hillside Gallery in Tokyo and the Kent Gallery in New York. She is scheduled

for a solo exhibition at the Sato Museum, Tokyo. Her work can be found in prestigious collections such as the New Mexico History Museum, Boise Art Museum, the Hamada Art Museum, the Microsoft Collection and others. Her Constellation – Mana piece is a finalist from the Outwin

Boochever Portrait Competition and will be on exhibit March 23, 2013 through February 23, 2014 at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Constellation - Mana #22013

Wood panel, galvanized steel nails, single sewing thread15 1/2” x 12”

Warp & Weft - Mother #22013

Black denim with threads removed15” x 12 1/2”

CAYCE ZAVAGLIA

St. Louis-based artist, Cayce Zavaglia employs embroidery, a process undertaken as early as the 3rd century B.C, to stitch portraits that are alive with dimension and complexity. Although she works with a needle and

fibrous wool thread, her technique borrows more from the worlds of drawing and painting. Zavaglia still considers herself a painter and finds it difficult not to refer to her work as paintings.

As a photorealist using such a medium, Zavaglia is faced with a unique set of challenges. She initially found it frustrating to convey particular tones and shadows using a specific set of colors. Unlike painting, it is not

possible to mix the colors of the thread to create the exact color desired. Rather than allowing the confines of the thread to dictate her palette, she has mastered a system of sewing the threads in a sequence that

ultimately gives the allusion of a certain color or tone. The direction in which the threads are sewn mimics the way lines are layered in a drawing to give the allusion of depth, volume, and form. As each portrait nears

completion the stitches become tighter and more complex but ultimately more evocative of flesh, hair, and cloth.

While each new thread adds an element of realism to the front of the portrait, it simultaneously constructs an evocative interpretation of the subject on the reverse. A single thread that defines the tip of an eyelash or a

single stitch in a shirt on the front can reveal itself as an explosive, cross-canvas line on the reverse. As the artwork takes shape on the front, a chaotic yet still entirely dynamic version of itself is revealed on the reverse. Each work is placed in a reveal frame in order for the verso to be visible. Zavaglia has also turned one of these

verso images into a limited edition large format print that will be included in the “String Theory” exhibition.

Zavaglia’s technique has been described as “renegade embroidery.” She says that this technique allows for a “new dialogue between portraits and process as well as expressing a new definition of ‘painting.’”

A recent feature by Elle Décor compliments the trailblazing artist, “She is far from alone among contemporary artists mining traditional women’s needlework—Ghada Amer and Elaine Reichek are well-regarded

practitioners—but she is carving her own niche with uncannily photo-realist ‘paintings.’”

Darbi Gray2013Hand embroidery: one ply cotton, silk and wool with acrylic on Belgian linen7 1/2” x 6 1/2”21 1/4” x 20 1/4” framed size

Sophie2013Hand embroidery: one ply cotton, silk and wool with acrylic on Belgian linen7 1/2” x 6 1/2”21 1/4” x 20 1/4” framed size

Elly au Verso2012

Large format archival pigment print on epson cold press natural rag paper52” x 52” print

56” x 56” framedEdition 3/5

DEVORAH SPERBER

Devorah Sperber, a New York based installation artist, explores all aspects of perception in her work – physical, intellectual, and emotional. But her primary interest is optical perception - how visual information about an object is received, reflected, transmitted, reassembled and

understood. By creating work that addresses the mysteries of optical perception, Sperber elevates this scientific and biological process to the level of poetics.

Her installations are comprised of hundreds of hanging colored spools assembled in a seemingly pixialated, low resolution image. When seen through the “viewing sphere” located in front of each piece, the thread spools become condensed and inverted to render a clear and detailed image.

The dramatic shift in perception explores the ideas of reality and truth. Sperber’s pieces depict iconic images, typically those of master paintings.

“Overall, this work exemplifies my interest in visual perception, the link between art, science, and technology, repetitive processes, truth of materials, the feminist art proposition of bringing genres into ‘high art’ and the scientific systems theory which focuses on the whole as well as its part to

gain understanding,” says Sperber.

Each of Sperber’s pieces is created by hand in the time-honored craft world tradition. Like a designer, she begins by developing a set plan for the design of the entire piece. Then she begins the calming, meditative production phase in which natural kinesthetic intelligence engages the

body with the mind. The resulting work is highly technical and conceptual, yet surprisingly accessible at the same time.

After van Gogh (Self Portrait)2008

408 spools of thread, stainless steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic viewing sphere, metal stand

28” x 21” x 60” (viewing sphere)Edition 5/5

After Picasso (Don Quixote)2010

410 larger spools of thread, stainless steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic viewing sphere, metal stand

49” x 40” x 60” (viewing sphere)

After Grant Wood (American Gothic) 12006500 spools of thread, stainless steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic viewing sphere, metal stand30” x 25” x 60”Edition 3/5

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