Creative Candy: Devorah Sperber

One of my aims with Don't Sew Angry is to highlight artists who are utilizing embroidery, yarn crafts, and needlework to create exceptional and intriguing pieces of modern art. I was stunned by these works by Devorah Sperber, who uses the actual spools of thread as her palette to recreate famous works of art. She treats the spools as pixels. My favorite part might just be the "viewing ball", which accounts for why the images are installed upside down.

Before Warhol by Devorah Sperber, 701 spools of thread, 2010

After the Mona Lisa 8 by Devorah Sperber, 1482 larger spools of thread, 2010

Sperber explains in her artist's statement:

"I am interested in the link between art, science, and technology, how the eyes and brain prioritize, and reality as a subjective experience vs. an absolute truth. As a visual artist, I cannot think of a topic more stimulating and yet so basic, than the act of seeing--how the human brain makes sense of the visual world...

After The Last Supper by Devorah Sperber, 20,736 spools of thread, 2007

When the top (or brain) is convinced it knows what it is seeing (in this case, initially fixating on what appears to be a random arrangement of thread spools), the bottom level of data (the recognizable portrait) is overruled. This may explain why my use of thread spools create such a jolt or 'WOW" experience when the viewer finally sees the representation imagery in the viewing sphere, as the brain abruptly shifts focus from the individual spools to the whole recognizable image."

After The Last Supper by Devorah Sperber, 20,736 spools of thread, 2007

I particularly love how she places the acrylic viewing balls on the eyes of her portraits, which makes them look like they are viewing you just as much as you are viewing them.