I am always astonished to see the new directions modern embroidery has taken -- such as Michelle Kingdom's small embroidered scenes of life, Jillian Tamaki's gorgeous book covers, and Stacy Page's photographs wonderfully embellished with stitches. So, oh how I love this work of Philadelphia artist Matthew Cox -- transforming the imagry of an x-ray into beautiful color and life -- from bones to flesh and nature.
Of his Embroidered X-Rays Cox writes on his website:
For me, stitching has a nurturing aspect and acts as care giving or healing to the injured, a socially feminine sort of action, while the x-ray itself can be considered masculine and unemotional. Finally, my own recognition of what is beautiful [these separately became appealing to me at about the same time]. As an artist who takes on tedious, labor-intensive projects, I am also reacting to the ever-increasing presence of photography in contemporary art – by introducing the process of labor over the quick, slickness of film.
And you can read a short interesting interview with Matthew Cox at My Modern Met. (Also get an eyeful of more of his amazing work.) Also, among his portfolios is a splendid collection of mythic avatars (such at the bottom most image of Mercury Avatar), fairy tale characters and comic icons-- have a look here to see them.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....
