Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita constructed these mind-boggling portraits from a single unbroken black thread around thousands of small galvanized nails mounted on a painted white wooden panel for her 'Constellation' project.
The darker areas within the portrait are formed solely from the density of the string.
Her artworks remind me of threads and nails portraits by Thomas Scheiderbauer & Pamela Campagna (check the post here) only hers looks more complicated and realistic.
Kumi begin with a rough sketch on the board but have to keep them to the very minimum since she cannot erase them.
"I use either existing photos or I photograph the subjects as a starting point. The photo becomes simply a reference point for scale, shading, etc. It's the actual piece that I focus on and that I work and rework until it looks right as a work in itself, and not as a facsimile of the starting photograph."
"This body of work consists of three simple materials that, when combined, produce the portraits: a wooden panel painted a solid white, thousands of small galvanized nails, and a single, unbroken, common sewing thread."
"I worked for two months. It takes about ten days to just prepare the panel with drilling holes and pounding in over 7,000 - 10,000 little nails (brads) before the thread work even starts."
"There are times in the process where I have to undo days or even a weeks worth of work unwinding thread trying to get back to an area that I feel needs adjusting. And once I start unwinding of course, I don't know how many yards will come off to reach the problem area. It can be heartbreaking to see hard work disappearing but I have no other option!"
Check her website: www.kumiyamashita.com
Source: threadsmagazine
The darker areas within the portrait are formed solely from the density of the string.
Her artworks remind me of threads and nails portraits by Thomas Scheiderbauer & Pamela Campagna (check the post here) only hers looks more complicated and realistic.
Kumi begin with a rough sketch on the board but have to keep them to the very minimum since she cannot erase them.
"I use either existing photos or I photograph the subjects as a starting point. The photo becomes simply a reference point for scale, shading, etc. It's the actual piece that I focus on and that I work and rework until it looks right as a work in itself, and not as a facsimile of the starting photograph."
"This body of work consists of three simple materials that, when combined, produce the portraits: a wooden panel painted a solid white, thousands of small galvanized nails, and a single, unbroken, common sewing thread."
"I worked for two months. It takes about ten days to just prepare the panel with drilling holes and pounding in over 7,000 - 10,000 little nails (brads) before the thread work even starts."
"There are times in the process where I have to undo days or even a weeks worth of work unwinding thread trying to get back to an area that I feel needs adjusting. And once I start unwinding of course, I don't know how many yards will come off to reach the problem area. It can be heartbreaking to see hard work disappearing but I have no other option!"
Check her website: www.kumiyamashita.com
Source: threadsmagazine
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