Embroidered X-Rays by Matthew Cox

Philadelphia-based artist Matthew Cox swirls together contradictions in his latest series, Embroidered X-Rays. Weaving embroidery thread into plastic, skeletal slides, Cox’s collection provides an odd juxtaposition, both visually and conceptually, the vibrant colors and familiar characters setting a playful mood while the X-rays remain cold and clinical.

”Stitching has a nurturing aspect,” Cox has said of his work, “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.” The intricately made collection not only includes original embroidered portraits, but pop-culture ones as well, with David Bowie, Snow White, and Miss Piggy grafted onto chest X-rays. Examine some of Cox’s most fascinating pieces after the jump.

Realistic Embroidery Portraits by Cayce Zavaglia

Originally a painter, Cayce Zavaglia still thinks of her embroidered portraits as paintings. Zavaglia might use wool, but her work borrows techniques from drawing and painting. Frustrated by the limitations of the range of colors available to her, she created a system of sewing the threads in a particular sequence that give the allusion of specific colors or tones.

Zavaglia explains:

Initially, working with an established range of wool colors proved frustrating. Unlike painting, I was unable to mix the colors by hand. Progressively, I created a system of sewing the threads in a sequence that would ultimately give the allusion of a certain color or tone. The direction in which the threads were sewn had to mimic the way lines are layered in a drawing to give the allusion of depth, volume, and form. Over time the stitches have become tighter and more complex but ultimately more evocative of flesh, hair, and cloth.