SIDESHOW! embroidered

SIDESHOW! toile by Richard Saja for HISTORICALLY INACCURATE, 2011. Embroidered cotton on linen.
SIDESHOW! renderings by John Dembski for Historically Inaccurate.

SIDESHOW! toile

Presenting SIDESHOW!, the first custom Historically Inaccurate toile print. It is available as yardage, as embroidered cushions and as woven blankets and cushions. Rendered by John Dembski for HI!.

BUTTERFLY SOUP for McSweeney's LUCKY PEACH quarterly

I've been asked to illustrate a story, THE GOURMET CLUB, by Japanese master Junichiro Tanizaki for the new McSweeney's quarterly LUCKY PEACH. The piece depicts a dish called butterfly soup which is listed at the end of the story.
Subscribe now and save! :
http://www2.mcsweeneys.net/luckypeach

LACROIX, sweetie!

This is the first of a 23 piece collaboration with Christian Lacroix's home line. It's a cushion. The scene depicts tourists strolling through a Roman ruin in Arles, the place of CL's birth. The bird-god at the top of the obelisk glows in the dark.

Snowy Wilderness blankets

The Stunted Horn
2011
machine-woven cotton
54 X 80





Snow Bath
2011
machine-woven cotton
54 X 80




Arctic Stare
2011
machine-woven cotton
54 X 80







Made for Johnny Sagan's SNOWY WILDERNESS opening in Brooklyn on February 5th.

Fleming Museum at UVM

2010
20.5 X 20.5
cotton floss on cotton toile

2 pieces made for UNDER the BIG TOP running 1/25 - 5/22 at the Fleming Museum in Burlington, VT.


Here's the label:

(left) “The Piebald – Hypertrichonic Man”, (right) “Has anyone seen my lighter?”, 2010
Cotton embroidery floss on cotton/linen toile

Richard Saja
(American, Contemporary)

Contemporary artist Richard Saja views the circus as a controlled microcosm of all that is wild and uncivilized: “…the sanctioned gawking of placing those different than us in pens and cages to be ogled and derided, to be entertained by oafs and fools behaving in ways society doesn't permit.” In this diptych he combines these sentiments: in the panel at left, he presents a piebald, or spotted man, with hypertrichosis, a condition of excessive hair growth informally called “werewolf syndrome.” Many individuals with these medical conditions often joined the circus as part of the sideshow attractions as they were otherwise ostracized by society. Saja combines this figure with a group of clowns at sea, one of whom has tossed a fellow clown’s lighter overboard.

Saja embroiders his motley crew of circus figures on toile, a linen fabric that bears a repeated pattern of bucolic scenes of country life, which was primarily used in decorating designs for bourgeois society in the 18th century. This merging of high and low society heightens the disjuncture between the two worlds.

Courtesy of the artist

"THE MOON IS BLUE"

2010
84" X 54"
rayon floss embroidered on treated canvas

This is by far the largest piece I've done to date and the treated canvas was very difficult to work with. I now have the fingers of a turnip farmer but it was worth it. Thanks go to Orli Ben-Dor for the opportunity. My clients are the best. Really.

The Eighth Day

2010
18" X 24"
gold thread embroidered on machine-woven cotton tapestry

Made for the Small Gift Invitational exhibition to commemorate the 50th birthday of Hello, Kitty! at Art Basel.

Here's a video from the show:

http://thesedelights.com/2011/01/03/cirque-du-petit-chat/

Miniatures for Keds & Opening Ceremony

This series of 16 embroideries was done as a Richard Saja/Opening Ceremony/Keds collaboration. None is more than 2 3/4 X 2 inches and is cotton floss on a cotton print toile.They're being made into sneakers which will be sold at the Ace Hotel on Sept. 10 for Fashion's Night Out. Stop by and don't forget to get me a drink while you're standing on line at the bar.