Art is worship. Art is emotion. Above all, art is expression. How many times do we look at a piece of art and feel something deep inside us, a feeling of calmness, agitation or inspiration? Sometimes when you look at a simple piece of art, it can ignite emotions inside you like you’ve never experienced before. That is the beauty of art. It’s simply there, staring back at us, looking us in the eye, telling us a different story every time.
Chilean artist Jose Romussi‘s latest series ‘Anti-Serie’ is a collection of fashion photographs made magical with colourful embroidery on a greyscale background. Why has he modified these photographs, you wonder?
In his own words, with the aim to:
…give the image a new emotion, a new life, a new interpretation through embroidering.
His embroidering design does not have a consistent pattern, though. On some pictures it is zig zag, on some it is depicted through colorful blocks and shapes and on some, it is completely random. By adding another layer over the original photographs, Romussi has recreated pieces of art and left them to open interpretation by the viewers, the motto behind this move being “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.
If you are an artist, you must keep your eyes open, because in every minute, you can be inspired.
Every pattern tells a different story altogether. On one hand, it simply adds color and vivaciousness to the black and white photographs,that signifies adding a splash of color to our dull, bland and mechanical lives, where emotions run low and materialism runs high. On the other hand, the mask of this colorful embroidery, signifies a façade, behind which real humans hide. In yet some other photographs, is the full expression of one’s emotion, through abstract and contemporary art depiction.
Romussi depicts a plethora of emotions through his art. In some photographs, the embroidered blocks are in careful order, maybe depicting a person’s good hold over his life and emotions. In other photographs, the embroidered blocks are arranged in such a manner that they seem to be depicting feelings of frustration and anguish.
In yet another set of photographs, Romussi has embroidered, what seems to be random zig zag lines, contemporary one liners and so on. What is interesting is that in these photographs, the subject’s face is not hidden behind embroidery. Maybe this depicts today’s generation, which does not really care about the conventional and traditional norms of living and are ready to accept and embrace themselves as they truly are, without finding the need to hide behind a mask.
Through a skill as simple as embroidery, Romussi compels us to think about the depths and complexity of human emotions. You see, every person has a story to tell. We can never fully know what goes on inside a person’s mind, quite like you can never fully figure out a work of art–it has meanings deeper than the soul, waiting to be explored!
