Back to front?

(image from here)
When I was exploring the Jenny Saville exhibition on at present in New York (see my previous post) I came across Cayce Zavaglia's exhibition at the Lyons Wier Gallery.  I generally have at least a cursory look at textile work, even simply out of curiosity.  In this case it was not that she makes stitched portraits which intrigued me, but that she has taken further the back view.

(image from here)
We folk who use threads are often attracted to the back view of our work; the reverse often shows strangely beautiful messy distortions.  When the front facing view is meticulous and photo-realistic as in this case the back can show a relaxed, more emotional side, which also excites the haptic response which seems to be fundamental with overtly textile work.  We always want to reach out and feel.

(image from here)
In an interview with Studio International, Cayce Zavaglia says that she interested in process as much as portrait.  And I find it so interesting that her paintings after embroidery now take on the back side look of the textile portraits. But I must admit that my interest here is technical curiosity rather than any emotional engagement.  My own work largely leaves faces blank (-ish) because I am more interested in body language as a communicator.  But that also makes me more interested in looking at what others do with bodies, and faces.  These verso paintings inspired by the back of the textile works are an interesting development of the hyper-real approach to reproducing faces which are limited to friends and family.  There are quite a few questions raised here.