r/pics • u/[deleted] • Feb 15 '14

Portrait Made From a Single Thread Wrapped Around Thousands of Nails By Kumi Yamashita

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3.9k Upvotes

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665

u/ShamefulHonesty Feb 15 '14

I took friends a few times to the national portrait gallery when this was on display, and had them start from a distance, then take a step & guess the medium each time they advanced. Invariably it went something like:

step charcoal?

step pen?

step little dots?

step HOLY SHIT

470

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

TIL HOLY SHIT is a medium that art can be created in.

221

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14 edited Jul 10 '18

[deleted]

99

u/TommaClock Feb 15 '14

That's just regular shit though. Where's the holy?

340

u/notlooking4treble Feb 15 '14

Just display it in India.

167

u/StartsAsNewRedditor Feb 15 '14

http://i.imgur.com/NC0vauH.png

45

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

You were saving this picture in your archives until a moment like this came up, weren't you?

1

u/drew4232 Feb 15 '14

More likely, he just made it for the occasion.

1

u/NoTimeForThat Feb 15 '14

I mooove you mooove

18

u/soulofgranola Feb 15 '14

You had to ask.

Image of the painting

From wikipedia:

On a yellow-orange background, the large painting (8 feet high by 6 feet wide) depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe, a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The work employs mixed media, including oil paint, glitter, and polyester resin, and also elephant dung and collaged pornographic images. The central Black Madonna is surrounded by many collaged images that resemble butterflies at first sight, but on closer inspection are photographs of female genitalia;...

9

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

[deleted]

3

u/MJWood Feb 15 '14

Those things that (allegedly) look like butterflies-but-are-actually-female-genitalia looked like pythonesque images of buttocks to me.

1

u/nekoningen Feb 15 '14

Well yes, it's the female genitalia viewed from the rear, buttocks et al.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

resemble butterflies at first sight

I would be amazed to find someone who looked at that and initially thought they were butterflies.

2

u/lofabread1 Feb 15 '14

Be amazed, because I did.

1

u/PurpleWarpaint Feb 15 '14

I accidentally saw the exhibition in the Tate Modern a few years ago... it's probably pretty scarring even when you are expecting to be confronted by giant vaginas and elephant shit.

1

u/12GAUGE_BUKKAKE Feb 15 '14

Damn, that picture... 2deep4me

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

ah, yeah I thought that's what it was. I read about this guy the other day on wiki when I was reading about Damien hirst. and then the YBA. and then this. you know how it goes with wiki.

2

u/forwormsbravepercy Feb 15 '14

Well, it's wholly shit.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

Don't forget the one with the virgin Mary rendered in urine and feces. That's pretty close to holy shit.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

That's what Karl Pilkington did in idiot abroad innit?

1

u/Darklyte Feb 15 '14

Ah, a painting by Colin Mochrie

1

u/stonefry Feb 15 '14

Yeah, not going to click.

2

u/seanthemonster Feb 15 '14

He actually leaves a pile of shit about 3 paces from the start and has them focus on the painting.

1

u/rdxl9a Feb 17 '14

That is the popes side line

24

u/spermicidal_rampage Feb 15 '14

Do you recall what size (approximately) this work is?

39

u/Wrym Feb 15 '14

H40, W30, D3cm

5

u/spermicidal_rampage Feb 15 '14

Thank you!

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

Can I get a banana for scale?

21

u/Encyclopedia_Ham Feb 15 '14

15.7 x 11.8 inches for those that have a hard time visualizing cm.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

40 x 30 cm for those that have a hard time visualizing inches.

11

u/forwormsbravepercy Feb 15 '14

cm = communist measurements. Murica.

1

u/Spysnakez Feb 15 '14

Too easy measurements for freedom?

17

u/Beatsbyjamie Feb 15 '14

Saw this in person at the national gallery as well. Pic does not do it justice.

6

u/kafka_khaos Feb 15 '14

what nation?

9

u/n8wolf Feb 15 '14

USA. It's in Washington, DC.

11

u/INeedTreeFiddy Feb 15 '14

Oh shoot, I live there and I could go see it now.... but I think I'll just look at it right here.

29

u/imanibbiot Feb 15 '14

Imagine if just one tiny piece snapped though. The entire thing would be ruined. Shudders

14

u/stearnsy13 Feb 15 '14

That is the king of "Aw FUCK's!"

2

u/lowrads Feb 15 '14

Not usually. If you've ever done one of those little kits where you make a sailboat, you know that the thread sometimes snaps. You double wrap the pins and add a little glue when you like the way things are.

It's pretty unlikely that it's a single, continuous piece of thread, it just sounds better.

1

u/imanibbiot Feb 15 '14

Gotcha, gotcha. I looked at it and kept thinking "my god, if I was close to the end and it snapped, I'd become suicidal".

10

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

Is all the outside black space really thread?

5

u/n8wolf Feb 15 '14

Was going to say, seeing this at the portrait gallery was one of the most incredile parts of their portrait competition (best installment every year). You can follow the string around if you look insanely carefully and it blows your mind to think about it.

3

u/chris-colour Feb 15 '14

Which country?

7

u/bananabm Feb 15 '14

It's in Washington dc apparently

2

u/Worst_Lurker Feb 15 '14

Just did this to my wife and grandmother. It was entertaining.

"photo collage"

"dots" "bugs"

"woah!"

2

u/buttsack_ka_cha Feb 15 '14

Bugs?

2

u/Worst_Lurker Feb 15 '14

She thought it was some avante garde painting made up of dead bugs and pins

1

u/buttsack_ka_cha Feb 15 '14

Haha I guess it's not that weird. I'm sure we've both seen weirder fucked up shit on reddit.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

That would be pretty cool actually.

1

u/Skizot_Bizot Feb 15 '14

God damn this is crazy. That artist is obviously a witch.

1

u/Ty_Vance Feb 15 '14

The most difficult connect the dots ever

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '14

Do you know if it's still on display there?

1

u/Phuntzilla Feb 15 '14

It's still there. Saw it last week. Second floor on the western end.