Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita is back with a beautiful new piece, called Sachi, in her ongoing Constellation series. Taking roughly four months to complete, Yamashita wrapped one long piece of black thread around about 7,000 nails until she created a photorealistic portrait of a woman. (An astounding number of nails, considering the piece is only 13 x 18 inches.) Because each of these works takes so long to complete, Yamashita only makes a few of them each year.
As a counterpoint to the Constellation series, Yamashita has a series called Warp and Weft. Whereas Constellation is the addition of a single thread, Warp & Weft is the subtraction of numerous threads from fabric. Fascinating. Can’t decide if I love her shadow art or her thread art more.
Sachi, detail
Warp & Weft – Mother No. 2
Warp & Weft – Mother
Kumi Yamashita: Website