Cayce Zavaglia Hand-embroiders Familiar Faces in “About-Face”

St. Louis based artist Cayce Zavaglia (covered here) hand-embroiders portraits of family and friends using wool thread. Her technique is surprisingly painterly and realistic, mimicking the effect of oil painting, her first discipline. Zavaglia recently debuted a new series of both hand-embroidered portraits and paintings based on the reverse images of her embroideries. Titled “About-Face”, her new work is now on view at Lyons Wier Gallery in Chelsea, New York. From the front, her embroidered works appear meticulously sewn, but when flipped over, they reveal a more gestured and haphazard beauty. This sparked a newfound inspiration to create alternative versions of her portraits as paintings. “The backs of tapestries and embroideries have historically been hidden from the viewer,” she told Hi-Fructose in an email. “My show is an attempt to show both sides, and address the two sides we each posses: the presented and private self.” Take a look at some of Cayce Zavaglia’s works for the show below.