Andrea Deszo is a phenomenally talented artist from New York. As well as doing illustration, animation and murals, she embroiders. Oh, and she is the Assistant Professor of Media Design at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.
From the New York Times: Her “Lessons From My Mother” consists of 48 individually framed cotton squares embroidered with illustrated bits of off-the-wall, scurrilous, sometimes scatological, and often sickening lies and superstitions (among the less offensive: “My Mother Claimed That A Woman’s Legs Are So Strong That No Man Can Spread Them If She Doesn’t Let Him”).
I think these are terrific pieces of work. The style of them is simple, yet effective. The content varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it all seems perfectly plausible as the wisdom of a Transylvanian mother.
All in all there are 50 pieces in the series, and I think they’re ace. I’d love to see them collected as I’m sure there’s a lot to learn there. Not least about bowel movements!
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OH my GOD! wow, i didn’t expect them to take that kind of turn!
that’s really awesome work!
(kidney colds?)
these are great! i think the last one is my favorite. haha.
These are amazing. The third one is 17 kinds of awesome. The x through the wedding ring, the “yes” and the “no” – I just love it so much.
They’re so awesome, that I’ve typed and deleted my comments twice already. I love how apparently her mom won’t think twice about dropping the f-bomb in relation to her own daughter, but uses the medical term “bowel movement.” Of course, we could be talking translation in this instance, but still.
Could this be the world’s first embroidered representation of the hymen?
Thanks for sharing these! They are hilarious and awesome!
oh man I love all of these!! I want them all hanging around my room!!
Maybe they can serve as inspiration for our own pieces of immortal wisdom: my Mum always used to say “your tastes will change when you get older” and dammit she was right..!
I am in love with these. How spectacular.
Sharing some factors actors that define art today include : originality, an ability to communicate an idea or emotion or some sort of message, a transcendence of the literal (the tangible quality in this piece is very literal but the meaning is transcendent), and a quality of mystery (we are very curious to be the fly on the wall during these mother daughter episodes, moreso if they are familiar). Art involves some personal expression by the maker, as well as expressive choices that are not simply arbitrary (the continuum of conversation snippets has a very cohesive yet natural flow), but have some explainable meaning. Art operates on a metaphoric level—(old wives tales, love/hate relationships between generations/teen angst/adult children conflict-yet.. using humor as the expressive medium), and the personal idea or image suggests a universal that can be shared. Art is never a simple or obvious statement; (there are very complex issues in this piece expressed in a simple diagrammatic train of thought) instead, there is always a depth to it that holds our interest and allows the art work to be reinterpreted over time. This work can be reinterpreted individually (we are familiar yet surprised ) as well as communally (the cultural reinterpretation) generationally.
And it’s damn clever!…. this is art.
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