Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ribbing Mondrian


This is a post that I wrote for my quilt blog a few weeks ago. But it might have a general dork appeal for those who, for whatever strange reason, are not interested in quilts.

Synchronicity, part 1

So last summer Mrs.5000 found this big box of scrap corduroy for a buck at a garage sale and hefted it home a good mile or something so she could give it to me for my birthday. Mrs.5000 understands me.

Meanwhile, in 1921, Piet Mondrian painted one of his famous grids of rectangles and primary colors. (Neoplasticism, I think the genre is called. The de Stijl movement! i iz likes art history.) This particular one is usually called Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black.

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

And so eventually the idea of "What shall I do with the corduroy?" rattling around in my head ran up hard against the idea of "you know, of all the painting genres, the de Stijl stuff is the one that would be most susceptable to a treatment in quilt form." From that collision was born a Bee in my Bonnet, which involved compulsive internet searches for the simpler of Mondrian's work and an appraising sifting of my corduroy trove.

Once I found Composition, I transferred its grid onto graph paper, made some very rough color equivalences, and started cutting. And when I say "rough" color equivalences, I mean a not-as-light-as-it-could be grey for white, burgandy for red, golden tan for yellow, and a dark, greenish blue for blue.

Nevertheless, I am very happy with my little "Mondrian Quilt" face. Indeed, I bet its one of the best adaptations of Mondrian in scrap corduroy to have been achieved on the West Coast this year! (Libby, commenting on the quilt blog, was so kind as to say she thought it would be in the top five corduroy Mondrian adaptations nationwide this year. I am happy to take her word for it.)

4 comments:

Yankee in England said...

The sheer creativeness in nameing the painting "Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black" is amazing. I wonder how long the artist pondered the name.

boo said...

It'd agree that it has to be in the top five at least.

I really like this quilt idea. It could be a decorator's dream.

d said...

this is really fantastic m5k. really.

The Calico Cat said...

You double dipped a chip. :o)
It is still nice here. Any idea yet on quilting?

(In a dream I saw it quilted with YARN - as in the old fashioned 1970's acrylic yarn.)