Chris BobinChris Bobin has taken quilt making into the modern era. She uses needlework to construct pop art propelled images that elevate her subjects to wacky and glorious icons. One series of quilts depicts dream jobs for girls (if you were born in the fifties): a stewardess, a nun, a nurse, Miss America, Barbie. The artist transforms these images into more than stereotypes, however. Highlighting a television-oriented, mass-produced, flattened-out sensibility, and zeroing in on commerce (like Dr. Scholl's bunion pad directions and illustrations on how to use a life preserver), these pieces are colorful emblems of our image-conscious society. The collage effects—checkered tablecloth and other patterned backgrounds setting off the appliquéd scenes—mirror a clash of sensibilities. It's as if the viewer had stumbled into a strange room where Conde Nast gloss meets street garbage. Ms. Bobin, who also designs costumes and props for the theater and commercial worlds, says: "It's kind of a feminine tradition to sew and I've always translated that into the vehicle for what I do. It's sort of quilting gone off the deep end. It's not traditional quilt making. I get knocked out of all the quilting competitions because I use a sewing machine and like to make images of Heimlich maneuvers and lobster claws . . . I love Chinatown billboards, food packages, devotional materials. It's very natural to me that meat fat should be made out of thermal underwear fabric." |