Tim Moore
Sew Natural
May 10 – June 2, 2007
Several years ago Tim Moore left his pencil case at Heathrow airport when flying to his new home, Australia. Minus a pencil case he could not sketch on board flight JAL 214 so improvising he did his first embroidery on a sick bag, it looked brilliant and he landed at Kingsford Smith with four embroidered sick bags and a brand new skill.
Moore has genuine affection for The Australian Naturist magazine (TAN) and draws inspiration from its nudist imagery for his embroideries. The images are appropriated and doctored a little to create comical and absurd scenarios. TAN magazine includes “local and international articles and photos illustrating the freedom and beauty of the nudist lifestyle”, though not a nudist himself Tim finds the material in the magazine fascinating and amusing. Sew Natural, is an exhibition where things are anything but natural!
Using the hand-woven linen made by Moore’s girlfriend’s grandmother in Sicily as part of her dowry; he spends hours meticulously embroidering and rendering images with silk, stitch by stitch. The nude subject matter combined with this delicate embroidery is incongruous and reveals charm and wit.
Missing limbs and strange situations make for a collection of works that are humorous, absurd and unnerving. They appeal to our primal fantasies. We humans like to observe and be observed.
These works convincingly capture our attention. The portrait of an elderly woman holding a rifle with nipple adjacent to a mounted deer’s head, or two men drinking beer with genitalia exposed conjures up a playfulness that doesn’t go astray in a world where political correctness is monitored.
When Moore interviewed the editor of TAN, he commented on the strange and perhaps bizarre idea of doing everything naked and being photographed;
to which the Editor replied “You are the one making embroideries of our pictures...So, who is the strange one?”
Tim Moore studied and practised as a Jewellery designer in Brighton, England.
He now lives in Sydney where he has a rocking chair, a lamp and thirty five spools of coloured silk thread. This is his first embroidery show at Helen Gory Galerie.
