Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Han Cao
"A Self-Portrait Outside" Portrait, Figurative, Embroidery on Vintage Photograph

2023

$1,500
£1,122.33
€1,302.55
CA$2,088.56
A$2,349.17
CHF 1,218.46
MX$28,497.18
NOK 15,449.41
SEK 14,538.76
DKK 9,717.42
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

This piece titled "A Self-Portrait Outside" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery on a vintage photograph. This piece measures 9" x 11" framed and is shipped in the pictured white frame. Han Cao is a self-taught artist currently living in Dallas, Texas. She uses embroidery to create new narratives for long-forgotten photographs and postcards found at flea markets and antique shops from around the world. All embroidery on the artwork is done by hand, directly onto the original found image. Her art combines fibers of embroidery thread with the paper fibers of each photograph to connect with the fibers of our own being – as the added dimension of each work challenges our self-identity and personal connection with unfamiliar people and places. For Silhouettes, Cao explores duality when altering the forms of subjects in her new series of double portraits. While the original photograph evokes an intimate connection with the viewer, the larger counterpart is a vast landscape where Cao invites the viewer to immerse themselves into the expanded bounty of blossom motifs, greenery, and seafoam. Cao’s purposeful demonstration of scale allows the viewer to compare the intensity of depth and movement between the pieces as the level of stitching increases with scale. To further echo movement in the work, Cao utilizes nature as a portal into a daydream, as historically literature and art have used the aspects of the natural world as a door to evoke a state of reverie. In Surge, her detailed embroidery coupled with collage completely transforms the figure into an ethereal being, his mind as turbulent as the sea he portrays. Cao says, “I am always trying to change the story of the photo, but this method allows me to transport the figure into a different world.” Instead of using photographs as tokens of recollection, Cao chooses to use them as vessels for fantastical exploration.
  • Creator:
    Han Cao (American)
  • Creation Year:
    2023
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 9 in (22.86 cm)Width: 11 in (27.94 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU188213074392

More From This Seller

View All
"Self-Reflection on March 12, 1972" Figurative, Embroidery on Vintage Photo
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Self-Reflection on March 12, 1972" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery on a vintage photograph. This piece measures 11" x 9" framed and is ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects, Photographic Paper

"Self-Reflection: In the Bedroom", Figurative, Embroidery on Vintage Photograph
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Self-Reflection: In the Bedroom" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery on a vintage photograph. This piece measures 9" x 11" framed and is sh...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects

"Sakura" Portait, Figurative, Embroidery on Vintage Photograph
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Sakura" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery, inkjet print, and a vintage photograph. This piece measures 21.25"h x 17.25"w framed and is sh...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects, Inkjet

"Fallen", Figurative, Portrait, Embroidery on Vintage Photograph
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Fallen" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery, inkjet print, and a vintage photograph. This piece measures 21" x 17.25" framed and is shipped...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects, Inkjet

"Self-reflection: Wedding Day" Figurative, Portrait, Embroidery on Vintage Photo
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Self-reflection: Wedding Day" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery on a vintage photograph. This piece measures 18"h x 22"w framed and is sh...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects, Photographic Paper

"The Sky-Crossed Lovers" Figurative, Embroidery on Vintage Photograph
By Han Cao
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "The Sky-Crossed Lovers" is an original piece by Han Cao and is made from embroidery, inkjet print, and a vintage photograph. This piece measures 12.25"h x 15.25"w ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Found Objects, Inkjet

You May Also Like

Elsbeth Juda (1911-2014) - Framed 20th Century Mixed Media, Rembrandt & Model
Located in Corsham, GB
An original collage work by the acclaimed British photographer and artist Elsbeth Juda (1911-2014). Portrait of Rembrandt & Model in shades of brown. Pres...
Category

20th Century Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Correct Focus, Mixed Media Collage Portrait
By Roberto Fonfria
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Correct Focus, 2017 Found images transferred to acetate film, collage, acrylics, and graphite. Mixed Media on %100 Cotton Paper Image size: 30 in. H x 22 in. W Frame size: 34 in. H ...
Category

2010s Pop Art Mixed Media

Materials

Cotton, Paper, Mixed Media, Graphite

fashion - black / white photo transfer and collage on mylar woman portrait
Located in New York, NY
Matthew Conradt Fashion mixed media on Mylar 33.5x 23.5 inches 2018 This item is not framed Matthew Conradt’s mixed media works investigate the current disarray of the American Drea...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Photography

Materials

Mylar, Mixed Media

Alfred-grey green contemporary figurative photo transfer on paper and thread
By Michele Landel
Located in New York, NY
Michele Landel creates intensely textured and airy collages using burned, quilted, and embroidered fabric, photographs and paper to explore the themes of exposure, absence, and memor...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Photography

Materials

Fabric, Thread, Pastel, Acrylic, Archival Paper

Latin American Mixed media Collage Photo Intaglio Gravure Print with Embroidery
By Liliana Porter
Located in Surfside, FL
Elvis:The Sewing Lesson (2011) Mixed media intaglio print with embroidery, photogravure, thread, and collage on Magnani Pescia white paper. edition of 100 plus 12 APs, 6 printers proofs, and 6 CCP archive proofs 17 ¾" x 13 ½" Published by Center for Contemporary Printmaking. Elvis Presley, Rock & roll icon. Liliana Porter (born 1941) is a contemporary artist working in a wide variety of media, including photography, printmaking, painting, drawing, installation, video, theater, and public art. Porter was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941, but lives and works in New York. As a teenager, she attended the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico, where she studied under Guillermo Silva Santamaria and Mathias Goeritz. She returned to Argentina and completed her training at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In 1964, she moved to New York City, where she co-founded the New York Graphic Workshop with fellow artists Luis Camnitzer and José Guillermo Castillo. In 1974 she was a co-founder and etching instructor at Studio Camnitzer, an artist's residence studio near Lucca, Italy that welcomes artists working in all media. After holding teaching positions at the Porter-Wiener Studio, the Printmaking Workshop, SUNY Purchase and State University of New York at Old Westbury, Porter became a professor at Queens College, City University of New York in 1991 and remained there until 2007. Porter cites Luis Felipe Noe...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Thread, Intaglio, Photogravure

Untitled Collage (Self Portrait, Portrait of Wife and Friends)
By Vilém Reichmann
Located in New York, NY
Six vintage silver prints mounted on paper Dated in pencil, u.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Czech artist Vilém Reichmann is best known for his b...
Category

1930s Other Art Style Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin