Culture Magazine
"Ungepatched" — Yiddish for all mixed up . . . .
A customer came to the gallery a few months ago and saw "Mirror, Mirror", and really seemed to enjoy the piece. She left a message for me saying she was interested in commissioning a similar piece, and wanted me to contact her. We exchanged a couple of emails and phone calls and finally we had a chance to meet around the first week in June. She was very careful / cautious not to 'give me too many "do's and don't s " about what she wanted in her mirror, fearing that it might inhibit the 'whimsy' of the piece. . . but she did say she wanted lots of silvery stuff, and that she liked black and white as a background color . . . and that was all she gave me. While we talked, I noticed she used the Yiddish word “ungepatched’ a couple of times while describing what she was looking for, in the end we agreed that "Ungepatched" is what we would call the piece when it was done.
Well, as you can see the mirror is full of whimsy, and full of 'stuff'. In addition to the many bits of bling the piece has several interactive pieces to amuse and bemuse the viewer. There are things that are full of imagery, some that stir up wonder and delight while other bits are meant to trigger the memory to produce a set of fond mental pictures. On top there is a black galloping horse, a flower garden, a silver fan, buttons, and a corkscrew. Below there are vintage Volkswagen keys, a sea shell, a dragon fly and a gazelle. There are cat eyes, coins and a bottle cap.
But the pièce de résistance is a beautiful face plate from a 1930’s Singer sewing machine atop a silver skull with red rhinestone eyes.
Among the interactive pieces, there is, a magic wand that sits behind the sea shell, an optometrist’s lens that swings from the horse, a vintage metal paper clip, and a tiny vintage level that sits in the lower right hand corner.
The photographs do not do it justice.
By the way, the client picked up "Ungepatched" last weekend, and I am told she really loved it!
PS: if any of you speak / understand Yiddish and can offer me a better translation of ungepatched, please share with me.
