Annalee Levin – ...to a company that made something

In a recent article from The New York Times, Mark Fields, an employee at the Ford Motor Company (and possibly the next CEO), explains why he chose to take a job with Ford over a job in investment banking. He said, "I felt it was really important to go to a company that made something." Like Mr. Fields, I think there is something very valuable in the act of making.

The labor-intensive art of hand embroidery is an important part of my practice. I began the piece presented in the front window of the gallery over a year ago and it is still a work in progress. The embroidery is an image of a Ford F-150, one of the top selling cars in the United States. I have recently become interested in the value attached to objects like cars. One's relationship to a car is often very intimate and personal. A person's car can say a lot about them.

The truck is embroidered by hand in the style of a needlepoint using yarn and plastic canvas. I see the act of embroidery as an obsessive manifestation of devotion. I am interested in the way in which people use embroidered pillows and wall hangings as canvases to display what is loved or important to them. What does it mean to live in a culture full of cars and to love a truck?

Up until now, the act of making the truck has remained mostly hidden and solitary. I believe that the act of making the truck, this act of obsessive devotion, is as important as the final piece. Because of this, I have set up a workshop inside the space where I can publicly perform the task of stitching the remaining pieces.