Artwork Essay- "Volkswagon"

Last semester, I went to LACMA’s exhibition entitled “Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement.” It was a very eclectic collection of artwork made by American artists of Mexican descent. Although there were many interesting pieces in the exhibition, I was particularly drawn towards Margarita Cabrera’s “Volkswagen.” Cabrera is a multimedia artist who uses her sewing skills to create everyday objects out of fabric, thread, and various other parts. She created a Volkswagen Beatle out of vinyl, thread, and car parts. The piece was interesting because from far away, the car just looks like a dilapidated old Beatle, but upon closer inspection, you could see just how much work went into creating it. Her attention to detail is incredible: she embroidered and outlined all the parts of the dashboard, the steering wheel, and the ventilators. She also used the original car parts for the bumpers, hubcaps, mirrors, logos, and door handles. One interesting aspect of her work was the fact that she left all the tails of the threads uncut. This gave her piece an almost unfinished look and made it seem a little depressing. When you look inside the car, especially at the dashboard, you can see hundreds of thread tails hanging down.


What amazed me most about the piece was the fact that she was able to figure out how to sew a three dimensional object at such a large scale. The car was life size and included all the seats and parts. It was basically a fabric version of an actual car. She made the car without a pattern and had to create the whole thing from scratch. The thread tails in the car show just how much work and sewing was involved in the process of creating the Beatle.

Aside from just being a visually interesting piece, Cabrera’s VW gave me a new appreciation for the application of sewing. I like to sew my own clothing, but I never even thought of creating actual works of art using the medium. Her artwork broadened my idea of the things sewing can achieve. It really inspired me to sew more and to perfect my craft. Maybe I’ll create an everyday object out of fabric and thread in the future, though my creation will most likely be a lot smaller that Cabrera’s Beatle.