Zenoviy Palahniuk, 19, native of Chortkiv in Ternopil Oblast, made a stunning portrait of American pop singer and actor Justin Timberlake using only threads and nails. The creative process that lasted for more than two months was filmed and posted on YouTube on April 28. It attracted more than 500,000 views in the first week.
“My breath was caught,” Mary Hrusha commented on the YouTube video on May 4. “It’s incredible! (Justin) now has to come to Kyiv with a concert.”
To make the portrait, Palahniuk used 13,000 nails and 24 kilometers of thread. The portrait is two meters wide and three meters long.
The process began with sketching the singer’s face on canvas. After that Palahniuk drove the nails into contours, and then reeled the nails with threads, creating darker or lighter shades by adding more or less thread lines.
The author spent 200 hours making the portrait and paid Hr 2,000 for the materials.
He did it as a present to his idol on the occasion of the birth of Timberlake’s son on April 10.
“As a fan, I was inspired with the idea that I can do something pleasant with my hands on the occasion of the birth of his son Silas,” Palahniuk said.
Timberlake, 34, is a popular American pop singer who first gained popularity in late 1990s as a lead vocalist of American popular boy band NSync and has been pursuing a successful solo career since 2002. Timberlake is also an actor. He starred in “The Social Network”, “Bad Teacher” and “In Time.”
His big Ukrainian fan Palahniuk is in his third year studying graphic design in the Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts in Kosiv in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. His preferred techniques are watercolor and charcoal. But Palahniuk explores new techniques because “art has to keep pace with progress.”
His masterpiece is now preserved in the Chortkiv pedagogical college, yet Palahniuk hopes that Timberlake will take notice and come to get it. Palahniuk emailed the link to the video featuring the portrait’s creation to the singer and is waiting for his response. The artist dreams that someday he will be able to personally present his artwork to Timberlake.
The video of Palahniuk’s work can be found on YouTube under the title “For Justin Timberlake (string art).”
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
