Tuesday, July 17, 2012

"Ungepatchged" — Yiddish for all mixed up . . . .


  

"Ungepatchged" — Yiddish for all mixed up . . . .
(update: In my original post I asked for help with the translation of the word "Ungepatched". 
I received a copy of a most helpful email from a woman in Israel, giving me the correct 
spelling and better understanding of the word "ungepatcheged". Please read her words below.

"So I think the mirror is beautiful although it is ungepatchged (not ungepatched) which usually means something done with no taste with too much on it (for example a dress with many designs and a few kind of materials and on top of it some bottoms  etc., and than with shoes which also don't match). Or a painting which someone just put colors and items which is with no taste. 
And yes the mirror has a lot of things in the frame of many themes, however, although it is "ungepatchged" it still is beautiful."

Thank you for this - it all makes sense now.  

Original Post:
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 "ungepatchged" a couple of times while describing what she was looking for. In the end we agreed that "Ungepatchged" 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 mirror 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.
   It doesn't feel as though the photographs do it justice.
   By the way, the client picked up "Ungepatchged" last weekend, and I am told she really loves it!

PS: if any of you speak / understand Yiddish and can offer me a better translation of  ungepatched, please share with me.

22 comments:

  1. I love this! Beautiful, Rebeca!! I can hardly wait for when you do mine!!

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    1. thanks Carole! I can't wait to start on your mirror!

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  2. Oh bling bling where's my sun glasses?? Love it!!

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    1. I know! get those foster grant's out!
      thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I love this! Beautiful, Rebeca!! I can hardly wait for when you do mine!!

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  4. tu es la reine dans blanche neige et les 7 nains...?:)))

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    1. miroir miroir sur le mur, qui est la plus belle de toutes?
      (ha! ha!)

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  5. I don't speak Yiddish, but I am very impressed with this piece. I often find a photograph doesn't do pieces like these justice. But I can see why she liked it.

    BTW, I was led to a blog of a friend of yours: Pam McKnight. I was reading through her blog, thanks to Seth, and saw where she visited you in person. Girl with bike and a big heart! Could make a great assemblage!

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth!

      and yes Pam and I spent a very fun day together! She got to hang out with me at my studio, we went to a couple of my favorite galleries, and she met some of my art friends, AND we got to go to a few garage sales and found some fun art materials.

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  6. i like this. it has a real outsider art feel to it and for some reason it makes me feel like frida k. would have this were she still alive :) good job! congrats!!!

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    1. thanks paula!
      what a great thought! i think you are right! frida WOULD have had these mirrors in her home for sure! i like it!

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  7. it is full of whimsy! and the yiddish title is perfect!

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    1. thanks amy!
      do you speak yiddish? what does "ungepatched" mean ? i could only find one reference to the word on GOOGLE. . . .

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  8. Wow! It looks "alive." :) Great work, lots of creativity. Thx for stopping by my blog. Have a wonderful weekend. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of us all? (you talking to me) :)))

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    1. ha! ha! thanks Glo
      we do have fun making art, don't we?

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  9. Beautiful! I love the steampunky feel to it!

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    1. thank you! it does feel 'steampunky', doesn't it?

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  10. What a fabulous work of art! The bits and pieces you used give it so much charm. It's no wonder the client loved it.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Betsy and leaving such a nice comment. i heard back from the client today, and she is loving it! woo! hoo!
      that made my day. . . i loved makin' it.

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  11. Ongepatsh literally means to make a mess or to scribble, but in "Yinglish" it's come to mean put together in a jumbled way from a lot of disparate things.

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    1. thank you! that makes total sense. love love love the clarification!

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  12. Hey
    I found it very useful , The information you provide is pretty useful, The article you wrote is very nice

    ReplyDelete