Playful and affectionate, Patti Warashina’s valentine to Robert Sperry (1996) reads like a private joke turned into art. Inside a hand-drawn red border, a sharply dressed older man in a dark hat and red tie gazes upward, while a collage of Warashina’s own face whirls beside him in looping motion, punctuated by a small red heart. The cut-and-paste edges and theatrical expressions give the piece the lively immediacy of a handmade card—personal, humorous, and a little mischievous.
The composition emphasizes movement and infatuation through repetition: one face becomes many, spinning and tilting as if thoughts can’t settle. A patterned robe, the blush of red accents, and the layered paper textures add warmth against the simple white ground, keeping attention on the relationship suggested by the title. Rather than relying on grand romantic symbolism, the artwork leans into giddy, human attraction—the kind that makes someone’s “head swirl.”
Along the bottom margin, the handwritten inscription grounds the work in its moment: “2/14/96. MY HEAD SWIRLS WHEN I THINK ABOUT YOU, BOB,” followed by “Patti.” That candid line turns the collage into a document of artistic friendship and love, capturing how artists often communicate through image-making as much as through words. For readers exploring Patti Warashina, Robert Sperry, or late-20th-century artist ephemera, this Valentine offers a vivid glimpse of intimacy, humor, and craft in a single, unforgettable page.