mythology

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Art

Incredibly Intricate Glasswork by Janis Miltenberger is Inspired by Mythology

Glass artist Janis Miltenberger draws on the roles of mythology and storytelling as attempts to explain our experience of the world to build complex glass sculptures. Her work often takes the shape of recognizable objects, like human figures and chairs, which are then filled with incredible detail. The artist uses borosilicate glass, and enhanced with glass colors, gold luster, sandblasting, and oil paint. 

Miltenberger shares with Colossal that she was originally drawn to ceramics, and discovered glassblowing in college, where she apprenticed with Richard Marquis. Many years later, she was introduced to lampworking, which is her preferred technique today. She explains, “working alone with a torch was more personal and I don’t think I was quite as aware at that point how I needed that space set apart to focus and identify my ideas and voice.”

The artist’s most recent series, “Doctrine of Signatures,” is based on The Signature of All Things, a 17th century book by Jakob Boehme which detailed the commonly-held belief that the outward appearance of a plant reflected its medicinal value. She is currently working on a large installation that moves away from her decorative style. In fall 2018, Miltenberger will be teaching in Niijima, Japan, and her work will be shown at the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington state. (via Lustik)

Art

New Walls and Canvases by PichiAvo That Mix Classic Greek Imagery With Graffiti Writing

Although PichiAvo (previously) have continued to focus on their signature style of classic Greek gods and mythology intermixed with graffiti writing, their works have now migrated off the wall and onto the canvas. The duo still produces stories-high murals, like the two they contributed to the Puerto Street Art Festival in late 2015, but have also begun to incorporate their work into a gallery setting. This past December they presented two acrylic and aerosol canvases at SCOPE art fair with C.A.V.E. Gallery, each appearing like a cross-section of one of their larger wall murals.

The two are also in a group exhibition titled “Rough Cast” currently at Colab Gallery in Germany through May 7, 2016. You can see more of PichiAvo’s murals from across the world on their Instagram.

 

Art

Ai Weiwei’s Suspended Bamboo and Silk Beasts Highlight Ancient Chinese Mythology Inside a Paris Department Store

Ai Weiwei‘s (previously here and here) first exhibition in France is not staged at the Centre Pompidou nor the Palais de Tokyo, but within Paris’s Le Bon Marché, the city’s oldest department store founded in 1852. At its center the exhibition includes 20 illuminated silk and bamboo creatures that float above the cosmetics department, a contradiction of subject matter that Ai embraces as he allows the two vastly different worlds to collide momentarily during his store-bound exhibition.

The show, titled “Er Xi” or “Child’s Play,” is in many ways tied to the artist’s family and childhood. His father, the Chinese poet Ai Qing, passed on stories to Ai of his time spent living and studying art in Paris in the 30s. Thinking about his father’s history within the city, Ai also contemplated his own background with the art of kite making, enlisting 12 kite makers from the Shandong Province in China to build the sculptures from similar materials he used to make his first kite at the age of ten.

In addition to these hanging sculptures, Ai also installed work in the department store’s front windows and throughout the store, including a 65-foot dragon on Le Bon Marché’s ground floor. Weaving together 2D and 3D works, Ai illuminate’s the mythology found in the 2,000 year-old “Shan Hai Jing” (Classic of Mountains and Seas), a series of traditional Chinese children’s fables that reference birds, fish, and dragons.

“Introducing the fantastic within a retail space strikes the imagination of customers, visitors, passersby,” said Ai in a statement. “We all lead parallel lives in this other world of dreams, fantasies and feats. We must learn to coexist with them as they are an integral part of our humanity; to embrace our mythology. Children know how to do this naturally. This exhibition speaks to our inner child,” the artist said in a statement.

“Er Xi” runs at Le Bon Marché in Paris through February 20, 2016. (via Designboom)

Art Craft

Embroidered Psychological Landscapes by Michelle Kingdom

LA-based artist Michelle Kingdom embroiders small, illustrative scenes of people in curious mythological or ritualistic scenarios, engaged in unknown actions or in vaguely defined relationships. From her artist statement:

My work explores psychological landscapes, illuminating thoughts left unspoken. I create tiny worlds in thread to capture elusive yet persistent inner voices. Literary snippets, memories, personal mythologies, and art historical references inform the imagery; fused together, these influences explore relationships, domesticity and self-perception.

Kingdom most recently exhibited at bG Gallery in Santa Monica and at a Feminist Fiber Art Exhibition. You can see some available artworks in her online shop. (via Beautiful/Decay)

Art

Murals of Greek Gods Rendered Against a Chaotic Backdrop of Graffiti by PichiAvo

Since first collaborating in 2007, Spanish street art duo PichiAvo (previously) have created an intriguing blend of traditional graffiti and renderings of mythological figures influenced by ancient Greek sculpture. The precision, shading, and use of color is all that more impressive considering each piece is painted only with spray paint. PichiAvo open their first exhibition in Italy titled Urban IconoMythology later this week at Basement Project Room. You can see more of their work here.