Welcome to ArtsOrigin

Cart

Your Cart is Empty

Back To Shop

Human visage with the fragments of a person’s life

Michael Mapes recreates the human visage by arranging fragments of a person’s life—photographs, locks of hair, handwriting samples, jewelry—into highly detailed works of art.   IT’S FUN TO imagine what Michael Mapes’ studio must look like: You would assume that the New York-based artist’s workspace has to resemble the lab of a harebrained entomologist, with test tubes, specimen bags and pushpins strewn about.  In reality, of course, to create the startlingly elaborate sculptural portraits Mapes is known for, he has to be much more organized than that. “It does take a fairly high degree of organization,” assures me. “But that's not the hardest part.”
Photos of bare legs and cleavage fill out the skin tone of the Dutch Masters’ subjects. Take a glance through Mapes’ work, and you’ll understand what he means. Technically, Mapes is a portraitist, though he rarely uses paint. Instead, the artist recreates the human visage by arranging fragments of a person’s life—photographs, locks of hair, handwriting samples, jewelry—into highly detailed works of art. Mapes has been making these pieces for years, generally working with subjects intimately close to him. But in his newest project, he’s decided to deconstruct (then reconstruct) some of the Dutch Masters’ most famous 17th century portraits, rendering classics like Bartholomeus van der Helst’s painting of Geertruida den Dubbelde into startling franken-portraits.
https://artsorigin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/pexels-photo-4262424-e1630149828611-1.jpeg

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cart

Your Cart is Empty

Back To Shop