Honeycomb of Curiosities

My dear readers, here is another creation of art I have just finished creating. Hope you enjoy it and please find my artist statement below to actually understand what this is all about :) I am sure it can be confusing at first sight. 

For this project - assignment I had by the name Personal Collections, I drew my own representation of a honeycomb inside a beehive. I drew using color pencils and also painted with water paints on a paper from a sketch book. After that I built up the walls of the honeycomb using a paper bag which I stuck with glue on top of my painted image.

The idea behind my artwork is my connection to bees. My name - Maya - is already a link I have to bees since a child, as there is a very famous cartoon about a bee called Maya. I always liked bees. Even though I have been stung on various occasions, I still like them, probably even more so! Bees collect nectar and pollen from plants and bring it to the beehive to produce the elixir of life - the honey. In a similar manner I wish to represent my collecting process through the years, therefore I placed in the hexagons representing cells in a honeycomb some exemplars of what has been of interest to me while growing up. In the cells you can see old coins, small hotel soaps, stuffed animal toy, coffee creamer lids, postal stamps, small toys one usually gets from a chocolate egg, bubblegum wrappers, beads, various shiny jewelry items as well as plastic diamonds and glass balls.

My cabinet of curiosity does not have a lid as it is open for interaction with its audience; people can touch and explore the items inside the cells to get an even better idea of the contents I have chosen. Picking and arranging this colorful mix of items was an important activity for me as it reminded of my childhood, of what I have kept of interest and what I have forgotten. More importantly though, this mix showed me what I should remember back.

I created this artwork to express some part of my secret personality, the one which loves to collect things, things which might not mean anything to others but mean or meant a lot to me. I believe collecting these particular pieces reflected some thoughts, hopes, plans, dreams I had for the future and most probably helped me be the person I am today, one way or another.

The Future of Mankind

Wondering what this is? I called it the Future of Mankind and it is my latest - just fresh out of the oven - artwork! Aaahh, I really do love to take time and just create anything as it comes to my mind. Well, this time it was with purpose as this is actually coursework for an online course I have enrolled. Still wondering what this is all about? Hereunder you can read my artist statement describing the idea behind :)

During the art making process I browsed through lots of magazines where I found inspiration and the images I consequently cut out. I mainly used collage technique, I painted a bit using water paint and I drew a small bit, namely the wings of the girl.

The idea behind my artwork is that according to me mankind has reached a tipping point where we will either fall badly or will wake up and get back to nature. This is exactly what the girl falling from up symbolizes. The right side of the art plane represents the current society – all kinds of fake (represented by the woman’s face and the Botox injection) and the struggle to find happiness and meaning to life by buying a material thing (represented by the life potion in a test-tube). The left side of the picture plane symbolizes Mother Nature – the ultimate goal, at least in my opinion, which humans should go for. We need to regain consciousness, remember what are the important things in life and how simplicity and nature are all we need. The image of the girl which is falling is located in the middle, in the boundary between those two worlds. She can change it all but the question remains – will she be able to spread the wings which she has forgotten she has? The elephant in the picture symbolizes nature waiting impatiently for the outcome of that fall. We can see hope in there too – the elephant has captured the girl’s boot in anticipation to have her back on the ground and give it to her which will eventually represent the bonding between the two worlds.

I created this artwork as a clear outcome of my recent thoughts, feelings and intentions. I wish for my audience to really grasp the idea and feel in their heart what is really going on in this world, I wish for everyone to open their eyes and see what we have become – greedy and never-happy creatures. Once awake and aware, we can all work our way back to Nature’s heart and hopefully live in peace and harmony.  

So what do you think? Hit me up, please!