The Alcove (Artemis and the Mystical Parrot)
2023
Site specific installation at Fridge Art Fair Miami at the Courtyard Miami Coconut Grove - December 6-10, 2023
Ink on paper; ink, acrylic and gesso on canvas; and multiple inkjet prints on paper.
When I saw this space in the lower level near the staircase at the Courtyard Miami Coconut Grove, I knew I wanted to create an installation here. The Alcove is my first large scale installation. It is both a tangible completed installation, but also conceptual in that this piece is technically unfinished and I have given it room to grow and evolve into another installation.
The site specific installation is loosely based on mythology set in an imaginary place: an amalgamation of places and things; Miami Beach Hotel pools, Mediterranean grottos, Caribbean coves. I use the mythological imagery, but the theme and story are not necessarily true to the mythological story of Artemis. I work organically and I usually do not have a set idea of what the installation or piece will look like in the end. I did know that the large canvas piece would be the centerpiece of the Alcove installation, the other end would be the mystical parrot, and the wall connecting the two would be the images of the pool/grotto.
The imagery of the paintings on canvas and drawings is based on Ancient/Renaissance Marble Sculptures, this one specifically Artemis by an Unknown artist currently displayed at the Louvre Museum - Artemis of the Rospigliosi type. Marble, Roman artwork of the Imperial Era, 1st–2nd centuries AD. Copy of a Greek original, maybe the bronze group mentioned by Pausanias (I, 25, 2), which represented a Gigantomachia ("struggle between gods and giants") is an episode of Greek mythology, which tells of the rebellion of the giants against the gods, and the battle in which the gods defeated them.
I use stencils to create the images of Artemis on canvas and watercolor paper. The images of Artemis on paper is a scanned stencil with the hair of coral, rocks, and shells, evoking the ocean.
The ancient Roman marble sculpture of a parrot was created in Photoshop using their AI tool. The pools, palm trees, terrazzo, and tiles, etc. are also created with Photoshop AI generative tool. I mix the AI generated elements with scans of the coral, shells, rocks, stencil, and digitally altered sketchbook drawings. Some of these inkjet prints are double or triple printed, meaning I layer the prints, running the paper through the printer multiple times.
See below for more images related to this installation as well as a link to my SHOP with related prints and originals for sale.
