‘Micromegalic Inscriptions’ are a series of computation paintings that are rooted in the history of ornamentation. They reinterpret Wilhelm Kolbe’s etching “I too was in Arcadia”; original etching is currently part of the British Museum permanent collection. The author, Matteo Mauro, London based artist and designer, aims to reinvigorate historical concepts of beauty, as if his experimentation is a continuation of a long journey, which keeps evolving, and transforming through the use of modern tools, in developing societies.
His computed inscriptions do not just reinterpret the mechanical processes of engraving of the image content, but epitomise the evo¬lution of mass production practices and the inevitable symbiosis be¬tween the man and the machine. In these paintings mathematical rules ad natural spontaneity are coded by the artist and processed by a software. The outcomes are overwhelming images that create new metaphors to enrich traditional paradigms. In these, there is a factor of novelty; nevertheless, because they hold accomplished rules of metamorphic dy-namism, curvature, and traditional techniques of engraving, abstraction still refers to the point of departure.
More info: matteomauro.com
I Too Was in Arcadia Etching by Carl Wilhelm Kolbe, 1801
Computed Etching - Matteo Mauro
Initial image Tracing - Matteo Mauro
I too was in Arcadia, 2017
I too was in Arcadia, 2017
I too was in Arcadia, 2017
Figures Detail
Engraving Detail
Figures Detail
