Artist Michael Mapes – Foam, Vials, Pins & Photographic Specimen Boxes

You may be wondering how foam, vials and pins go together, but I assure you that Michael Mapes has proven that he can join them into thought-provoking artistic pieces.

New York-based artist, Michael Mapes at Room62.com, puts photographic prints, miscellaneous printed material, insect pins, pinning foam, glass vials, magnifiers, gelatin capsules, resin, wax, petri dish, hair, plastic bags, cotton thread, resin, modeling clay and dried roses in a wood box with a glass cover and it becomes art.

“The human specimens reflect the artist’s interest in the role of creative science as lab threatens to supplant studio in his own work. Representations of the specimen are dissected and then reconstructed through artistic interpretation invoking entomological, forensic and artistic methods.”

On his website, Michael Mapes gives a chronology recounting different aspects of his life. The first entry is sweet:

1966 – painted first documented portrait (family) on non-archival paper

He continues with such things as:

1979 – decided not to attend Rhode Island School of Design

1990 – formed the product development company MINC, created and produced products for direct mail, retail and museum stores. sold several hundred thousand shirts and enjoyed the rewards of a profitable, small, creative based business while it lasted

2005 – began making art

As interesting as all of them are to me (you have to go to his website to see the whole list), I totally love the last entry which reads:

2012 – still doesn’t text

I know. It is almost unimaginable. No texting. Maybe we should have a moment of silence.

Now that you know a little about the artist, let’s take a look at the art of Michael Mapes. I really enjoyed the layout of his website. Yeah, it appealed to the HTML geek in me.

I can’t “pin” down why, but I think the art creations of Michael Mapes will “stick” with me for awhile.