Type of Submission
Art Exhibit
Keywords
Art, Abstract, Assemblage, Variety, Movement, Composition, Fine Art, Naturalism, Enlightenment, Modern
Proposal
The title of this work is Cenotaph of the Fae and is an assemblage piece measuring a little over four inches in height, width, and depth. This piece is composed completely out of plastic building block toys to create a roughly-spherical geometric abstraction of a mausoleum or cenotaph. There is a symmetrical balance to the work, but it also heavily relies on variety to make the viewer move their eye across the work and see the whole of the composition. This piece is a memorial of the fantastical and spiritual realities that permeated the middle ages, but were soon considered obsolete or unsophisticated during the enlightenment.
Using molded elements that invoke mechanical imagery and a blend of greys and bright, “childish” colors, I hope to visually reinforce the modern idea of a fairy, yet call us to question if that is all that the stories are. As we continually throw out the idea of an ever present, earthly spiritual reality, now is when supernatural attacks are gaining traction, cult followings, and the like, under the guise of aliens, sleep paralysis, and even DMT. We may think we have killed the fae, burying them in the tombs of fantasy novels and movies, but the tomb is empty, and was never really filled to begin with, and we are left to consider the consequences of creating it.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Copyright
© 2025 Adrian McGuire. All rights reserved.
Publication Date
1-13-2025
Cenotaph of the Fae
The title of this work is Cenotaph of the Fae and is an assemblage piece measuring a little over four inches in height, width, and depth. This piece is composed completely out of plastic building block toys to create a roughly-spherical geometric abstraction of a mausoleum or cenotaph. There is a symmetrical balance to the work, but it also heavily relies on variety to make the viewer move their eye across the work and see the whole of the composition. This piece is a memorial of the fantastical and spiritual realities that permeated the middle ages, but were soon considered obsolete or unsophisticated during the enlightenment.
Using molded elements that invoke mechanical imagery and a blend of greys and bright, “childish” colors, I hope to visually reinforce the modern idea of a fairy, yet call us to question if that is all that the stories are. As we continually throw out the idea of an ever present, earthly spiritual reality, now is when supernatural attacks are gaining traction, cult followings, and the like, under the guise of aliens, sleep paralysis, and even DMT. We may think we have killed the fae, burying them in the tombs of fantasy novels and movies, but the tomb is empty, and was never really filled to begin with, and we are left to consider the consequences of creating it.
