Saturday, June 22, 2019

New exhibit! Zymoglyphic Art of the Modern Age




Art in the Zymoglyphic region was originally a way to connect with an unseen world, as can be seen in the artifacts of the Rust Age.  In more secular times, art, in the form of dioramas and assemblages, celebrated the wonders of the world, particularly the natural world.  Then, with the pervasive influence of Modernism, art became more formalized and self-referential, art as Art.  Various schools and philosophies blossomed and withered.  This exhibit presents a survey in miniature of the more influential ones.

The museum's collection of miniature modern art was originally displayed in a series of shoebox galleries.  These galleries were superseded in 2013 by a shiny new structure in the San Mateo location. This year, a repurposable industrial space (an old wooden box) was made available for use by the gallery and the new exhibit was born in the current Portland location.

The new exhibit is accompanied by a trifold exhibit catalog which describes the various schools of art.  Much of that information is available here  One pioneering group, for example, was called "Natural Modernism".  They would gather beach rocks that resembled modernist sculpture, giving rise to the term TTLLA, or "things that look like art."


Shoebox gallery, exterior view
Shoebox gallery, inside view
Natural modernism