I call this work Lost Koi because I painted it in the 1990s. Gave the original to a friend who was terminally ill and thought I would never see it again. Then I found it on a old computer. I had to work a lot with the image. I hope it loads.
"Mask Up" by Ty Tatmore (2024) is a powerful and unsettling piece of contemporary social commentary. This work throws the viewer into a scene of post-apocalyptic anxiety where an individual, wearing a striking conical hairdo and a defiant "MASK UP" t-shirt, sits amidst the wreckage of a dilapidated room.
The artist uses dark humor and surreal imagery to explore the cultural tensions surrounding public health mandates and personal responsibility. The sign "CHOOSE WISELY!!" acts as a stark warning, while symbols like the gas mask and the Scream mask and also wearing a mask suggest a spectrum of survival and fear. The massive explosion breaking through the window is a haunting, almost surreal symbol of the unstoppable outside forces impacting daily life.
With its raw, graphic style and intense atmosphere, this painting is a memorable and thought-provoking statement that captures the isolation, uncertainty, and dark irony of living through a moment of global crisis.
The materials that Meir uses in her works are not of the refined and so she is called an “arte povere” artist. At times she describes her work as someone dealing in alchemy - work develops as in a trial laboratory with different techniques and materials. She says, “ at times the artistic work process is a sort of puzzle demanding the filling in of all the empty squares “.
Some of her work focuses on women, and they incorporate criticism and cultural protest.
Meir has strong opinions about recycling and environmental protection that is represented in her works by use of materials and shapes. In her work she reacts to contemporary art that communicates with the eco system, waste, and she also searches for different worlds. Her works are made up of layers upon colorful layers that when we look at them it becomes clear that the mound of waste she chose is not coincidental. It actually becomes a colorful kaleidoscope of utopia.
Jaffa Meir is a multifaceted, autodidact artist working in painting, sculpture, photography, product design, carpets and furniture, painting on textile, and computer graphics.
The structural composition of some of the works is influenced also by her many years of working in the architects’ office.
Meir also worked in the developing of ideas within the field of ecosystems and recycling for factories such as Coca Cola, and during this process came up with ideas for designing parks and public game spaces using industrial waste products.
I had to improvise a bit. I found myself rummaging for colored pencils so I drew my outfit today with the ones I had. Notice that I am painting because I’m out of pencils. My oversized sweatshirt is really a periwinkle blue.
A long time ago In Egypt you would bury the person with some belongings you think they would benefit in their after life. A few interesting objects I chose were from a mobile, baked beans, kitkat, toothpaste, apples, gloves to a paintbrush and more. A fun artwork where egyptian hieroglyphic symbols were used.
PLaying in the studio with watercolour paints and inks - created a planetarium of textural ideas - had great fun doing this and now plan to use some these effects in my next piece.
