Mai-Hien Tran

Kaleidoscope II

36 x 48 x 3"

Acrylic, Oil, and Origami on Canvas

$1,000

“Kaleidoscope Il,” showing a group of butterflies formed by ancient origami art, carry on their bodies the minutiae of current events and information cut from The New Yorker. It depicts the idea that humans in all kind of art forms, from ancient to present, are chasing after the idea of perfection.

Artist's Statement:

I spent my childhood with my grandparents in Vietnam, when we barely had electricity, clean water, food and clothes. Luckily, my grandparents raised me in an abundant life with their high-skills and education. Among reading and writing and many games, they taught me the art of origami.
At this present time, being a multimedia artist who works primarily with acrylic and oil paint, I decided to incorporate origami into my artwork in my newest series,“Kaleidoscope.” The origami butterflies are made from pages of “The New Yorker” magazine, which represented to me an ideal of writing, poetry, and culture. Current events and the minutiae of everyday life swoop over the canvas.
The series is the way I merged the skill that I carried from my childhood, to the abundant life that I am luckily living today. I know somewhere in the sky, my grandparents are proud of me.