Mai-Hien Tran

Kaleidoscope I

24 x 36 x 3"

Acrylic and Origami on Canvas

$875

“Kaleidoscope I,” like its name, shows a group of butterflies on canvas. Formed by ancient origami art, and cut out from The New Yorkers, they carry on their body the minutiae of current events. It reminds us that “we are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it’s forever”.

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.