I found out about Joe Mangrum‘s sand paintings through My Modern Met, and wanted to find out more about this detailed and patient artist. He’s been using this medium since 2006, but is very well known for his other works of art. In 2003, he won the Lorenzo de Medici award for his piece entitled Fragile, though he’s exhibited throughout the world with pieces that always contain an important message about life. I seriously love the sentiment in his artist’s statement (here’s a portion of it):
It’s my philosophy that we are all unknowingly and psychologically programed by the urban grid system; A system that efficiently divides the globe into quantifiable sections. Based on the Gregorian calendar into minutes and seconds, it is ultimately out of sync with the natural world, lunar cycle and tides. The result is a world divided from nature and compartmentalized into definable groups, disconnected physically and metaphorically from the whole.
My paintings are visual rebellion of the grid.
– Thanks again My Modern Met for sharing this artist and seaspoke for this inspirational video. Definitely go check out Joe’s site for more close ups of some incredibly intricate work.
