Heavenly inspirations

Corriere della Sera, Milan, May 2010

By Alessandra Borghese

A stone's throw from the famous Quattro Canti intersection in Palermo, at number 293 Corso Vittorio Emanuele, lies Pantaleone, a historic shop selling religious articles, furnishings, and vestments. It is perhaps the largest Italian shop in this sector.

This place was a source of artistic inspiration for Aleksandra Mir, an artist of Polish origin who lived first in Sweden and New York before settling in Palermo. Mir was attracted by the popular culture of the religious objects displayed by Pantaleone, which she believes unequivocally recount the traditions of our country and our faith.

The shop and its warehouse were used by the artist as a veritable visual library of a popular faith that is still very much alive. This gave rise to her recent exhibition in Rome, The Dream and the Promise, with collages made from Pantaleone's old religious prints, where sacred figures meet spatial objects. For Mir, there is a special and common liturgy in the heavens, made up of universal symbols.

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American Gothic
from US$250.00

Two astronauts with the faces of Mary and Jesus Chris. This striking Fine Art Print reproduces an original hand-cut antique paper collage by the artist Aleksandra Mir.

The cleverly constructed collage and its title plays on Grant Wood's iconic 1930 painting American Gothic — but instead of a stern farmer and his wife standing before a Gothic-style house, we have two figures in gleaming silver NASA spacesuits from the early space age (Gemini-era, circa 1960s). Inside the helmet visors, replacing the astronauts' faces, are collaged Renaissance portraits from devotional religious paintings — The Madonna and Jesus Christ.

Aleksandra Mir has transported Wood’s original farm worker and his wife from rural America into the space race, and replaced their very identities with Old World sacred imagery. It's a witty commentary on American ambition, technology as a new religion, and the collision of the sacred and the scientific.

Giclée pigment ink on Hahnemühle German Etching paper results in a superior quality print with exceptional detail, vibrant color accuracy, and long-term durability. The fresh print reproduces an aged authentic patina and the imprint of the artist’s hand-crafted marks.

· Archival Museum Quality ·
· Limited Edition. 100 ·
· Certificate of Authenticity ·
· Hand & Human-Made without AI ·
· 100% Carbon Neutral ·
· Free Worldwide Shipping ·

The Sleeping
from US$250.00

A Renaissance-style Madonna and her Child admire a Space Shuttle launch — the brilliant orange and red explosion of ignition filling the scene with light and fire. Remarkably, the Madonna's outstretched hand appears to be touching the shuttle, and the Christ child reaches toward the flames — as if blessing or directing the launch. This powerful Fine Art Print reproduces an original hand-cut antique paper collage by Aleksandra Mir.

The new artwork combines source materials from antique religious and modern scientific imagery into a new physical and fantastical reality. The sleeping child of the title becomes the awakening of human technological ambition. The serene, monochrome devotional world of the engraving is violently and beautifully interrupted by colour, fire and modernity. The Madonna appears not alarmed but composed — as though she has always known this moment was coming.

Giclée pigment ink on Hahnemühle German Etching paper achieves a superior quality print with exceptional detail, vibrant color accuracy, and long-term durability. The fresh print reproduces an aged authentic patina and the imprint of the artist’s hand-crafted marks.

· Archival Museum Quality ·
· Limited Edition. 100 ·
· Certificate of Authenticity ·
· Hand & Human-Made without AI ·
· 100% Carbon Neutral ·
· Free Worldwide Shipping ·

Them Planets
from US$250.00

Space Art meets a Biblical theme with the Virgin Mary, the infant Christ and a gathering of devotees embraced and enchanted by all the planets in the solar system. This cosmic Fine Art Print reproduces an original hand-cut paper collage by the artist Aleksandra Mir.

The new artwork combines source materials from antique religious and modern scientific imagery into a new physical and fantastical reality. A circular cut-out of a Renaissance-style painting floats among the planets as though it were simply another celestial body among equals with the infant Christ looking upward toward the planets as if seeing them for the first time. The composition plays with our sense of scale as the Moon dominates in magnificent close-up detail. The scene is humbling and exhilarating simultaneously.

Giclée pigment ink on Hahnemühle German Etching paper results in a superior quality print with exceptional detail, vibrant color accuracy, and long-term durability. The fresh print reproduces an aged authentic patina and the imprint of the artist’s hand-crafted marks.

· Archival Museum Quality ·
· Limited Edition. 100 ·
· Certificate of Authenticity ·
· Hand & Human-Made without AI ·
· 100% Carbon Neutral ·
· Free Worldwide Shipping ·

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