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Artist Martina Sciolino captures the childlike yet gothic characters in her large oil paintings. She considers her work part of a contemporary genre called pop surrealism. "I like the figures to exist in space. There's an absence of content," she says.
Artist Martina Sciolino captures the childlike yet gothic characters in her large oil paintings. She considers her work part of a contemporary genre called pop surrealism. "I like the figures to exist in space. There's an absence of content," she says.
Artist Martina Sciolino captures the childlike yet gothic characters in her large oil paintings. She considers her work part of a contemporary genre called pop surrealism. "I like the figures to exist in space. There's an absence of content," she says.
ART & POP CULTURE STORY AND PHOTOS BY VALERIE WELLS
40 • south mississippi scene
An eBay shopping addiction inspired Martina Sciolino to start painting large pictures of toys. Searching for vintage clothes online one day, Sciolino came across thou- sands of images of vintage toys. What really sparked her imagination were plastic dolls and figures from the early 20th Century. She couldn’t take her eyes off the images. “There’s childlike play and a little bit of gothic,” she said. Her large oil paintings capture the childlike yet gothic characters. The images fill her Parkhaven home in Hattiesburg, peeking around corners in the hallway. Big eyes in round magna characters imported from in blurring the line between art faces in a background of bright Japan. and pop culture. Other colors look out on her studio. Not all the dolls are cute and artists she admires include Sciolino is a multi-talented quaint. That appeals to Sciolino. abstract expressionists Jackson renaissance woman. She is an “They are strange, macabre Pollack and Willem de Kooning English professor at the and slightly offensive,” she and quirky portrait artist University of Southern admits. Francis Bacon. Mississippi who also sings jazz A year ago, she wanted to The literature professor and with a band on the weekends. explore her artistic fascination writing teacher describes her She trained as a dancer when with these pop-culture toys. She work as non-narrative. she was a teenager. went to a sculpture workshop in “I like the figures to exist in And now she paints. Vermont. When she got back to space. There’s an absence of She likes the intensity and Hattiesburg, she decided paint- content. I take things out of texture of oil paints. It captures ing was something she could do their normal context,” she said. the pop-culture sensibility of in the home easier. “This is where my ambition the vintage dolls. She considers Art exhibits in New York, meets my interests and ability. her work part of a contempo- Philadelphia and Nashville all It’s a balance between the intel- rary genre called pop surreal- contributed to Sciolino’s visions. lectual and the physical.” ism. The shapes and faces aren’t Contemporary artist Takashi too different from anime and Murakami influences her style south mississippi scene • 43
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