Bond & Grace | Frankenstein Art Collection

The Frankenstein Art Collection

FROM THE FRANKENSTEIN ART NOVEL ™

The Frankenstein Art Collection

FROM THE FRANKENSTEIN ART NOVEL ™

Sledge on the Horizon

Sam Gulliver

Own Art That Tells a Story

Contemporary artworks

inspired by Mary Shelley’s 1818 edition of Frankenstein

Bond & Grace, a women-owned publishing and art house rediscovers and revives our modes of understanding in a way that encourages authentic connection. We curate fine art to serve as a conduit of understanding and impart scholarly review to offer opportunities for widened perspectives. Our intersection of craftsmanship, creativity, and human magic brings a current perspective to classic works, while respecting the integrity of their contribution to culture.

Barbara Wildenboer

Hand-cut

30 x 40 in.

The Meeting in the Mountains

Paper Sculpture

Artwork

Stavros Kotsakis

Acrylic Sheet, Leaf Skeletons, LED 21 x 21 in.

Canopy

The Frankenstein Art Collection

The Frankenstein Art Collection (2023) features 66 bespoke artworks representing more than a dozen mediums created in response to Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. This body of work offers arresting, intuitive, and romantic expressions of life and death with strong roots in both historical processes and revered legacies. Concurrently, the collection pushes the needle by harnessing revolutionary technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and materializing contemporary perspectives on autonomy and identity. Grappling with the monsters of today, each Artist looked inward and outward to compose works which reflect our present-day anxieties yet also echo apprehensions from the Romantic era.

Apart from highlighting varied interpretations of societal monstrosity, the objective of such work is to gather the shared concerns of today and begin to unravel them as a collective through questioning and intensive reflection. If we do not break the glass, we will not see all of the beautiful pieces.

As a result, this collection offers a unique (re)telling of Frankenstein in which we arrive at a most fearful introspection: What is more horrific than a mirror held to one’s own monstrosity?

Portrait of The Beautifully Dead (Night)

Mekia Machine

Acrylic, Flashe, Pen, Pencil, Chalk, Dried Skin with Splinters

Nightshift

38 x 50 in.

Song Watkins Park

Oil on Canvas

The Tranquility of Home

Anne Corlett Oil Paint

Ruins of Empires

Michelle Gagliano

Oil on Wood

22 x 21 in.

Awakening Stavros Kotsakis

Acrylic Sheet, LED, Offcuts from Acrylic, Composites and Recycled Materials

FROM THE ARTIST

“To depict the Creature seeing his reflection in a small body of water, I reference Caravaggio’s painting of Narcissus. This allusion also serves as a commentary on the self-referential nature of artificial intelligence, which operates by assembling pre-existing information rather than creating anything truly new. Unable to propagate an original concept, the Creature becomes more deformed with every iteration of the original image; a reflection of a reflection of a reflection.”

Narcissus

Carravaggio, 1597–1599

The Monster’s Reflection

Sam Gulliver Cyanotype 22 x 25 in.

wheel of fortune

Contrast for a Vivid Life Benedict Scheuer Hand-Dyed

Holly Lowen’s painting of a woman from behind is reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich’s painting Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. Wanderer, which was painted the same year as Frankenstein’s original publication, is a quintessentially-Romantic work of art. In the painting, a man contemplates both the beauty and uncontrollable nature of the landscape. The shared themes were so apparent, that in 2009 Dover Publications used Friedrich’s Wanderer as the cover of their reprinting of Frankenstein. Replicating the posture in Friedrich’s work, Lowen expands the Romantic themes to center a woman figure as nature itself.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1818

Fearless Wanderer

Holly Lowen

Oil on Linen Board

Revenge

Renee Phillips

Latex, Spray Paint on Wood Panel

14 x 11 in.

Doppelgänger

Song Watkins Park

Oil on Canvas

72 x 60 in.

In this panel, emphasis is placed on certain qualities that are often ascribed to the feminine, especially in opposition to the masculine. Untamed, dark, irrational, of the natural world, as opposed to the ordered, enlightened, rational world of science. My work is comprised of several segments of female bodies composited in an elaborate, chaotic exquisite corpse of sorts. The collage also references Eve and the snake in the Garden of Eden. In the centre of the work I’ve incorporated a fragment from Henry Fuseli’s painting The Nightmare as well as copies of Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. It is believed that Fuseli painted The Nightmare shortly after his wife forbade him to have contact with Mary Wollstonecraft after she suggested a (platonic) ménage a trois between them.

The Nightmare Henry Fuseli, 1781

The Creation of the Female Creature

Barbara Wildenboer

Hand-cut Paper Sculpture

30 x 40 in.

ANNE CORLETT Saugatuck, MI

Anne Corlett (b. 1960) received her BS in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin and continued her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Royal Academy of Art in London, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, MI. In her work, Anne crosses from one medium to another–oil, watercolor, pastel, monotype–in order to tease out new meaning and insight from familiar subjects.

Artists

“The ‘monster’ I address in my work is the human conceit that we as humans are more important individually and as a group, than the overall health of our planet… As with Victor and the Creature, every person contains both good and bad, it is up to us to rise above our egos and repair the damage we have done to our one and only planet.”

MICHELLE GAGLIANO Scottsville, VA

Michelle Gagliano (b. 1964) is a process painter trained in both figurative and conceptual art ideations. Her work engages with a variety of materials within the studio and melds “natural” forms and textural patinas, presenting the viewer with a breathtaking panorama that evokes universal emotions. Michelle is a recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship award. Her work is held in numerous private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.

SAM GULLIVER Detroit, MI

Sam Gulliver (b. 1996) is a fine art photographer and photojournalist living and working in Detroit, Michigan. With a focus in landscapes and alternative processes, his work has been featured in the Detroit-based art publication, Runner Magazine, and the Detroit-based gallery BasBlue. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Sam is currently pursuing a degree in Photography from the College for Creative Studies.

“How do you know you can sing if you have never spoken? I believe that is where the chasm lies. In my work, the ‘monster’ is the plastics present in my home and studio. I use recipes from the Renaissance to create my art with the goal of eliminating microplastics, yet it is a constant jungle to navigate.”

“The Creature becomes a ‘monster’ due to the neglect and often active sabotage of his creator…If we treat our creations like monsters, they become them. I applied this to our modern ‘monster,’ the new and powerful technology of artificial intelligence (AI). We feed AI narratives of technology rising up against humans, and then are shocked when it inevitably steps into the very role we have built for it.”

NEKA KING Atlanta, GA

Neka King (b. 1992) is an illustrator, muralist, and interdisciplinary artist working in large-scale activations. She graduated from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design, at Georgia State University with a BFA concentrated in textile arts. In 2019, Neka collaborated on her first public art project, The Peaceful Peach facilitated by Living Walls. To date, Neka has worked with notable clients such as Sprite, Microsoft, and Patagonia.

STAVROS KOTSAKIS Gothenburg, Sweden

Stavros Kotsakis (b. 1986) is an autodidact light artist based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Stavros’ work displays a playful radiance, while the tangible nature of geometry and fragility of light aims to create a sense of imbalance. This state invites viewers into a mesmerizing experience while challenging their visual perception of light and shape. He has had work shown at Galleria Azur in Madrid, the Paris Design Week, the London Design Festival, and more.

“Reflecting on everything I have read and researched as part of this project, I have reached the conclusion that monsters are just reflections of the parts of ourselves we don’t want to acknowledge. Things like grief, regret, death, and fear become monstrous when we refuse to face them head on. Instead, we blame them on fate when in reality it is simply a reflection of the issues we have yet to correct in our own lives.”

“Scientists are on a constant quest for light and knowledge. However, when science and technology advance recklessly, without thought of the societal consequences, humanity can be led into darkness. My work addresses the monster of unrestrained science. There’s a fine line between achieving technological breakthroughs and playing god.”

HOLLY LOWEN New York, NY

Holly Lowen (b. 1987) is a realist painter living in New York City. Her work considers the gray area that exists among varying perspectives. She is particularly interested in the psychological and social relationship to the natural world, occasionally painting directly from her own dreams. She holds a BA in Art History from Duke University.

MEKIA MACHINE New York, NY

Mekia Machine’s multidisciplinary practice investigates aesthetic norms through conceptions of time, identity, memory, and place in cultures where trauma is substantial. Mekia has received awards from The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the White House Historical Association, and more. She was invited to join First Lady Michelle Obama at the Celebration of 20th Century Art in the White House. Mekia graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Visual Arts (2019), and lives and works in Harlem.

“In the natural world, there is an innate cycle of rebirth and destruction, but when human aspirations force premature destruction on the earth, that cycle is disrupted. In this case, we forget we are a part of the earth and its destruction is also our own. In that way the real ‘monster’ is human hubris against nature.”

“Some argue that creators are responsible for the ethical implications of their creations, while others argue that responsibility lies with the individuals who use or interact with those creations. Ultimately, it is up to individuals and society as a whole to establish ethical standards and guidelines for the creation and use of technology, art, and other forms of human expression.”

RENEE PHILLIPS Delray Beach, FL

Renee Phillips (b. 1981) is the daughter of a scientist. Her artistic process is rooted in the layering of color and manipulation of paint to achieve results that droop, ripple, crack, and pool. She received her art education from the University of Miami, the University of Paris, and the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Her work has been shown at the DeJi Museum in China, the Kunstwerk Gallerie in Berlin, and more.

BENEDICT SCHEUER Columbus, OH

Benedict Scheuer (b. 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice is informed by drawing, gardening, nature, belonging, and meditation. His core beliefs as an artist include a spirituality that champions sensation, the miracle of drawing a line, and the philosophy of interbeing—the interconnection of all things.

“My work often depicts aerial imagery of Earth’s surface and the rapidly changing landscape along our sea and shoreline due to human impact. Having witnessed those changes, I believe that the destructive impact we have had on our planet is the sole responsibility of the human race.”

“In my work, the ‘monster’ is the ideology that humans are distinct from nature. I don’t think we are separate from our environments, if we remember that we can have a profound impact on our ability to achieve harmony both internally and externally, individually and environmentally.”

SONG WATKINS PARK

St. Louis, MO

Song Watkins Park (b. 1991) explores the conflicts between beauty and disgust through the materiality of paint. Disordered and ordered forms coexist in her work and create unique rhythms, becoming both subject and background. They expose, break, destroy and metamorphose. The resulting images are both repulsive and beautiful. She holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and is currently an adjunct professor in the department of Art at St. Louis University.

BARBARA WILDENBOER

Cape Town, South Africa

Barbara Wildenboer (b. 1973) is a South African Artist. Guided by intuition, she creates collages, photo and paper constructions, installations, and more. Her trademark ‘altered books’ extract and assemble the pages of old books to form sculptural works that symbolically relate to the text. Barbara is represented by galleries in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, Lisbon and Luanda. She received her MFA from the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

“Victor puts himself into his creation the same way an Artist puts themself into their work, but has delusional expectations and therefore shuns the Creature when it reflects aspects of himself he hates.”

“Both Victor and the Creature inhabit dual positions of predator and prey and victim and perpetrator… As a community we can’t turn a blind eye and shirk our responsibility to the less privileged, but often that’s what we do. We fear the monster in them, and they fear the monster in us.”

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Only through intensive dedication to science, literature, technology, and the arts is humankind able to continue the legacy of questioning for the sake of truth. While technology may advance or eventually surpass our ability to synthesize, it is through emotion and cultural recordkeeping that we will maintain, crystallize, and pass down heirlooms of the human experience.

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