Artwork combining influences from Asia and American naturalists like John James Audubon opens today (Friday) at the Rehoboth Art League. Artist Allison Cosmos works in the Chinoiserie style, a 17th Century art style that grew from European artists’ usually fanciful and inaccurate interpretations of Chinese and Asian art.
“It's been popular for centuries,” Cosmos says. “The way I understand it, chinoiserie became popular in the 17th century because in Europe, they sort of fantasized what Asia looked like and how they lived.”
Using the stylistic influences from chinoiserie, Cosmos incorporates themes from nature, especially birds, plants, and endangered species. One of her influences is the 19th Century naturalist and ornithologist John James Audubon, known for his lifelike, detailed portrayals of North American birds. Other, similar artists like Maria Sibylla Merian and John Gould also inspire her art.
“I have books on them, and I drool over their pages," Cosmos says.
Cosmos says she hopes her exhibition will spark an appreciation for the craft of creating art and the attention to detail that artists like her put into their work.
“A lot of times I'll do endangered species, but I also feel like I want the viewer to appreciate that craftsmanship and taking the time to do all the details is endangered also," she says.
She adds that she tries to leave her work open to the viewer’s individual interpretation.
“I sort of intentionally don't want it to be a specific meaning," she says. "I kind of like the idea that everybody has a different interpretation of what the scene and the story that I'm presenting means.”
Cosmos is also an accomplished designer, highlighted in numerous publications and with commissions from MGM’s Beau Rivage Resort and Bieder & Maier’s coffee destination at Vienna International Airport.
Allison Cosmos’s exhibition, All Things Flight and Beautiful opens today (Friday) at the Rehoboth Art League.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
