“Curious Collection” (2022), acrylic paint on wooden box assemblage, 33 x 31.5 centimeters. All images © Lily Mixe, courtesy of Saatchi Gallery, shared with permission
In The Butterfly Effect, French artist Lily Mixe illustrates the textured patterns of beetles, shells, cells, and birds through stark black and white. Working in acrylic on found wooden boxes and furniture panels, Mixe accentuates the lush motifs of scales, branches, or feathers in renderings devoid of color. Each work juxtaposes the artist’s elegant graphic style against the worn backdrops, which reflect a past of human intervention through splattered paint, scratches, and printed text. Whether presented as symmetric tableaus as in “Dragon Flying Birds” or an anatomical assemblage of flora and fauna in “Curious Collection,” the specimens detail the similarities and interconnected nature of all earthly life.
The Butterfly Effect, which will feature an on-site mural, opens on November 3 at Saatchi Gallery in London. Until then, find more of Mixe’s works on Instagram and her site.
“Bird of Pray” (2022), acrylic paint on a wooden box, 40 x 27.5 centimeters
“Fauna and Flora” (2022), collage on a wooden box, 42.5 x 28.5 centimeters
“Cuckoo Bee On A Platter” (2022), acrylic paint on a wooden box, 35 x 25 centimeters
“Dragon Flying Birds” (2022), acrylic paint on a wooden box, 106 x 30 centimeters
“No Feather Left Behind” (2022), acrylic paint on a wooden box, 57 x 27.5 centimeters