Jasmin Hoffman

“What is your favorite artwork?”

Curatorial Rationale

My exhibition explores the theme of fairy tales and folktales of different cultures through the combination of sculpture, linoleum prints, and mixed media. I chose this theme because I am interested in the role fantasy and myth play in cultures and how it becomes embedded in everyday life. Fairytales and folklore are important to cultures and even specific regions, and an old form of history and art passed down through generations. They are prominent in modern day art and medium, serving as inspiration for film, literature and more. This theme allowed me to not only dive more into my own culture but also experiment with ancient forms of storytelling and art.

Each artwork has elements of the fairytales and culture of where they came from. Since I am doing fairytales and folklore around the world I wanted my artworks to encompass a variety of different cultures around the world, popular and unpopular, with a variety of media. This is why I chose the artworks I did, because none overlapped and I used a lot of different mediums and mixed media. They will be exhibited with elements that tie within their story within the frame, background, and decorations around them. The exhibit space is designed to guide the audience through a journey of discovery and fascination. For instance, I plan on using blue tulle to represent the sea since it ties in a fair amount of my artwork together despite the cultural differences. Which is why I arranged more of the blue/sea related artworks around the wave. There will be elements from each artwork that compliment and are spread throughout to create an interesting visual representation of the similarities and differences in my artworks. My goal is that the audience appreciates the connections between cultures and embraces the fantasy aspect seen all around the world.

In my artworks, I want to tie in elements of not only Fairytales and folklore, but religion, spirituality, and culture. For example, in the Virgen de Guadalupe, I tied Mexican folklore of the origin of the virgin with the catholic religion. I used my media, the fabric, to reflect the common scraps of fabric that could typically be found in a Mexican household. I experimented with a range of media and artistic approaches to properly reflect the culture and the story behind it. This experimentation was to both better myself as an artist but to also to gain the ability to properly use media that typed with the theme and diversity the work apart from just a cultural aspect. My intention is to provoke the audience to be fascinated by the differing cultures and fantastical beings, and how they all work together in the world to create this harmonious and curious art exhibit. I hope that the audience will leave with a deeper appreciation of the diversity of culture and the similarities of our shared history and humanity through these timeless tales.

Jasmin’s Artwork

  • Purusharthas of the Home

    Clay and watercolor paint, 13 cm x 5.5 cm x 6.5 cm

    This house represents the four Purusharthas or aims in life, duty, prosperity, pleasure, liberation. The purple flowers adorning the house represent the Indian God of Love, representing pleasure, who uses purple flowers to pierce hearts. Duty is represented with the tidy and orderly house, properly decorated and filled with life. Prosperity is seen by the house itself while Liberation is symbolized by the windows and door carved out. The light from the candle symbolizes happiness.

  • Pied Piper

    Clay, Acrylic Paint, Record Vinyl, 28.70 cm x 29.08 cm x 5 cm

    This piece was inspired by the German tale of the pied piper of Hamelin. One rat tail representing the audio line commonly seen in the music apps. There are other rats following the pied piper which is a dark outline playing a flute as the story blurs the line of good and evil, especially with the pied piper actions. Which is the reasoning for the main color choice of Black and white, and the dash of color is to connect with the original record label colors in order to provide unity.

  • Our lady, Our saint

    Canvas, colored thread, fabric, glue, acrylic paint, gel pen

    30 cm x 40 cm

    This artwork is inspired by the virgin Mary but seen through the eyes of Mexican folklore as she is depicted as a saint and worshipped heavily, referred to as the Virgen Guadalupe. She is depicted as her icons usually are, her hands in prayer with clothing symbolizing the Mexican flag and a shining light around her. This piece was primarily made out of very common materials used such as fabric and thread, households' material which could be easily found in a Mexican household.

  • Blood Red Witch

    Linoleum print and ink

    20.32 x 27.94 cm

    This print incorporates the story of the infamous baba Yaga from Slavic folklore, each element highlights a part of the many stories about her. The color choice is made due to the fact that I wanted the print to look similar to the deadly mushroom pattern that is commonly associated with her. The dark background better highlights these colors and gives the artwork an ominous wicked atmosphere, similar to Baba Yaga. I wanted a natural wooden and rustic presentation within the print as well.

  • Apollo in Bloom

    Multimedia; Pipe cleaner, sticks, hot glue, cardboard, tape, wooden poles,

    eyeshadow

    31.7 cm x 19cm x 24.7 cm

    This bouquet was inspired by the Greek God, Apollo and each type of flower represents a story or power attributed to him. This piece is multi-media but primarily made of multicolored pipe cleaners using wire techniques. I mainly used coil and zigzag to create the flowers. It was easiest to make the individual flowers but was diffcult to connect and structure together without them falling or limping. I also took inspiration from Alexander Campbell for flower arrangement.

  • Dinnertime

    Paper, Ink, linoleum print

    27.94 x 20.32 cm

    This work was inspired by the tale of Pinocchio when his father was searching for his son and ended up getting eaten by a whale. It's a Print done with a mix of blues and purple, with a black outline where the colors get progressively darker as you move down the tryptic due to the story getting darker thematically. Around the print is color and lines made from the ink roller, paying homage to the Italians influence on futurism, mixing some of the old and new.

  • برای همیشه متولد شد Forever Born

    Mosaic Glass, Hot Glue, Cardboard, Paper, Plastic leaves, Fake gemstone

    38 cm x 30 cm x 5cm

    This work was inspired by Simurgh, a legendary phoenix-like bird seen in Persian mythology. It's made of colored glass and colorful tiles to make a mosaic. The bird is soaring up to the sky in a multicolored blue sky and green border in the shape of an egg/oval. I mainly use white, orange, green and blue to represent Iran culture and art while using the colors that are commonly seen in mosaics and textile.

  • Becoming one with the Sea

    Canvas, clay, watercolor, acrylic paint, cotton balls, glue, tinfoil,

    40 cm x 30 cm x 12 cm

    My inspiration was Japanese artist Shintaro Ohata, a mixed media artist who incorporates canvas painting with 3d sculptures. This artwork represents Irish merman/merrow, their red nose highlighted due to drinking. It has a twist of Danish influence as the merman is slowly turning to seafoam, similarly to Ariel in the little mermaid in the true ending. The merrow is slowly becoming one with the sea, symbolizing the death of their victims while they drown in the sea.