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Maharam will launch four Maharam Digital Projects in January: Shoes by Thomas Bayrle, Family Tradition by Scott Campbell, Mystery of the Missing Migrants by Charley Harper, and Pagoda by James Jean. While bringing the total number of works in the collection to ninety-six, these additions reflect the diversity of Maharam Digital Projects’ artistic media and contributors, who range from emerging talents to the art world’s most seminal figures.
Shoes by Thomas Bayrle
An obscure but key figure in the European Pop Art movement, German artist Thomas Bayrle’s varied practice encompasses painting, sculpture, fashion and graphic design. Based in Frankfurt, Bayrle aestheticizes the serial nature of consumerism by repeating a single unit to form an expansive mass, thereby describing a world torn between positive collectivism and deadening uniformity. Based on a silkscreen series from 1967, Shoes by Thomas Bayrle was created by Maharam as a large-scale site-specific installation commissioned by Frieze Projects for the 2012 Frieze London art fair.
Family Tradition by Scott Campbell
Scott Campbell, proprietor of New York City’s Saved Tattoo, is internationally renowned for his masterful tattooing. He has expanded his artistic practice to include sculpture and painting with projects ranging from laser-etched currency to intricate drawings on eggshells. In Family Tradition, Campbell combines precise planning with unpredictability, rendering a traditional decorative pattern in gunpowder, which he then ignited. In courting the deviations and imperfections of an element as uncontrollable as fire, Campbell suggests the adage that while the best laid-plans in life often go awry, it’s the surprises that make it beautiful.
Mystery of the Missing Migrants by Charley Harper
Charley Harper (1922–2007) was an American illustrator acclaimed for his highly stylized depictions of wildlife. With a whimsical graphic sensibility, Harper was able to simplify nature to its sparest geometric forms in a style he called “minimal realism.” Mystery of the Missing Migrants is the fifth work by Harper to be added to Maharam Digital Projects. Painted in 1990, it’s notable for the use of repetitive shapes to unify a directional, asymmetric composition. Most of Harper’s titles were puns; this one refers to his environmental concerns.
Pagoda by James Jean
Taiwanese-born, Los Angeles-based artist James Jean first gained recognition for his commercial illustration but has since turned to painting. His lush, lyrical drawings feature decaying fantasy worlds populated by myriad mythical creatures. Pagoda assembles imagery from Maharam Stories in an intricately intertwined composition.
About Maharam Digital Projects
Maharam Digital Projects are large-scale wall installations created by esteemed artists, designers, illustrators, and photographers. To make these fine art quality works accessible to a broad audience, Maharam Digital Projects are uneditioned and follow an egalitarian pricing model—each is offered at the same price per square foot regardless of authorship. Utilizing advanced digital printing techniques to create complex, high-resolution imagery in a full color spectrum at an unprecedented scale—most of the installations measureat least 10' by 16'—Maharam Digital Projects are produced to order and can be sized or otherwise modified to suit specific project requirements. Durable and easy to maintain, Maharam Digital Projects are printed with UV-resistant inks on a washable, latex-reinforced substrate for direct wall application. For more information, visit Maharam Digital Projects online.