Precious Materials

The metals found beneath the ground have inspired artists for centuries. Within mesmerizing reflection lies the ability to aid the expression so often a product of abstract art. Within Artper's own selection of abstract artists working in metallic tones, you will come across the likes of Yaël Romain, a painter who finds pleasure in merging the materials offered by Gaia, the goddess of nature. Jhon Hansen is a Belgian sculptor who uses earthen material's reflection of light to give free rein to the viewer's imagination. Inspired by the colors and materials of the ores of the earth, metallic tones consist of including or recreating bronze, gold, tin, lead, silver, iron and other metal alloys. Historically speaking, the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (and even as far back as 7000 BCE Iran) can be argued as the very beginnings of metal art, with their reflective surfaces either inspiring or being used by the artist in the millennia that followed. A substance that sparkled and manipulated perception under sunlight, undoubtedly struck awe in the earliest humans and can arguably be linked with humanity itself – often found in what can be considered as Art brut. As long as there has been civilization there has been metalwork, taken from the earth they inhabit and even ground down for use in paint to remind the viewer of this connection.