David Mui

Apple of my eye

Class of: 2028

Major: Illustration BFA

Medium: Sculpture, metal, wire, wool

Faculty: Aviva Maya Shulem

Prompt: Integrate historical references from an ancient culture into the design of a wearable art piece.

My proposal for this project was to do a mask that would take inspiration from the Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece and transform that idea into collaboration with the modern design of today. A large portion of my work revolves around the left eye; the centerpiece of the mask bares two characteristics of Ancient Greece; worship of Helios, god of the sun, and oysters, a divinity in the artistic world and seen as the gem amongst sea life. Behind the centerpiece is a visor, meant to reflect on the idea, “don’t look blindly at the Sun, for it will blind you.” or to not blindly worship without purpose. Consisting of a layer of wire mesh, fasteners, and thread, the idea of the visor is to act as a backdrop for the centerpiece. For the centerpiece, I comprised a few different gauges of metal wire to create and outward spiral starting from the center point of the eye. The I used golden rods around the mask facing all directions on a 2-d plane(North, South, East, West, NW, etc.) and a notably taller rod at the top of my plane to bear a resemblance to a sun dial. I attached these rods by heating the tips long enough for the metal to naturally mold into the wire. From start to finish, I was exposed to various materials I’ve would’ve never worked with otherwise, and even more is that I learned how to use the materials together to create something as versatile and tangible as a mask. My final product is a culmination of sleek modern beauty found in today’s architecture and a deep appreciation for a dated view of faith and masculinity.