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Milan-based artist Dolaana Davaá combines her love for contemporary and classical art by creating Old Master-influenced paintings that look like they are melting. She also handcrafts all of the frames, which appear to drip along with the finished artwork.
Davaá's handcrafted frames are her specialty. After sculpting them from clay, she uses silicon, acrylic resin, and fiberglass to cast a mold. This mold is then filled with wood pulp, creating a perfect frame that is finished off with gold and other paints to create an antique appearance. The effect is stunning.
Equally impressive are the paintings, which are based on masterpieces from the Renaissance or Pre-Raphaelite period. Expertly created, they faithfully mimic the originals until they begin to droop like a melting scoop of ice cream. By perfectly blending the painting and the frame, Davaá has ensured that the illusion is seamless.
“The melting was never anything new in the field of creative art,” she shares with My Modern Met. “I have seen so many beautiful examples over the years, but I noticed that I didn’t see the frames melting together with the paintings. In fact, the frame was often out of concept or partially deformed; seemed incomplete to me. So I did, combining my love of classical art with a desire to take a contemporary art direction.”
Davaá hopes that her work shows her deep love for classical art and its visual language while also helping people understand that contemporary art can look and feel different from their expectations. Her paintings, which are a bit dark and mysterious, provoke strong emotions and, at the same time, wonder.
You can see more of Davaá's work and her creative process by following her on Instagram, and purchase work—or commission a painting—via her Etsy shop.
Dolaana Davaá's dark, mysterious paintings are inspired by classical art but with a contemporary twist.
Her “melted” paintings are complemented by handcrafted frames.
Davaá uses a variety of materials to create her melting frames.
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“I want viewers to have a new aesthetic, dark experience.”
Dolaana Davaá: Instagram | Etsy
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Dolaana Davaá.
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