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Thematic Formalism 

Formalism or "Art for Art's sake"is not always void of meaning, Art Deco is not always neo-classical in its expression. I am combining the two genres to illustrate representational "themes" that are intended to convey a story or information. It is an attempt to share knowledge wether personal experience or academic, using the universal language of srchetypal symbology. 

"Columbia in Distress" (Democracy Flies Away) 20"x 26.5"Colored Pencil on Bristol Board. 7-4-2019 Copyright LowandeArt LLC 2022 Posters available at LowandeArt.com

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“Columbia is our country’s “Goddess” created by Thomas Jefferson to symbolize the new country. He went with a ‘pantheon theme’ as to not identify with any one religion. Columbia is the statue atop the Capitol building, she is in the lobby of the Pentagon with quiver and arrows, and Department of Justice blindfolded holding the scales of justice. She has her own ‘District’ named after, The District of Columbia, as well as being featured on original currency. She was eclipsed by “Uncle Sam” during the civil war in that having a goddess ask young men to die for a cause seemed in bad taste. In the military, an inverted flag means ‘distress’ or ’S.O.S.’


"Musa Iconicus" (Iconical Muse) 15.5"x 24" Colored Pencil on Bristol Board. 11-11-2022 Copyright LowandeArt LLC 2022

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Muse the noun came into English in the late 14th century from Latin via Old French. The original word was the Greek Mousa, which meant ‘the      
Muse’ as well as ‘music, song’. According to Greek legend, the nine Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne and were each responsible for a different area of the arts and sciences. “Musa Iconicus” means ‘Iconical Muse’ 
        The verb to muse means ‘to reflect, to be absorbed in thought’. It came into English at roughly the same time as the noun, in the 14th century, and through the same source language: French. The French word, muser, meant ‘to ponder, to dream’ and also ‘to loiter, to waste time’ It is from this muse that we got the words museum, originally a ‘shrine for the Muses’; mosaic, which was ‘work of the Muses’; and music, ‘pertaining to the Muses’.
“Musa Iconicus” 15.5” x 23.5” Colored Pencil on Bristol Board. 11-11-22 Copyright LowandeArt LLC 2022.



"Study for Musa Iconicus" 13"x 19" White Charcoal on Black Cansen. 3-2022 Copyright LowandeArt LLC 2022
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"Castles in the Sand" 18"x 28" Colored Pencil on Bristol Board 12-1990
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All images and text by Michael E. Lowande  Copyright 2021 
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  • Home
  • Visual Cartography
  • Thematic Formalism
  • Regional Biographies (Formalism I-II)
  • Ceramics & Sculpture
  • Portraits
  • Renderings
  • Illustrations
  • Drawings from Life
  • Surrealism
  • Post-Modern
  • Lost Work
  • Statement
  • Contact