Featured Artist: Manindamoon
Society encourages us to imagine science as cold and unfeeling, but this week’s Featured Artist duo, named Manindamoon, asks us to reconsider this misconception. The artist team urges us to appreciate the creativity and beauty inherent in science discovery. Science, like art, is a journey of innovation and exploration. Both scientific research and the creative process ask — and try to answer — the fundamental question, “what if…?” As both scientists and artists, the Manindamoon team enjoys “applying our scientific curiosity to our art” and, together, they love creating detailed visions of the unexplored, the unexplained, and the unusual.
The Manindamoon team — comprised of husband-and-wife pair, Antonieta and David, — currently live and work together in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Antonieta and David bring the exceptional Manindamoon project to life by combining their styles to create extraordinary art. Antonieta admits, “Manindamoon is inspired by our shared experiences as a couple” and showcases elements of their collective interest in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Their symbiotic art partnership is surpassed only by their mutual love and respect for each other. Antonieta shares, “our greatest achievement is finding each other through art” and their main goal is to “grow old together and eventually retire” when they will continue to make art and study the world around them.
Antonieta and David believe creativity is “the ability to solve problems and come up with new ways of doing things.” They use their background in science to approach art methodically and create designs that are a perfect amalgamation of David’s grungy manga and Antonieta’s bright retro-funk flare. Antonieta shares, “science also requires a high level of creativity, so we are constantly thinking, seeking solutions, and creating new things.” This approach to the world around them — or the desire to find solutions and create new approaches — allows them to create unique art that adds warmth and spark to scientific themes. For them, art is about experimentation and they encourage other artists to “create freely, experiment, and never stop reinventing themselves.”
