For the past four years, my art has focused primarily on adapting ancient Greek myth and narrative through digital illustrations, comics, and animation. It started as a general appreciation for the stories and making character designs for fun, but as time has gone on it has morphed into a desire to introduce others to the stories that I have been so inspired by. In my current work, I have been using the style of Minoan and Mycenaean wall art and vase paintings to convey ancient stories based on the time and place they originated from. I use digital applications in my art, mainly programs like Procreate for illustration and Toonsquid for animation. I feel that using digital media to convey ancient stories to be a fun juxtaposition due to the contrast between ancient narrative and modern art form.
In both subject matter and style, my art has been influenced by my love for art history. Growing up, I found graphic novels about the stories of gods and heroes to be a creative escape from my life on an isolated farm. After years of finding solace in them, I found a new love for the stories with my art history courses in college. Through this, I had the opportunity to study these stories and how they are brought into the modern day through a study abroad in Greece. I found particular interest in Minoan art for how it differed from the usual idea of how the ancient world looked like.
Each piece explores a different aspect of Minoan art. “Minoan Meadow” sees the appreciation for nature, and the whimsical creatures unique to the Minoan civilization. “Homes” demonstrates the colorful patterns of houses that are so vastly different than the notion of everything in ancient Greece being stark white marble columns. Finally, “By The Sea” explores the interaction between nature and humanity that is a common motif across art from the Minoan city of Akrotiri.
Challenging the idea of how the ancient world should look like can influence how we interpret ancient cultures, and by extension the modern art and stories that are inspired by them. I hope that my work can act as a stepping-stone to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and try to learn more about the ancient world despite the barriers, the way that art inspired by the ancient world encouraged me to do the same.
Kylee Hosmer is a mixed media artist from Upstate New York. Her current body of work involves digital illustrations of characters and creatures inspired by the art style of the Minoan civilization.