About Baron Von Mandelbrot

Besides being prized for incense and its alternative medicinal attributes, the importance of damar resin is twofold. Firstly, it scores exceedingly high on the refractive index – giving colours high intensity, and secondly, it endows the wax medium with a far higher melting point. The two attributes together combine with the wax and pigment which leads to a highly resistant, tactile, and colourful medium. The boiling encaustic medium is then painted directly onto a wooden substrate, while a blow torch is used to bond the different layers of the artwork. The resulting artwork can be carved, buffed, painted, and blended with all sorts of other materials.

Encaustic

Naotsugi

Naotsugi, a painting technique Inspired by the Japanese artform of kintsugi - that of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and powdered gold. The artform celebrates the imperfections and treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. I have taken that philosophy an applied it making new works of art from the old.

Little is known for certain about this enigmatic figure. Most scholarly research has him as a native of autonomous palatinate of Mandel Elass Reichsland; a remote and mountainous parcel of land that occupies the once disputed territories between Grossherzogtum Baden, Liechtenstein, and Carniola (now modern-day Italy).

The 12th Baron Von Mandelbrot is ostensibly an individual who has, for now at least, eschewed the trappings of court for the simpler pursuits of aesthetics in a remote corner of the family estate in Surrey, England. While residing there, it is clear that he is not native of that part of the world. A fact that can be easily discerned from his distinctive macaronic locution and penchant for abstruse idiom. A lover of texture, his favoured art medium is Encaustic, an ancient method of painting using wax, damar resin, and pigments.

Provenance

Presence

The barony of Mandel Elass Reichsland has a small, yet thriving population, with three official languages - Italici, Anglic, and Bernician. High German fell out of favour in the late 1800’s and is now the exclusive preserve of the modest clergy.

Traditionally a peaceful pseudo pastoral/mercantile society, the barony's fortunes have been persistently tested over the last several decades since the discovery of ultra-rare-earth minerals within its territories. While the Mandelbrot Barons have governed with a gentle but firm hand over the centuries, the considerable exogenous interest in the palatinate’s resources placed the societal system under significant stress for a time.

However, despite the nefarious overtures of several external powers, the Mandelbrot family demonstrated once again that they are expertly adept at walking the delicate line between personal and societal prosperity. By right of eminent domain the resources were summarily declared ad usum publicum with all profits of going into the state’s sovereign wealth fund (MERLAND SWF) for the betterment of all.

Persistence

Academics have long studied (and marvelled at) the curious longevity and inexpugnability of Mandel Elass Reichsland - despite the huge oscillations of power during that time. To its neighbours (and sometimes enemies) the barony has the always been their Ultima Thule – a remote, unreachable, and ungovernable thing. And its remote location has undoubtedly provided the foundation for the society. However, most scholars eventually conclude that it is the simple, yet unremarkable, shared philosophy of its people that has safeguarded their independence and harmony all this time. A philosophy that draws deeply from the Mandelbrot family motto: Bona Cogitata Bona Dicta Bona Facta. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.

About the Artform