One of the earliest forms of art were frescoes, which were painted on the walls of caves, often featuring animals such as horses, bears, and lions. In ancient civilizations, frescoes would also be used to depict mythological figures, as well as religious scenarios, which evolved into the pinnacle of their magnificence in the chapels and cathedrals of the Italian Renaissance. Frescoes throughout all of these eras have been inspired by both the familiar and the sacred.

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Roy Kortick, the New York-based artist who brings the fresco, as well as other artistic crafts—ceramics, tiles, tapestries—into the new millennium, is inspired by both the cuddly and the profane. In an age of sensory overload and broken-down taboos, Kortick’s deceptively innocent icons are singled out and thrown together in a mishmash of unlikely settings and combinations: more »