Bio

Glendon Mellow, B.F.A. Art in Awe of Science



Professional Fine Art + Illustration
Since The Flying Trilobite's inception in March 2007, I have found support and resonance from the science, secular and artist communities online. I continue to be available for freelance art and illustration. My work has been featured on numerous blogs in the past couple of years as examples of the intersection of art and science.  I have also been a speaker and given interviews about my work and ind the intersection of art + science.

In July 2011, the new Scientific American Blog Network launched, and with it, Symbiartic: the art of science and the science of art, a blog written and curated by myself and scientific illustrator Kalliopi Monoyios. 

Glendon Mellow: Art in Awe of Science, my professional portfolio can be found here
The Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop
 can be found here.
Trilobite Boy webcomic can be found here.


Artist's Statement
With my drawings and paintings, I seek to increase our metaphorical vocabulary using the discoveries of science, particularly biology and palaeontology. The genius of representational painting, epitomized by the Renaissance masters, the Symbolists and a handful of Surrealists has never had a more apt time for inspiring wonder in humanity than during our modern scientific age.

Why use Odin to portray wisdom when I can paint Darwin?

Why paint flowers when the beauty of the structure and oxygen produced by diatoms is so compelling?

Regard the resilient stony success of the legions of trilobite species waiting in the rocks.

I can stand here, separated by 550 million years and look at this long dead animal and understand some things about it. I can imagine adventures for it. The absurdity of unimaginable time, and my eyes and hands crafting an image of a fossil still make me shake my head in wonder.

I have an Honours Bachelor of Fine Art from York University, majoring in art history, drawing and oil painting. The Symbolist era of fin-de-siecle Europe inspires much of the aesthetic of my work. The urgency of Symbolist artists such as Fernand Khnopff, Odilon Redon, Arnold Böcklin, as well as the Surrealist Frida Kahlo, appeals to the dark lens through which we see the world, complete with scattered fragments of hope.  The imagination found in faery artists like Arthur Rackham, and contemporary illustrator Alan Lee are delightful, and shaped much of the themes of my early work. 




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Commissions & Published Work

April 2011 - Two Arthropods Meet - commissioned oil painting on slate
March 2011 - Trilobite Boy - featured concept art + webcomic on io9 
March 2011 - Nautilus-Flower - tattoo design
February 2011 - Tylosaurus Reef - commissioned oil painting

August 2010 - Trilobite Boy Rocks Out - commissioned oil painting


June 2010 - The Last Refuge - commissioned oil painting 
May 2010 - Tribal Caffeine Molecule - commissioned tattoo design
March 2010 - The Open Laboratory 2009 - book cover illustration
December 2009 - Geology & Art- book interior illustrations and interview
Autumn 2009 - Ent - illustration for Mallorn, magazine of the Tolkien Literary Society

September 2009 - EARTH Magazine - magazine interior illustration 
May 2009 - Migrations - commissioned blog banner illustration
April 2009 - La Mente di Darwin - book cover illustration
March 2009 - The Open Laboratory 2008 - book cover illustration
January 2009 - Secular Nation - magazine cover illustration & article
November 2008 - PZ Myers Lecture - poster for Center for Inquiry Toronto

August 2008 - The Meming of Life - commissioned blog banner illustration
February 2008 - Of Two Minds- commissioned blog banner illustration
September 2007 - Retrospectacle - commissioned blog banner illustration

Gallery Shows
May 2011 - Southern Ontario Nature & Science Illustrators 2011 Exhibit, Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ontario. Displayed 2 paintings throughout the month of May.

2009-2010 - Casa de las Ciencias, Spain - Museum Exhibit Illustration


Reproduction of my surreal Charles Darwin portrait requested for the 2010 exhibit

March 2010 - York University Visual Art Open House - Toronto, ON
Exhibited works in the Painting and Drawing areas.

March 2010 - Centre for Inquiry Art & Science Show - Toronto, ON
Invited to participate as part of The Centre for Inquiry’s Annual Meeting. Exhibited 6 paintings.  




Other Accomplishments
June 2010 - Graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours - York University.  I have majored in Studio and Art History.  
April 2010 to April 2011 - Webmaster -  Southern Ontario Nature & Science Illustrators (SONSI)

Autumn 2009 to present - Going Pro - series for paleo-art blog Art Evolved.  

August 2008 - The Beagle Project - pledge to donate half the profits from my popular Darwin Took Steps prints and merchandise to this cause.


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A bit more about me...
I was born under a cabbage leaf in the summer of 1974, covered in stork feathers and placenta. I’m inspired by evolution and biology to create my paintings. I’m particularly fond of Naples Yellow. Delicious looking colour, and not healthy at all.


I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife Michelle and our son Calvin. We hang a lot with our awesome nephew every week.  I love to sketch at the Royal Ontario Museum.  In 2008, I had one of my Mythical Flying Trilobite Fossils tattooed on my arm.






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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow


Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Glendon Mellow. All rights reserved. See Creative Commons Licence above in the sidebar for details.
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