Monday 6 June 2022

At Home On Our Landing,

if you look above,


there are some stained glass windows,

one set on each side of the hallway,

a closer look at one of them, many older buildings have stained glass windows, for instance churches and large Victorian buildings, all from a bygone era, but now an enterprising artist is trying to bring the art of making stained glass windows into the modern home, 

photographs Arjan Boeve, aka ‘Above’, is a talented artist credited for bringing the old craft of stained glass-making into the 21st century by incorporating modern themes, through his project, Stained-Glass Geek, Dutch artist Arjan Boeve is showing younger generations that stained glass has a place in the modern world,

 his modern themes include iconic video game, cartoon and anime characters like Mickey Mouse, Super Mario or Dragon Ball’s Vegeta,

“The people who like video games and comics are educating your children at school. They might be your doctor or your dentist. They are the people buying their first, second or third house right now. I think that will also shape the art that’s being bought and the imagery that’s looked for,” Arjan Boeve said. So there’s a new world being shaped right now and I want stained glass to be part of it.”

although Boeve describes his craft as “fun”, he admits that it’s also quite dangerous. Handling the glass by hand, the risk of accidents is very high, and he says his hands are sliced open on a daily basis. Also, because of working with lead, he has his blood tested for lead poisoning every year, 

“From day one when I was back in Holland I immediately started educating people,” the artist told The National, “I felt – I still feel – like I really need to pave the way for a new generation of creative people to arise and to get interested in this craft. I think this is 50 per cent of the reason why I chose to work with pop images, as well, because I wanted to appeal to my generation and to combine their interests with stained glass. I really think that’s how it will survive.”

there is no deigning the detail in the artists work,

for a look at a work in progress here is a short video,

and a slightly longer one, it is quite mesmerising watching the glass being leaded, Boeve’s stained glass masterpieces can sell for anywhere between a few hundred euros up to tens of thousands of euros, for more on Arjan Boeve’s work, check out his official website, and for more geek-inspired stained glass art, keep an eye on his Instagram, what a talented chap he really is.


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