Stone Angel Vaporwave takes one of the oldest subjects in art, a carved angel, and runs it through a broken screen. The result is loud, graphic and a little strange. It is one of the most distinctive pieces we make. This post looks at what is in it and how to live with it.
What is in the picture
The subject is a stone statue of an angel. She is kneeling or seated, turned to the left, with her hands together in her lap. Her head is lifted and she looks up and away, out of the top left of the picture. A large folded wing fills the right side behind her.
The statue isn't shown in stone colours. The whole picture is printed in three tones: a deep ultramarine blue, an acid yellow-green and a pale cream. The lit side of the figure, her face, shoulder and arm, is green. The shadows and the wing are blue, going almost to black at the base.
Around her is a rectangular frame drawn in pale cream bars. It is broken. Sections are missing or shifted, as if the image had been torn and put back slightly out of place. Behind the frame, the background is covered in horizontal bands, like the lines of an old television. Splashes of green and cream run across it. In the upper left there is a small wireframe globe on a slanted bar, the kind of computer graphic that belongs to the early 1990s.
A note on the colours
The word vaporwave usually suggests pastel pink and turquoise. This piece is not pastel. It is saturated blue and sharp green, with strong contrast. If you are choosing it for a room, go by the picture and plan for those two colours.
Where the idea comes from
Classical statues are a regular feature of vaporwave art. The style grew up online in the early 2010s, and it mixed old computer graphics, shopping-mall imagery and marble busts. The statues stood for high culture, permanence and seriousness. Putting them through a cheap digital effect was partly a joke and partly a comment: everything ends up as an image on a screen. We wrote about this in why Greek statues show up in vaporwave art.
This piece uses an angel in place of a Greek bust. That changes the feeling. A carved angel of this kind, kneeling, looking upward, is the sort of figure made for memorials and churchyards in the nineteenth century. It carries quiet, grief and hope. So the piece is sadder and more tender than a vaporwave bust of a Roman emperor.
The other elements come from the same vocabulary:
- The scan lines refer to CRT televisions and video tape.
- The broken frame refers to a damaged file or a window that hasn't loaded properly.
- The wireframe globe refers to early computer graphics.
- The limited colours look like a screen print or a photocopy, and like old displays that could only show a few colours.
For the differences between the retro styles, see vaporwave vs synthwave vs outrun.
How the composition works
- The upward look. The angel's gaze points up and to the left. The eye follows it, and the picture seems to continue outside its edge.
- The frame inside the frame. The cream rectangle holds the figure. Because it is broken, the figure looks as though she is coming out of it.
- Light against dark. The green figure sits against the blue wing and background. It reads clearly from across a room, which is why it works as a poster.
- Stillness against noise. The statue is calm. Everything round it is disturbed. That contrast is the point of the piece.
The mood
It is two things at once. From a distance it is bold and modern, a graphic poster with strong colour. Up close it is a quiet figure looking at the sky. People read it differently. Some see it as a sad picture, some as a hopeful one, and some simply as a good-looking print.
Where it works
- A white or pale grey wall. The blue and green are at their strongest against white. See wall art for white walls.
- A studio or creative workspace. It looks like a gig poster or a print from a design studio.
- A music room. It suits records, instruments and equipment. See desk setups for music producers.
- A bedroom or student room where you want one loud piece.
- A darker, gothic scheme. Angels and statues sit well with the pieces in vamp romantic and whimsigoth. The colour will be the bright spot in the room.
It is harder to place in a room of warm reds, oranges or pinks. Acid green is not an easy colour to match. Give it a neutral setting: white, grey, black, or a deep blue.
What to pair it with
- Black and white. A monochrome piece beside it lets the colour stand out. Black Hole is one option.
- Other glitch pieces. Earth Glitched and Scanline Spaceman use the same screen effects in different colours.
- In the room: one object in lime or chartreuse, such as a cushion or a vase, and plenty of white or black. Don't add more bright colours.
The formats
- Matte poster. The natural format for a piece that looks like a screen print. A plain black frame suits it best.
- Tapestry. In four sizes up to 88 × 104 inches. At that size the angel is larger than life and the piece becomes the whole wall. See the tapestry size guide.
- Acrylic keychain. The same artwork as a small charm.
We also make a second version, Stone Angel, without the vaporwave treatment in the name. Look at both before you choose.
Hanging it
- Hang it alone, or as the largest piece in a group. It doesn't share a wall well with other loud pictures.
- Centre it about 57 inches from the floor. See how high to hang wall art.
- Use neutral white light. Very warm bulbs turn the green yellow and dull the blue.
- For a tapestry, see how to hang a tapestry without nails.
Each piece is made to order. Allow 2 to 7 business days for production and 3 to 7 for US delivery. Browse the poster prints and tapestries collections for more.