ArtPrize 2025 at Decaydence Vintage
Meet our featured artist, David Mekibel — and his epic tribute to the Muses.
About the Piece
Goddess of Memory and the Muses
Digital Mixed Media
40" x 57.8"
This picture is an homage to ArtPrize — a rare institution that uplifts artists not only with opportunity, but with inspiration. In the mythology of this work, ArtPrize becomes the Muse itself: the same sacred force the Greeks once imagined guiding creation, now reborn in a contemporary form.
The nine figures in this picture are the Muses, reimagined as early-2000s pop icons — Rihanna, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and more. They orbit Mnemosyne, the Titaness of Memory, whose likeness here is drawn from Madonna: not simply as a pop star, but as the mythic matriarch of our cultural imagination.
She stands above them — not as peer, but as origin. At its core, this piece is about nostalgia — not just as a feeling, but as a material. The 1956 NBC Peacock inspired the color palette; each figure’s garment shimmers with the glow of VHS static and cathode-ray distortion.
The entire scene is wrapped in the soft haze of retro TV aesthetics, holding these icons in a fabric of time and television — a sacred medium of memory. In a world where traditional patronage has vanished and access to the art world is tightly gated, many artists remain unseen.
Without a Medici, without a Pope Leo X, many go unsupported. That’s why this piece exists: to honor not only the Muses of myth and music, but the real, rare institutions — like ArtPrize — that still believe in the artist.
About the Artist
David Mekibel
Tel Aviv, Israel
I’m a Russian-Israeli artist exploring the space between digital nostalgia, mythology, religion, and art history.
I’ve been creating computer-based art from a very young age, drawn to the visual world of Windows XP, '90s television, and the early 2000s internet. The colors, textures, and mood of that era continue to shape how I see and make art. Nostalgia isn’t just a theme in my work — it’s the emotional and aesthetic foundation of everything I do.
I began my professional career as a 3D artist, studying animation and digital media in college. Since then, my practice has evolved into something more painterly and symbolic — blending pop culture, mythological references, and personal memory into a style I call Pop Renaissance: a mix of high and low, old and new.
See It in Person
David’s work will be on display at Decaydence Vintage for the duration of ArtPrize 2025. Stop by, soak it in, and shop the boldest vintage in West Michigan while you're here.
We’re proud to be an ArtPrize venue for the third year in a row — and thrilled to host a piece this rich in color, culture, and meaning.