The Zymoglyphic Museum

The Zymoglyphic Museum houses the cabinet of curiosities created by artist Jim Stewart. It was formerly located in San Mateo, California, but has now moved to Portland, Oregon.

Early modern cabinets of curiosity were often divided into the categories of artificialia and naturalia, giving equal precedence to the marvels of man and God. In the dreamscape dioramas of the Zymoglyphic Museum, these two categories collide. In Stewart’s surreal tableaus, built from natural materials and installed in old aquarium tanks, it is often difficult to tell where the hand of nature stops and that of the artist begins.