Stars and Comets Shimmer in Juha Tanhua’s Galactic Photos of Parking Lot Oil Spills

All images © Juha Tanhua, shared with permission

In this collection of cosmic photographs, comets, nebulas, and galaxies stretch before the human eye, showering the sky in glittering scenes that ought to be from a telescope. But instead of looking upward into the night, Finnish photographer Juha Tanhua points his camera to the ground. He documents his “oil paintings” in broad daylight, shooting gasoline and oil spills usually found in car parks. “I don’t look up, but down,” he tells Colossal. “It’s not space above us; it’s space under our feet. You can find subjects to photograph even in dull places like parking lots. Expect nothing, get everything.”

The photographer first got his idea for the gasoline puddles when noticing an oil spill next to his car. “It looked a little bit like the northern lights,” he says. He forgot about the image, which he named “Urban Aurora Borealis,” until finding it months later when organizing an archive. After that, when walking around parking lots after heavy rain, he began to notice more leaks and started to document them. He now has hundreds in his collection. “I named them oil paintings,” he says. “Because it looked like artworks under cars.”

Tanhua likens rain to a brush, which “paints the artwork” and is an essential component in ensuring the stains don’t fade in the dry summer. Once captured, he plays with the exposure, editing the highlights, shadows, and contrasts of each image to gain the appearance of galactic matter from a combination of the oil patterns and the ground’s rough texture.“When I shoot against black asphalt and underexpose the image, the rocks on the asphalt turn into stars,” he explains.

Currently living in the small village of Vuolenkoski, near Lahti in Southern Finland, Tanhua obtained his first camera at age 15, when his father gifted him an Olympus 35 DC compact model that he purchased while working in Japan. In 1979, Tanhua began an apprenticeship at a local studio, which launched subsequent careers in journalism and later freelance photography. His works are now included in collections within the Finnish National Gallery and Lahti Art Museum. You can find more of his photos on his website. (via Peta Pixel)

 

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In ‘Glass Microbiology,’ Sculptures Explore the Science Behind Modeling Viruses and Bacteria

T4 Bacteriophage 2011. All photographs © Luke Jerram, shared with permission

Digital models of bacteria and viruses are essential for scientists communicating vital health information to the broader public. Paired with news articles and government guidelines, the depictions offer powerful visuals for otherwise invisible harms, and although accurate in shape and structure, many renderings often feature colors chosen at the artist’s discretion—this includes the now-infamous depiction of the red, spiked SARS-CoV-2, which was named a Beazley Design of the Year.

Back in 2004, artist Luke Jerram began questioning the impact of this creative license, asking whether people believed that microbes are inherently vibrant and how exactly viewers are supposed to tell which renderings feature accurate colors and which are alterations. This interest sparked his ongoing Glass Microbiology project, which creates models of viruses like Zika, smallpox, and HIV as clear sculptures.

 

E.coli

Created approximately 1 million times larger than the actual cells, Jerram’s works highlight the intricate and unique structures without obscuring a viewer’s impression based on color. He collaborates with virologists from the University of Bristol to ensure the form’s accuracy before being glassblowers Kim George, Brian Jones, and Norman Veitch help mold the delicate shapes, starting with the coiled nucleic acid at the center and later the outer proteins. Together, they’ve created dozens of models so far, including the long, worm-like ebola and a T4 bacteriophage with a rectangular head and multiple legs.

“Of course, by making it in glass, you create something that’s incredibly beautiful. There’s a tension there, between the beauty of the object and what it represents,” the U.K.-based artist said in an interview. “By making the invisible visible, we’re able to feel like we have a better sense of control over it.”

Jerram’s microbes are on view in two exhibitions this month: as part of Hope from Chaos: Pandemic Reflections at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore and at Henry Moore Institute’s A State of Matter. Explore the vast collection and dive into the science behind the works on the Glass Microbiology site.

 

Ebola

Zika Virus

Malaria 2015

SARS Corona

Smallpox, Untitled Future Mutation, HIV

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Embroidered Sculptures Recreate Lifelike Mushrooms, Lichen, and Fungi in Thread

All images © Amanda Cobbett, shared with permission

Amanda Cobbett suspends a singular moment in the fleeting lives of fungi by stitching their likeness in thread. The textile artist photographs and gathers specimens that she brings back to her Surrey Hills-based studio, where she finds fibers to match pale green lichens and golden chanterelles. Using a free-motion embroidery technique on a sewing machine, she then stitches multiple layers onto a piece of dissolvable fabric that, once the organism is complete, is washed away to leave just the mushroom or mossy bark intact. As a scroll through her Instagram reveals, the resulting sculptures are so realistic in color, shape, and size that it’s difficult to distinguish the artist’s iterations from their counterparts.

Currently, Cobbett is preparing a collection that will head to the Artful Craft exhibition at Make Southwest, which opens on April 2. (via Lustik)

 

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Realistic Garnishes Top Sushi and Other Fishy Sculptures Carved Entirely from Stone

All images by Mari Kohei, courtesy of Mari Hamahira, shared with permission

Mari Hamahira’s sushi appears like tender slices of tuna and creamy sea urchin, but its texture is nothing like the soft, rice-based bites. From rough slabs of stone, the artist carves lifelike nigiri and rolls of gunkan-maki that are assembled into deceptively realistic sculptures and garnished with scallion rings, wasabi, and tiny mounds of roe. The coloring of each work is derived entirely from the material’s natural pigments, whether through smoothing and polishing or combining powdered granules into new hues.

Mixed within the delectable offerings are more unsettling pieces that include human body parts like fingers, brains, and ears. A critique of consumption and wastefulness, the series is in response to the artist’s work in the seafood industry, where he witnessed creatures harvested for their meat and then subsequently thrown away without being eaten.

Hamahira’s sculptures are on view through February 27 at Joshibi University of Art and Design, and you can see much of his stone-carving process on Twitter. (via Spoon & Tamago)

 

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Boinggg! Ceramic Vessels Undergo a Playful Remix with Coiled, Undulating Handles

All images © Kuu Pottery, shared with permission

Miami-born Kassandra Guzman diverges from the sleek, straight lines of minimalism in favor of squiggles and waves. She’s the ceramicist behind the Seattle-based studio Kuu Pottery, where she creates wide-mouthed vessels and playful vases mimicking bananas and other fruits. Part of her Boinggg! collection, many of the amphora and mugs have classically shaped bases with atypical handles that coil in lengthy runs and create undulating bows.

Guzman has a few projects in the works, including an illustrated series and a new body of ceramics printed with decals. See a larger collection of the artist’s pieces and browse available vessels in the Kuu shop. (via design milk)

 

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Whimsy and Vintage Illustrations Merge in Colorful Stippled Tattoos by Joanna Swirska

All images © Joanna Swirska, shared with permission

Amidst delicate black lines and stippled shading, Polish tattoo artist Joanna Swirska (previously) inks splashes of bright pigments. Her works blend fanciful elements with elegant illustrations of flora and fauna, like her signature ferns and detailed monsteras colored with bright green gradients. Often covering an entire upper arm or calf, the tattoos are whimsical in both subject matter and style, depicting raccoons dressed in orange hooded capes, birds perching on berry-studded branches, and cheerful cats riding retro cruisers.

Swirska, who’s known as Dzo Lama, lives in the Karkonosze mountains and works between Jelenia Gora and Wroclaw, where she runs Nasza Tattoo Shop. Her books are closed until July, but keep an eye out for future openings on her Instagram. You can also pick up prints, mugs, and other goods adorned with her illustrated characters on Etsy.

 

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Dense Fog Shrouds San Francisco’s Streets in a Spectral Haze in Joshua Singh’s Photos

All images © Joshua Singh, shared with permission

Photographer Joshua Singh wields the unrelenting fog that hangs over San Francisco to veil his shots with a dreamy, eerie quality. The Bay Area city is notorious for the dense weather condition that thwarts visibility and leaves pockets of reprieve among its hilly landscape—it’s so iconic that some residents have even named the weather event. Often working after sunset, Singh captures everyday activities like soccer practice and commutes that turn mysterious when illuminated by street lights or glowing store signage that peeks through the atmospheric haze.

Head to Instagram to see more of his street photography and to his portfolio to shop prints. (via Peta Pixel)

 

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Vibrant Tiled Mosaics by Ememem Repair Gouged Pavement and Fractured Sidewalks

All images © Ememem, shared with permission

Lyon native Ememem, aka “the pavement surgeon,” examines the streets of European cities and checks for splintered pavement and sidewalks fractured in pieces. Using tiles and stones, he patches the gouged wounds with vibrant mosaics, which nestle into uniquely shaped outlines in walkways and walls. The street-based interventions brighten the otherwise gray asphalt and cement with radial patterns and color-coded stripes that the artist describes as a “free and spontaneous surgical act, which repairs as much as it beautifies.”

Since 2016, Ememem (previously) has restored hundreds of potholes and cracks in the streets across Norway, Scotland, Germany, and Spain, many of which he shares on Instagram. Some of his smaller works will be on view with ErbK Gallery from March 10 to 13 at Lille Art Up Fair, and this summer, he’ll travel to festivals in France, Italy, and Ireland and to Valparaiso and Santiago in September. Ememem is also launching a residency this fall for artists interested in learning his techniques.

 

Ememem’s collaboration with artist Jan Vormann, whose LEGO piece constructs part of the wall

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Decorative Papercuts in White and Gold Compose Patrick Cabral’s Meticulously Layered Sculptures

All images © Patrick Cabral, shared with permission

Patrick Cabral re-envisions the intricate veins striping the tail of a fish and grooves in a pangolin’s scales with delicate, lace-like flourishes. The Manila-based artist is known for his sculptural portraits of wild animals and fantastical creatures that layer hundreds of paper cutouts into stunning three-dimensional works. Primarily composed with white, Cabral’s most recent pieces utilize gold for trimming a hippo’s facial features and heightening the depth and texture of the coiling, intertwined bodies of a dragon and its rival. The metallic material also adds contrast to a pair of koi swimming in a circular yin and yang formation.

Currently, Cabral is finishing a few works that will be exhibited from March 18 to 20 as part of Xavier Art Fest, a group exhibition raising money for victims of Typhoon Rai that devastated the southern Philippines last December. Check out his Instagram to see a variety of commissions and personal projects, in addition to a short video detailing his painstaking hand-carving and gluing process.

 

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A Deep-Sea Montage Unveils the Fantastic, Bizarre Creatures Swimming in Monterey Bay

A compilation recently released from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Insitute (previously) invokes the old adage that reality is stranger than fiction. Featuring dozens of otherworldly sea creatures, the footage highlights some of the most bizarre animals spotted during the organization’s ROV dives, which range from the water’s surface to its 4,900-foot-deep floor. The montage includes a diverse array of species from aptly named strawberry squid and the elusive psychedelic jellyfish to the pacific viperfish. The institute’s partner organization, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is also hosting an exhibition dedicated to the mysterious creatures living in the region, which opens this April. (via Moss and Fog)

 

Peacock squid

Swimming sea cucumber

Feather star

Vampire squid

Strawberry squid

Barreleye

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Sell More Art Online Using Canvy’s Pre-Styled Rooms

After spending your valuable time creating your latest and greatest artwork, the last thing you need is a battle with cumbersome photo editing software just to showcase it. Canvy is an online app designed to help artists easily create compelling mockups and make a great first impression in their online shops.

With more than 500 customizable rooms and new options added almost daily, Canvy is built around the idea that each artwork deserves a unique display. That’s why they offer interiors in a range of styles, allowing you to change the color of the room and furniture, to visualize your art on the wall, and perfectly match the environment to your practice and audience.

 

Canvy.com is an online app to visualize pictures on wall to reach more potential buyers for your art

The same mockup room styled to match each artwork uniquely.

Canvy’s easy cropping and built-in frame tools ensure that every piece you highlight looks stunning and professional and that no mockup takes more than a few minutes to complete. Not sure what space suits your vibe? Get inspired by your fellow artists and try one of Canvy’s pre-styled rooms.

Once you’re done, you can export your mockups to Etsy on the fly and store your designs in Canvy’s digital database. The all-in-one platform helps you organize your works until they’re ready for the limelight and even offers its own site-building tool geared toward artists with unlimited content pages and traffic including free security.

 

Denise Comeau in her studio with her Canvy showcases from denisecomeau.com.

Dramatic increase in sales with mockups

French-Canadian artist Denise Comeau started using Canvy to display her abstract watercolors that reflect life along Baie Sainte-Marie’s shores in Canada. She’s noticed a dramatic impact on her audience and sales since using the app. “Canvy is a game changer. Since using it, I have seen a huge improvement in both my social media impact and my online sales,” she says.

 

Martin Wessel owner of the danish online poster store plakato.dk.

Showcasing made easier

Martin Wessel, the owner of Plakato, creates posters for each room of the house, and Canvy ensures that he doesn’t have to make an outsized investment in equipment or elaborately designed sets that come with a hefty price tag. “Canvy has made showcasing my posters in everyday scenarios a lot easier. The scenes are high quality and have that Scandinavian vibe which is spot on for my customers. Canvy is great help given that I don’t have equipment to make professional scenes to showcase my posters,” he says.

If you’d like to join Comeau, Wessel, and over 70,000 other creatives to see how Canvy can help simplify your practice, try a one-month Pro Membership for free!

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Hugging and Hungry, An Adorable Litter of Cats Are Hand-Covered as Miniature Sculptures

All images © Sakura Hanafusa, shared with permission

Japanese sculptor Sakura Hanafusa carves whimsical cat sculptures often carrying a range of foods, including vegetables, sweets, and biscuits. In one of the feline statues, a snowy-haired creature peeks out from underneath a vanilla ice cream cone, while in another, a smiling duo clings to mushrooms and acorns. Adorable and playful, Hanafusa’s poses sometimes prompt interaction and mimicry like with the seven cats pawing for high fives, which ask passersby to raise their hands, too.

Hanafusa whittles camphor wood and then adds details to their noses, paws, and whiskers with oil paint. The characters are modeled from family and friends’ pets, all of which have playful expressions whether grinning or shy and coy. While a few of Hanafusa’s pieces are the size of real animals, others would only fit into the palm of a hand, and some merge with other objects, such as his collection of plump felines with orange, satsuma bodies.

To view more of Hanafusa’s work, visit the artist’s website and Instagram. (via Supersonic Art)

 

 

 

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