Complex Networks of Metallic Branches Shape Animal Sculptures by Kang Dong Hyun

“Forest of Coexistence” (2019), stainless steel and urethane paint, 300 x 160 x 120 centimeters. All images © Kang Dong Hyun, shared with permission

What eventually becomes a stately stag or majestically posed lion in Kang Dong Hyun’s Forest of Coexistence starts with countless metallic branches that splay in every direction. The Korean artist (previously) welds spindly shoots and sprawling root-like shapes into facial features and bodies that are then finished with urethane paint. Creating a cohesive display of flora and fauna, each hollow, stainless steel sculpture considers the relationship between species and the idea that “all life on Earth may lead to an invisible string,” Kang says. For more of the artist’s intricately formed animals, visit Instagram.

 

“Forest of Coexistence” (2020), stainless steel and urethane paint, 73 x 46 x 11 centimeters

“Forest of Coexistence” (2021), stainless steel and urethane paint, 150 x 120 x 50 centimeters

“Forest of Coexistence” (2021), stainless steel and urethane paint, 64 x 36 x 114 centimeters

“Forest of Coexistence” (2021), stainless steel and urethane paint, 68 x 80 x 20 centimeters

“Forest of Coexistence” (2018), stainless steel and urethane paint, 130 x 45 x 85 centimeters

“Forest of Coexistence” (2020), stainless steel and urethane paint, 51 x 80 x 39 centimeters

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Wander Through a Mountain of 25,000 Mannequins in an Astounding Look at Consumerism and Waste

In a wooded area of Lincolnshire, it’s not unusual for people to partake in what’s dubbed a “drive through body part heist.” The preposterously named activity involves a trip to Mannakin—a Midlands mannequin distributor frequented by a wide array of clientele like merchandisers, film crews, and Halloween devotees—where visitors spend 15 minutes scouring its meters-high pile of discarded forms for, none other than, body parts. These challenges to fill a car with as many pieces as possible are just one part of the company’s business model, which involves saving the used fiberglass displays from landfills and returning them to the retail ecosystem.

English YouTuber and educator Tom Scott walks through the staggering heap in a recent video and talks with director Roz Edwards, who’s amassed about 25,000 figures from locations all over Europe that are now scattered across the property. The short documentary project dives into the company’s process for revitalizing worn arms, legs, and torsos and confronts the strange, surreal environment created when thousands of lifeless bodies occupy a single space in what’s ultimately a striking visual indictment of consumerism and our collective approach to waste.

You also might find this short documentary set in a mannequin factory interesting.

 

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Playfully Absurd, Idiosyncratic Characters Grace the Salvaged Book Sculptures by Mike Stilkey

All images © Mike Stilkey, shared with permission

Dapper penguins, nonchalant musicians, and self-destructive politicians are a few of the distinct figures adorning Mike Stilkey’s sculptures. The Los Angeles-based artist (previously) rummages through heaps of discarded books, plucking out complementary titles that become the basis for his towering works. Using ink, colored pencil, paint, and lacquer, he renders minimal portraits of figures with exaggerated limbs or instruments and gestures that show a flair for the absurd.

Vacillating from the playful and whimsical to the cheeky and ironic, Stilkey’s idiosyncratic, sometimes anthropomorphized characters translate an essential interpretation of the volumes’ messages or subject matter through a contemporary lens. He explains:

Sometimes it’s a wry, tongue-in-cheek, satirical kind of thing, and sometimes it’s an extension or interpretation of it. It depends on the book and my mood. There’s been a lot of fodder over the past couple of years with all of the political conversations and things you hear or read on the news or social media. But I’ve always been able to do this with books. It’s one of the reasons I started using books as a canvas or vehicle for painting—the richness of layering literary and visual narratives over each other to convey something more complex.

As well as the repurposed sculptures shown here, Stilkey also creates installations with thousands of books and large characters, although these on-site projects have been put on hold since the onset of the pandemic. Prints and postcards are available in the artist’s shop, and you can follow his works on Instagram.

 

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Ethereal Oil Paintings by Ekaterina Popova Glimpse the Warm, Intimate Interiors of Home

All images © Ekaterina Popova, shared with permission

Within the confines of a canvas, Russian artist Ekaterina Popova nurtures the calm, familiar atmosphere of home. Her dreamlike interiors are comprised of blurred edges and thick brushstrokes in oil that cast a subtle haze over each scene, and Popova’s warm, impressionistic style lends itself to the lived-in feeling of her paintings: a quilt hangs off the edge of a mattress, a book rests in the window as if it was just set down by its reader, and the lunch remnants remain on a dressed table.

Often depicting her own bedroom and friends’ spaces, Popova focuses on an array of textures like slatted wood flooring, fur blankets, floral bedding, and lush foliage, and the natural light or soft glow of a lamp that illuminates the scenes bolsters their sense of comfort and intimacy. She explains:

For the past few years, I have been exploring interiors in my work. The interest started as a way for me to reflect on my upbringing in Russia, but eventually progressed to exploring the overall idea of “home” and what it means me now… My paintings include messy rooms, intimate items, and objects that refer to human presence without including the figure.

Currently based in Philadelphia, Popova has paintings on view from January 6 to 29 at Cohle Gallery in Paris. Dive into more of her work on her site and Instagram.

 

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January 2022 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

Image © May Parlar

Every month, Colossal shares a selection of opportunities for artists and designers, including open calls, grants, fellowships, and residencies. If you’d like to list an opportunity here, please get in touch at hello@colossal.art. You can also join our monthly Opportunities Newsletter.

 

Open Calls

Aperture Portfolio Prize
The Aperture Portfolio Prize is an annual international competition that recognizes innovative bodies of work that haven’t been featured in major publications or exhibitions. One winner will be published in Aperture magazine, receive a $3,000 prize, and have a solo show in New York.
Deadline: 10:59 p.m. on January 7, 2022.

The Other Art Fair
Applications are open for The Other Art Fair’s 2022 schedule in cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City, Chicago, Melbourne, and Sydney. Sign up for its newsletter to stay up-to-date with application deadlines.
Deadline: Varies by the city but the first are January 7, 2022.

Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards
Artists and collectives who’ve made video works (e.g. digital video art, animation, film) or videos about visual works (e.g. sculptures, photos, paintings, installations, or performances) that address the climate crisis are eligible for the Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards, which will give winners $15,000 each.
Deadline: January 20, 2022.

Booooooom’s New Photo Book Circles
Booooooom is hosting an open call for photos of the strange, beautiful, and unforgettable circles all around us. Chosen images will be compiled in the publication’s third book.
Deadline: January 21, 2022.

MediaFutures Support Programme
Artists and collectives who use data to inform their work are encouraged to apply for the MediaFutures program, which will grant up to €30,000 per awardee. Proposed projects should utilize data both critically and materially to question technology’s impact on society, including addressing misinformation and disinformation.
Deadline: 12 p.m. CET on January 27, 2022.

Prix Viviane Esders Photo Prize
The Prix Viviane Esders prize recognizes European photographers over age sixty whose careers have impacted the history of the medium. One winner receives a €60,000 award and showing in Paris.
Deadline: April 15, 2022.

 

Grants

NEW WORK from Prospect Art
Prospect Art awards a $500 mini-grant to visual artists twice each year as part of its NEW WORK program, which is designed to support projects that don’t fit into commercial galleries. Submissions should be representative of today’s moment.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

Robert Giard Grant for Emerging LGBTQ+ Photographers
Open to international applications, Queer|Art will award $10,000 to support the work of emerging LGBTQ+ photographers whose projects address issues of sexuality, gender, or identity. The first-runner up will receive $5,000, and funds can be used for new or ongoing work at any stage of development.
Deadline: January 17, 2022.

Sustainable Arts Foundation Grants for Artists with Children
Twenty artists and writers with children under age 18 are eligible for a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant for $5,000. Each award is unrestricted, and there’s a $20 application fee.
Deadline: 5 p.m. EST on February 25, 2022.

Creative Capital’s Wild Futures 2023/2024
During two years, Creative Capital will award 100 artists up to $50,000 each, with additional advisory services per project. 2023 is open to performing arts, technology, and literature, and 2024 is seeking visual arts and moving image/film.
Deadline: April 1, 2022, for 2023 applicants.

$500,000 Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Fund
Kickstarter, Creative Capital, and Skoll Foundation launched a $500,000 Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Fund to support projects by Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx creators. Awards are given out on an ongoing basis to creators in categories like Arts, Comics & Illustration, Design & Tech, Film, Food & Craft, Games, Music, and Publishing.
Deadline: Rolling.

Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund
Adobe’s Creative Residency Community Fund commissions visual artists to create company projects on a rolling basis. Awardees will receive between $500 and $5,000.
Deadline: Rolling.

 

Residencies & Fellowships

Caltech-Huntington Art + Research Residency Program
The Art + Research Residency Program provides two artists the opportunity to collaborate with the Caltech and Huntington research communities during a four-month stay. Residents will be awarded an all-inclusive stipend up to $35,000, must have an MFA or Ph.D., and their work should engage with social justice issues.
Deadline: 12 a.m. PST on January 5, 2022.

South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships
Open to visual artists in the South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), the South Arts Southern fellowship will award $5,000 to winners in each state. Each awardee will be eligible for an additional $25,000 and $10,000 prize.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST on January 10, 2022.

Right of Return USA Fellowship
The Right of Return USA Fellowship will award six formerly incarcerated artists a $20,000 grant each for a project that considers criminal justice reform. Fellows will participate in a group retreat in the spring of 2022.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST on January 14, 2022.

Sculpture Space Residency
Based in Utica, New York, Sculpture Space is offering a two-month residency slated for 2023. There’s a $35 application fee to apply.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

Artaxis Fellowship
The sixth annual Artaxis Fellowship will award two ceramicists up to $2,000 to fund a two-week summer workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Applicants can be at any stage of their careers.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program
The StudioWorks program offers a $2,000 stipend for a four-week term at the Tides Institute & Museum of Art. International emerging and established artists are encouraged to apply.
Deadline: February 1, 2022.

MacDowell Fellowship
Open across disciplines including architecture, film and video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual art, the MacDowell Fellowship awards 300 artists each year. The program is open internationally and requires a $30 application fee.
Deadline: February 10, 2022.

Curatorial Fellowship at the Center for Craft
Three fellows will be awarded up to $5,000 to develop an exhibition at the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina. They will work with program staff to produce the exhibition, develop didactic material and an exhibition catalog, and lead a curatorial talk.
Deadline: February 14, 2022.

Ceramic Artist in Residency at Clay Art Center
Held annually in September, the residency at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York, offers one emerging artist a year-long stay to develop their craft. The program includes a private studio, free firing, a $500 monthly stipend, paid teaching opportunities, and an exhibition.
Deadline: April 8, 2022.

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Meticulously Detailed Ceramics by Kaori Kurihara Concoct Fantastical New Fruits

All images © Kaori Kurihara, shared with permission

Japanese artist Kaori Kurihara (previously) creates otherworldly fruit-like ceramics that appear as though they have sprouted in a magical rainforest or exist in a children’s book. Kurihara’s sculptures take a creative spin on the shapes and textures found in thistles, tropical fare, and other fruits. One of her pieces, for example, resembles a purple durian with a brown seed-like head, while another is textured like pineapple and equipped with a top evoking an artichoke.

Kurihara studies the geometric repetition found in edible botanicals and reproduces their repeating patterns in similar ceramic forms, often enhancing their color. Each piece is delicately and meticulously crafted, and Kurihara first constructs the base then adds the details, sculpting patterns into the main shape using her hands and a series of tools.

The artist studied pottery at SEIKA University in Kyoto in addition to jewelry making in France, where she learned enameling techniques that she now uses when creating her sculptures. To view more of her work, visit her site and Instagram.

 

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A Stunning Photo Documents the Colorful Comet Leonard Streaking Through the Nighttime Sky

Image © Andrew McCarthy, shared with permission

Set against a star-studded backdrop, Comet Leonard, aka the Chrismas Comet, blazed overhead on December 26, emitting a colorful stream of light that illuminated the dark skies. Andrew McCarthy (previously) documented the celestial body as it hurtled over the Arizona horizon and created this striking, magnified composite of 25 separate shots. The image, along with a wider photo shown below, captures the brilliant colors surrounding the nucleus as it flies 150,000 miles per hour through space. Comet Leonard was first spotted about 466 million miles away on January 3, 2021, and is making its closest pass to the sun exactly one year later, before it’s expelled from our solar system entirely.

McCarthy details his 12-minute process for documenting the body on PetaPixel—watch this clip to see how far the comet moved during that period—and explore his wide range of astrophotography on Instagram and his site, where he also sells prints.

 

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