Daily Activities Are Interwoven into Rural Landscapes in Ágnes Herczeg’s Lace Sculptures

All images © Ágnes Herczeg, shared with permission

Strands of silk thread are delicately intertwined to create inviting pastoral scenes in miniature needlework sculptures by Ágnes Herczeg (previously). The Hungarian artist has recently begun to incorporate found driftwood into her pieces, foraged from the shores of the nearby Danube River where floodplain trees dot the riverside. Drawing inspiration from her surroundings, Herczeg’s subjects include animals, trees, landscapes, and women performing tasks like pouring tea, weaving, or taking a walk.

Fascinated by natural materials and the process of embroidery, Herczeg carefully shapes the outline of each scene with metal wire, then builds up tiny webs of fiber using a needle lace technique. Once she has carved the wood and the mesh is complete, each is colored in earthy blues, greens, and browns and bound together with thread.

You can find more of Herczeg’s work on her website, and follow updates on Instagram. Pieces available for purchase can also be found in her online shop.

 

from Colossal https://ift.tt/LSYej6C
via IFTTT

In ‘King Pleasure,’ Family Stories and Personal Artifacts Illuminate Basquiat’s Life and Work

All images by Ivane Katamashvili, shared with permission

An expansive exhibition sprawling through the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea offers an intimate and holistic glimpse at the life that inspired Jean-Michel Basquiat’s body of work. Opened Saturday, King Pleasure is curated by the artist’s two younger sisters, Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, who unearthed more than 200 artworks and artifacts as part of the broad, deeply personal look at their brother’s world. Many of the objects, which range from stacks of books and home movies on VHS tapes to early pieces and paintings, are on view for the first time.

Presented chronologically, the show charts the artist’s rapid success rooted in New York City’s graffiti scene of the 1970s. It leads viewers through a space filled with wood-paneled walls and architectural replicas designed by David Adjaye. The immersive reproductions provide insight into the places where Basquiat spent much of his time and developed his distinct aesthetic, including his childhood dining room in Boerum Hill, his 57 Great Jones Street studio, and the Michael Todd VIP Room of the Palladium, a beloved night club that commissioned two monumental works.

 

Comprised almost entirely of Basquiat works except for Andy Warhol’s silkscreen family portraits, King Pleasure showcases a variety of paintings, early drawings, cartoon sketches, and newsletters the artist made during high school in Brooklyn. “Untitled (100 Yen)” (1982) leans against the wall of his recreated studio, for example, while “Untitled (Quick Cash Shoe Business)” spreads across the floor. The exhibition draws its name from the 1987 painting in acrylic, which shows the artist’s recurring crown on a yellow backdrop.

As Robin Pogrebin writes for The New York Times, King Pleasure augments Basquiat’s legacy with objects, videos, and ephemera that create a fuller picture of his short life, which ended with a 1988 overdose at the age of 27. “We wanted people to come in and get the experience of Jean-Michel—the human being, the son, the brother, the cousin,” Heriveaux said in an interview. “To walk people through that in a way that felt right and good to us.” The exhibition also coincides with other U.S.-based shows of his works, including two at The Broad in Los Angeles and the Orlando Museum of Art.

Tickets for King Pleasure are on sale now, and an accompanying monograph featuring interviews with family members and an in-depth consideration of his life is also available this week from Rizzoli Electa.

 

Photo by Lee Jaffe

from Colossal https://ift.tt/aG1Ism2
via IFTTT

A Miniature Arcade, Art Museum, and Dock by AnonyMouse Squeeze into Malmö’s Streets

All images © AnonyMouse, shared with permission

The traveling collective known as AnonyMouse squeaked through Malmö’s bustling streets the last few weeks installing the latest additions to its tiniest cultural scene. After working in cities across Europe, the unidentified group visited the Swedish coast to wedge a miniature art museum, arcade, and shipping dock just big enough for a few mice into the long-established architecture. Built at street level, each minuscule creation is an elaborate and witty rendition of its human-sized counterpart: games like “Feline Fighter 2″ and “Cheese Invaders” are packed into the glowing arcade, while small boats, a cafe, and an ominous flag printed with a mouse and crossbones appear at the inland port.

AnonyMouse is currently headed to its next unannounced destination, and you can follow its latest adventures on Instagram.

 

from Colossal https://ift.tt/f23SGD1
via IFTTT

A Decade of Haboobs Cloud Landscapes in Thick Walls of Dust in a New Timelapse by Mike Olbinski

When strong winds gush out of a collapsing thunderstorm as it rips across a dry landscape, they sometimes generate a thick wall of dust known as a haboob. Photographer and storm chaser Mike Olbinski (previously) has been documenting these monumental weather events for the past decade and recently compiled dozens of clips into a dramatic timelapse showing just how quickly these phenomena form and subsequently obscure visibility. Taken between 2011 and 2021, the included footage represents a small fraction of Olbinski’s adventures, which you can see more of on YouTube and Instagram.

 

from Colossal https://ift.tt/CgbDWso
via IFTTT

Skeletal Lace Patterns Define the Copper Wire Vessels of Artist Suzanne Shafer-Wilson

All images © Suzanne Shafer-Wilson, shared with permission

At once malleable in material and secure in shape, the vessels that comprise Suzanne Shafer-Wilson’s body of work are intricate studies of texture, pattern, and space. The Illinois-based artist loops and twists lengths of wire into intricate baskets that range in size from 20 inches tall to the width of a fingertip. Using a technique similar to the one employed by sculptor Ruth Asawa to create her rounded, metallic forms, Shafer-Wilson works with an Italian needle lace method designed for fibers like wool and silk. She intertwines brass, copper, or sterling silver in place of textiles and fashions porous vessels with wide, gaping bodies and elaborately constructed outer walls.

If you’re in Chicago, you can see some of Shafer-Wilson’s sculptures at Vale Craft Gallery. Otherwise, head to her site to explore an archive of her works.

 

from Colossal https://ift.tt/JackR3p
via IFTTT

Piece Together Nature’s Tiny Wonders with Miniature Jigsaw Puzzles from Nervous System

All images © Nervous System, shared with permission

The innovative team over at the Catskills-based studio Nervous System (previously) released a new line of miniature jigsaws that match organic shapes with similarly natural subject matter. All spanning less than eight inches, a spotted mushroom, mottled moth, fern, succulent, and blooming begonia comprise the collection that’s a small but challenging display of the planet’s tiny wonders. Each puzzle is encased in a plywood frame and has approximately 40-45 pieces with one whimsy cut in the shape of the larger form. Nervous System plans to add to the series in the coming months, and you can shop the puzzles shown here on its site.

 

from Colossal https://ift.tt/NBsy6OE
via IFTTT

Classic Cartoons Suspend Tense Moments of Sabotage in Embroidery

“Performance Anxiety.” All images © Peter Frederiksen, shared with permission

From Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse to The Simpsons, cartoons have a long history of imagining the most ridiculous, chaotic moments possible and dramatizing them into absurdity. The animated characters and their hijinks are rooted in humor, and yet, as artist Peter Frederiksen recognizes, they also have a more sinister side. “Violence is a shorthand for conflict, confrontation, fears,” he tells Colossal, noting that many iconic cartoons were created post-war or have been produced during times when “violence was in the ether… I don’t put guns in embroideries because I like guns. I put guns in embroideries because they’re an escalation. They’re overcompensation. They’re anxiety and fear.”

Frederiksen has spent the last few years zeroing in on the antagonism in these classic scenes and preserving their short-lived nature in dense embroideries. He renders knives piercing a closed door, tied bedsheets pulled taught as they drop out of a window, and hands twisting into knots while attempting to play the piano. Tightly stitched onto a canvas with a machine, the works are true to their original source in color and style, although Frederiksen precisely crops each scenario from its surroundings.

Decontextualized and infused with action, the nostalgic works are simultaneously familiar in their imagery while unrecognizable in the scope of a larger narrative. “They tell a story in as ominous a way as I’m aiming for, maintaining the sort of tension I’m building with a scene,” he says. “I also enjoy thinking about rendering these tight little scenes as a mirror to what I’m physically doing, using my hands in small little ways to make something happen.”

The Chicago-based artist has a number of shows scheduled for this year, including at Postmasters Roma in May and a solo exhibition at New York’s Massey Klein in September. Until then, follow his work on Instagram. (via The Guardian)

 

“Set Up For Failure”

“Won’t Hold Forever”

“You Don’t Need a Reason”

“Some Time Outside”

“The Trap Has Been Set”

“What Have I Done?”

“It’s Exactly As Bad As You Think”

“All My Suspicions Confirmed”

from Colossal https://ift.tt/L9lXBtd
via IFTTT