UV Light Unveils the Extraterrestrial Luminescence of the American West in Cody Cobb’s Photos

All images © Cody Cobb, shared with permission

In his ongoing Spectral series, Las Vegas-based photographer Cody Cobb projects an ultraviolet light source across desert shrubs and secluded, rocky coves, unveiling an invisible spectrum of blues and oranges. Lichens, fallen leaves, and the bacteria growing from lava tubes become radiant lifeforms and transform locations in Washington, Utah, California, and New Mexico into otherworldly landscapes.

Focused on organic matter like mineral deposits and plants, Cobb’s photos expose what he describes as a “parallel world,” where the UV light allows an extraterrestrial eeriness to emerge. “Because I need such low ambient light levels for the fluorescence to show up in the exposures, I’m out making these at very odd hours of the night,” he says. “There’s such a strange dreaminess to exploring strange lands alone and in the dark.”

Cobb plans to show Spectral next year at Marshall Gallery in Santa Monica. Until then, browse select prints in his shop, and explore more of the series on his site and Instagram.

 

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Bewildering Inconveniences Trap Subjects in Uncomfortable Scenarios in Ben Zank’s Surreal Photography

“Some people live on the block, I just live under it.” All images © Ben Zank, shared with permission

The ordinary collides with the bizarre in Ben Zank’s photography. Set on the street, on construction sites, or in grassy fields, his surreal images capture subjects in unequivocally inconvenient positions: A businessman finds himself trapped under a concrete block, a wood pile stacks atop one figure, and another precariously grasps the edge of a sinkhole. Often hiding their faces behind barriers or through a distinctly avoidant turn of the head, Zank anonymizes his subjects, making their awkward predicaments appear all the more inevitable and bound to happen to unassuming passersby.

Find an archive of the New York City-based photographer’s strange situations on Instagram and Twitter.

 

“Blocked”

“Stay alert”

“Logical thinking”

“The Last Grasstronaut”

“I think I’m falling for you”

Left: “Caught on tape.” Right: “Mixed signals”

“Moonwalker”

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In Roberto de la Torre’s Documentary Photos, Yearly Masking Rituals Celebrate the Change of the Seasons

“Boteiros.” All images © Roberto de la Torre, shared with permission

In regions throughout Europe, ancient religions often welcomed solstices and equinoxes by crafting elaborate garments that evoked different points in the agricultural cycle. Bulky suits of fur and hide might reference the slow movements of winter’s dormancy, while the straw dresses associated with the Tafarrón festival ask for fertility in the coming year. More vibrant iterations with patterns and towering headdresses are known as boteiros, or the centuries-old garments associated with the carnivals of the Viana del Bollo region in Spain.

Capturing what remains of these seasonal celebrations is what drives Galicia-based photographer Roberto de la Torre, whose ongoing documentarian series Microcosmos records those who participate in the yearly rituals. “There is little information about them, so I often travel through these regions and ask the people of the towns,” he tells Colossal. “It is also research work. Going to the sites to be able to photograph the masks also means going on a certain date. Many of these rituals are done only one day a year.”

Each suit is just one facet of a broader character with its own name, talismans, shamanic references, and specific purpose within the celebration. The garments interpret the physical conditions of the land, and in his images, de al Torre intends to dissolve the boundary between the subjects and their surroundings, instead exposing the inherent, and sacred, connection between the two. “In Microcosmos, I present a hierophantic landscape where the mythical beings that build the magical places are manifested,” he says, referring to his photos as “a visual game between the tangible and the intangible in a physical and natural setting, a heritage and cultural memory that has treasured its uniqueness over the centuries.”

De la Torre is hoping to compile his images in a book, and you can follow news about that release, along with more of his documentary work, on Instagram.

 

“Oso”

“Oso”

“Bugallos”

“Tafarron”

“Samede”

“Chamador”

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The First Video of an Extremely Rare Jellyfish Captures Its Striped Tentacles and Spotted, Pulsing Body

There have been only two documented sightings of the elusive Chirodectes maculatus, a large, soccer ball-sized jellyfish with distinct spotted markings, the second of which was captured late last year by divers from Scuba Kavieng. In what is believed to be the first recording, the video shows the extremely rare animal, which has four clusters of striped tentacles, rings covering its body, and a pulsing patch of red on its bell that’s likely a digestive cavity, as it swims near the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Researchers first encountered the specimen in 1997, although they didn’t officially designate it as a unique genus until 2005. According to Vice, most jellyfish of this kind are recognizable for their boxy bodies and venom, although the Chirodectes maculatus seems to be lacking that poisonous characteristic.

 

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Interview: Swoon Speaks to Finding Compassion Through the Act of Looking and Unearthing Her Own Vulnerability

“Seven Contemplations” (2020 to 2021) at Albright-Knox Northland. All images © Swoon, shared with permission

In some ways, Caledonia Curry’s work as a public artist has come full circle, an evolution she discusses in a new interview supported by Colossal Members. Curry debuted as a New York City street artist known as Swoon right around the turn of the last century, her hand-worked portraits making striking, albeit illegal, statements on old walls. Today, she harnesses that same energy into intricate—and intimate—installations set in museums and galleries.

When I look at a face for days, when I take a portrait of somebody on the street, and then I stare at that face for days and days, there’s this part of my brain that’s like, “This human is utterly perfect. I’ve never seen anything more noble and beautiful than this person.” And then I think, “You think that every time.” That’s because it’s true.

Swoon spoke with Colossal contributor Paulette Beete about how the act of looking is at the center of her practice, why she’s started to address her own trauma in addition to that experienced by others, and why her body of work to date is like a lifesaving yarn, a map of both where she’s been, where she’s going, and everything she’s learned along the way.

 

“Yaya,” Hong Kong

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Dense Cross-Hatching Adds Deceptive Volume to Albert Chamillard’s Geometric Drawings

All images © Albert Chamillard, shared with permission

On vintage ledgers and notebooks, artist Albert Chamillard (previously) harnesses the power of crosshatching and simple outlines to render flat, geometric shapes that appear to emerge from the page. The meditative works utilize varying densities to add depth and volume to clusters of cylinders or undulating, ribbon-like forms. By rendering each piece in a monochromatic palette of black or red, the artist draws attention to the meticulously laid lines and deceptive dimension of the forms.

Currently, Chamillard is preparing for a solo show opening on December 3 at Etherton Gallery in Tucson, where he lives. He’s also been collaborating with Hermès on a series of works soon to be released, and you can follow updates on those pieces and find an archive of his painstaking drawings on Instagram.

 

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A New Book Plunges into the Vast Diversity of the World’s Oceans Across 3,000 Years

Carl Chun, Polypus levis, from Die Cephalopoden (1910–15), color lithograph, 35 × 25 centimeters. Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library/Contributed by MBLWHOI Library, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library, Massachusetts. All images © Phaidon, shared with permission

Despite thousands of years of research and an unending fascination with marine creatures, humans have explored only five percent of the oceans covering the majority of the earth’s surface. A forthcoming book from Phaidon dives into the planet’s notoriously vast and mysterious aquatic ecosystems, traveling across the continents and three millennia to uncover the stunning diversity of life below the surface.

Spanning 352 pages, Ocean, Exploring the Marine World brings together a broad array of images and information ranging from ancient nautical cartography to contemporary shots from photographers like Sebastião Salgado and David Doubilet. The volume presents science and history alongside art and illustration—it features biological renderings by Ernst Haekcl, Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints, and works by artists like Kerry James Marshall, Vincent van Gogh, and Yayoi Kusama—in addition to texts about conservation and the threats the climate crises poses to underwater life.

Ocean will be released this October and is available for pre-order on Bookshop. You also might enjoy this volume devoted to birds.

 

NNtonio Rod (Antonio Rodríguez Canto), Trachyphyllia, from Coral Colors, (2016). Image © NNtonio Rod

Jason deCaires Taylor, “Rubicon” (2016), stainless steel, pH-neutral cement, basalt and aggregates, installation view, Museo Atlántico, Las Coloradas, Lanzarote, Atlantic Oceanl. Photo courtesy of the artist

Christian Schussele and James M. Sommerville, Ocean Life, (c.1859), watercolor, gouache, graphite, and gum arabic on off-white wove paper, 48.3 × 69.7 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Duke Riley, #34 of the Poly S. Tyrene Maritime Collection (2019), salvaged, painted plastic bottle, 30.5 × 18.4 × 7.6 centimeters Image courtesy of Duke Riley Studio

Nicolas Floc’h, Productive Structures, Artificial Reefs, -23m, Tateyama, Japan, (2013). Image © Nicolas Floc’h

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