Plant Magick: A 520-Page Book Explores the Vast Esoteric Connections Between Botanics and the Divine

All images © Taschen

The most recent addition to Taschen’s Library of Esoterica series, Plant Magick delves into the mythical, religious, and metaphysical histories of botanical life. The vast visual compendium explores an array of human interactions with the natural world as they relate to the spiritual and symbolic. Illustrations, photos, collages, and hundreds of other artworks across mediums are nestled within the 520 pages and include references to Buddha’s meditation under the Bodhi tree, the elaborate flower crowns worn during May Day celebrations, and the mind-bending experiences associated with psychedelics. 

Similar to the series’ book on tarot, Plant Magick offers insight into the long legacies and enduring links between the creative and the divine. The title is currently available for pre-order from Taschen and Bookshop.

 

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Deceptively Flat Weavings by Artist Susie Taylor Interlace Threads into Playful and Nostalgic Patterns

All images © Susie Taylor, courtesy of Johansson Projects, shared with permission

Patterns we might typically associate with childhood—the plaid vinyl lawn chairs of family barbecues, thick pink, brown, and white stripes of Neapolitan ice cream, and the simple ruled markings on notebook paper—become vibrant woven tapestries in the hands of artist Susie Taylor. Nostalgic in aesthetic and vivid in color palette, the Bay Area artist and textile designer interlaces cotton and linen threads to create flat weaves that appear almost three-dimensional in complexity, with the mathematically-inclined motifs and subtle shifts in color embedded within the pieces themselves.

The fiber compositions draw on the traditions of Bauhaus and Black Mountain College through a boldly playful lens and “include basic shapes like blocks and stripes to address pattern, symmetry and color interaction and the notion that ordered systems can still flirt with chance, interruption, and improvisation,” the artist says.

Taylor’s works are on view through October 27 as part of Origin Stories at Johansson Projects in Oakland. Explore more of her intricate designs on her site.

 

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This Year’s Small World Photo Contest Unveils the Astounding Details Only Visible Under the Light Microscope

Long-bodied cellar/daddy long-legs spider (Pholcus phalangioides), Dr. Andrew Posselt. 4th place. All images courtesy of Nikon Small World, shared with permission

For 48 years the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition has garnered some of the most awe-inspiring and illuminated images of all that’s visible once placed under a light microscope. The 2022 contest continues the tradition with a captivating collection that exposes the minuscule details of life on Earth. Winning images zero in on the prickly hairs covering a daddy long-legs, the trippy patterns of a marine snail’s tongue, and the tessellation-like heads of a slime mold. This year’s top photos were selected from more than 1,300 entries from 72 countries, and you can see some of our favorites below. Peruse the entire collection on the competition’s site.

 

Radula (rasping tongue) of a marine snail (Turbinidae family), Dr. Igor Siwanowicz. Honorable mention.

Unburned particles of carbon released when the hydrocarbon chain of candle wax breaks down, Ole Bielfeldt. 6th place.

Cross sections of normal human colon epithelial crypts, Dr. Ziad El-Zaatari. 15th place.

Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis), Grigorii Timin & Dr. Michel Milinkovitch. First place

A fly under the chin of a tiger beetle, Murat Öztürk. 10th place.

Slime mold (Lamproderma), Alison Pollack. 5th place.

Butterfly egg, Ye Fei Zhang. Honorable mention.

Ammophila arenaria (grass stem), Anatoly Mikhaltsov. Image of distinction.

Paper wasp stinger, Pablo Piedra. Image of distinction.

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Elaborately Constructed Shops and Homes Translate Tokyo’s Distinct Architecture into Miniature Models

All images © Christopher Robin Nordstrom, shared with permission

From his studio at Skeppsholmen, the small southern island in Stockholm, Christopher Robin Nordstrom constructs precise miniatures of Tokyo’s architecture. Flower shops, hair salons, and neighborhood police stations known as kōban are recreated at 1:20 scale from materials like MDF board, styrene plastic, wood, and brass. The tiny models are both quaint and true to city living: little air conditioners nestle into windows and autumn leaves float across the sidewalk, while trails of rust run down walls and street dirt splatters on doorways and facades.

Nordstrom shares that his dad built model planes and trains throughout his childhood, and after a trip to Tokyo in 2018, the artist decided to try a tiny construction project himself. “I (was) struck by all the small weather houses with amazing patina. Back in Stockholm, I was really tired of just ending up in front of Netflix each night,” he says. “I really wanted a nice kitchen table hobby.”

That pastime has since grown into a vast collection of architectural works in an array of styles and forms, which you can find more of, in addition to glimpses behind the scenes, on Instagram. (via Present & Correct)

 

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Fly with More Than 450 Bird Species on Their Annual Migrations with Audubon’s New Interactive Maps

All images courtesy of Bird Migration Explorer

What route does the whooping crane follow as it travels south each year? What about the long-winged turkey vulture? A new interactive guide from Audubon tracks the journeys of more than 450 species as they travel around the hemisphere. Complete with the conservation organization’s signature illustrations, the Bird Migration Explorer features digital maps that offer detailed insight into such grand-scale avian movement and are searchable by different taxonomies. Follow a tundra swan’s annual flight path from the arctic, see where the organization spots tagged merlins, and explore the difficulties a horned lark faces as it encounters human activity and climate crisis-related changes on its treks. (via Alastair Humphreys)

 

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Shop Sebastian Foster’s Limited-Edition Disrupted Realism Print Set Featuring Works Reshaping Realism

Gage Opdenbrouw. All images courtesy of Sebastian Foster, shared with permission

Austin-based gallery Sebastian Foster is collaborating with author John Seed and a group of well-established artists on a print set that coincides with his new book, Disrupted Realism.

Disrupted Realism is the first book to survey the works of contemporary painters who are challenging and reshaping the tradition of Realism. Helping art lovers, collectors, and artists approach and understand this compelling new phenomenon, the volume includes the works of 38 artists whose paintings respond to the subjectivity and disruptions of modern experience.

Seed, a widely published author and blogger, believes that we are “the most distracted society in the history of the world” and has selected artists he sees as visionaries in this developing movement. The artists’ impulses toward disruption are idiosyncratic, but all include perception and emotion in their processes. Sebastian Foster collaborated with Seed on a print set of nine works from artists featured in the book, each available in small, exclusive numbered editions of 25.

Now online-only, Sebastian Foster focuses on original works and prints, publishing upwards of 1,000 editions since it opened in the 2000s. Whether you’re looking for the next piece to add to your collection or for meaningful holiday gifts, head to the gallery’s site to shop the Disrupted Realism Print Set today.

 

Daniel Bilodeau

Dorian Vallejo

J Louis

Joshua Meyer

Kirstine Reiner Hansen

Mia Bergeron

Nick Runge

Zack Zdrale

Disrupted Realism, cover

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A Surfer Trapped Under One of the World’s Heaviest Waves Wins the Ocean Photographer of the Year

Image © Ben Thouard. All images courtesy of Oceanographic, shared with permission

The 2022 Ocean Photographer of the Year contest highlights the vast array of colors and textures within marine environments. More than 5,000 entrants from around the world submitted to this year’s competition, with winning images framing the iridescent, billowing membranes of creatures spotted during blackwater dives, the speckled tentacles of baby squid, and a school of baitfish swirling into a choreographed pattern. The top prize was awarded to photographer Ben Thouard for his disorienting image of a surfer trapped under one of Tahiti’s infamous Teahupo’o waves, which are among the heaviest swells in existence.

Selected photos are on view through November 7 next to Tower Bridge in London, and you can see the entire 2022 collection on the contest’s site. (via Peta Pixel)

 

Image © Katherine Lu

Image © Brook Peterson

Image © Matty Smith

Image © Brooke Pyke

Image © Ishino Shota

Image © Gergo Rugli

Image © Martin Broen

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