Art Without Intent Celebrates the Aesthetics and Mysterious Histories of Found Objects

All images © Art Without Intent, shared with permission

“The found object is an illegible, unknowable thing, out of reach even when in hand,” reads a statement of Art Without Intent, both a collaborative project and a way of looking at historic material culture. In March 2022, a group of nine antique and art dealers curated the Found Object Show in New York City. Crackled paint, weathered patinas, eccentric shapes, and amusing juxtapositions characterized the pop-up exhibition of 96 eccentric items.

Removed from their original contexts, transformed by time and the elements, and reinterpreted in a salon-style exhibition, the objects transmit an aesthetic experience similar to viewing art, even if the anonymous makers did not intend to create artworks in any formal sense. “Transformed physically and contextually, a found object sometimes packs the same aesthetic and conceptual punch of conventional art. But without artistic motive nor objective meaning, it must lie in wait to ambush an imagination,” the group explains.

Accessibility is a unique facet of the show, which invites dedicated collectors, history buffs, curious passersby, and children into the showcase, in which all objects are available for sale in a unique art-gallery-meets-antique shop atmosphere. “Art without intent ennobles the random, celebrates the anonymous, and embraces the subjective, empowering individuals to see art where they may least expect to find it.”

The next Found Objects Show will feature eighteen exhibitors and is scheduled for March 24 to 26 with an additional focus on stuffed animals. You can find out more about the project, purchase a catalogue on the website, and follow updates Instagram. (via BoingBoing)

 

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Shop 20 New Works from Sebastian Foster’s Fall Print Set

Graham Francoise “Old Growth New Life”

Austin-based gallery Sebastian Foster just announced its 2022 Fall Print Set, marking the ten-year anniversary of the collection since it first launched in 2012. The new release features 20 works by well-established illustrators, printmakers, and painters from across the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Europe. Half of the artists have worked with the gallery for years, while the other half are guests who joined just for this collection.

This set features 20 works all published as relatively small editions, signed and numbered by the artists. Encompassing an eclectic array of mediums and themes, the collection showcases works from artists previously featured on Colossal, including Graham Franciose’s dreamlike watercolor works, Diana Sudyka’s fanciful storybook scenes, and Grant Haffner’s vibrant, flat landscapes bisected by his signature utility poles.

Now online-only, Sebastian Foster focuses on original works and prints, publishing over 1,000 editions since opening in the late 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 Fall Print Set today.

 

Diana Sudyka “Oak Guardian”

Adam Hall “Awakening”

Grant Haffner “Dawn of New Day”

Jeremy Miranda “Near the Wall”

Anne Siems “Shine”

Caroline Ji “Sunset of Dissolution”

Mike McGrath “New songs to gently repel and persuade”

Mike Howat “Circa 1984”

Susan Abbott “Night Light”

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Diagrams of Turntables and Amps Chart the History of Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Rock and Roll

All images © Dorothy, shared with permission

How do you visualize the history of hip-hop? Or jazz? Questions of origin and influence are common for artists, and the inventive team behind the U.K.-based design studio Dorothy (previously) goes gold as they painstakingly map out the history of music genre by genre. Plotted onto the circuit board of a guitar amp, the diagram of a 1950s phonograph, or that of a turntable, the latest editions in Dorothy’s Blueprint series chart the pioneers and greats who transformed rock and roll, jazz, and hip-hop in gilded screen-prints. The trio of metallic designs, plus three more devoted to alternative, electronic, and dance music, are available in the Dorothy shop.

 

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So Far So Good: Vivid Paintings by Murmure Take a Wry Perspective on the Climate Crisis

“Faille (Crack)” (2022), acrylic on canvas. All images © Murmure, shared with permission courtesy of Galerie LJ

Artists Paul Ressencourt and Simon Roche, a.k.a. Murmure (previously), have worked collaboratively for the past twelve years to synthesize a studio-based practice with large-scale street art. In high-contrast acrylic paintings, the duo reference the climate crisis and enduring problems of overconsumption, especially regarding the immense impact that humans have on marine life and rising sea levels. The artists’ new exhibition Jusqu’ici tout va bien, which translates to “So far so good,” approaches environmental catastrophes like thawing glaciers and overfishing from a characteristically sardonic perspective.

Ressencourt and Roche focus on the absurdity of capitalist systems in the face of destruction. Paradoxes abound as surveyors plot developments on a melting ice sheet, supine whales are served up as giant sushi rolls, and oblivious holiday-makers dive from icebergs and wade around shorelines devoid of flora and fauna. “In spite of everything, Murmure favors in their art a form of beauty which contrasts with the cruelty, the stupidity, and the urgency of the situations depicted in their works,” the exhibition statement explains.

Jusqu’ici tout va bien is on view at Galerie LJ in Paris through November 26. You can find more of Murmure’s work on their website and Instagram.

 

“Whale Sushi” (2022), acrylic on canvas

“Jusqu’ici tout va bien (Banquise)” or “So far so good (Ice)” (2022), acrylic on canvas

“Joyau” (2022)

Detail of “Joyau (Jewel)” (2022), acrylic on canvas

“Whale Maki” (2022), acrylic on canvas

“Marquages (Markings)” (2022), acrylic on canvas

Left: Detail of “Whale Sushi.” Right: Detail of “Joyau”

Detail of “Faille”

Detail of “Joyau”

Detail of “Jusqu’ici tout va bien (Grande Banquise)”

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Salt Extraction Sites Turn Landscapes into Vivid Tapestries in Tom Hegen’s Aerial Photos

All images © Tom Hegen, shared with permission

Since 2018, German photographer Tom Hegen (previously) has been soaring above regions from western Australia and Senegal to France and Spain as he documents the vivid landscapes of salt production. His mesmerizing aerial images peer down at evaporation ponds that carve the earth into a patchwork of vibrant hues. “What attracted me was the graphic and abstract appearance of these landscapes, which almost has a painterly quality. This is also the core feature that aerial photography has to offer: an unfamiliar few at ordinary things that surround us,” Hegen shares about the project.

Spanning nearly 300 pages, a forthcoming book titled Salt Works compiles more than 160 images from the series. Although their footprints vary widely, many of the areas spotlighted approach extraction in a similar manner: Harvesters often route seawater into these fields or small pockets of land, and the sun and wind help evaporate the liquid, leaving the crystalline minerals behind. Micro bacteria tint the salt into striking pastures of rose, aqua, and ochre, transforming the areas into rich tapestries of color.

Shop prints and posters from the series on Hegen’s site and pre-order Salt Works. Find more from the series on Instagram and Behance.

 

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Guidi’s Ful/mine Is Born: An International Digital Project Promoting Art in All Forms

Ful/mine is a collaborative network of underground artists from all over the world: a digital melting pot that’s becoming the home of unconventional performative art, music, illustration, poetry, literature, and cutting-edge artistic practices.

The idea was born from a commitment at the hands of Guidi—the iconic Italian shoe and bag designer known worldwide for its exceptional leather, stylistic flair, and avant-garde references—to showcase their deep bonds with experimental art. They are putting this need into practice by effectively supporting emerging artists through this patronage of the arts project, as in the Italian lineage of “Mecenate” (just like Lorenzo De Medici, who by coincidence was born in Tuscany, same as Guidi).

Each piece of art displayed on Ful/mine is commissioned by a curatorial board (visual artist and editor Ruben Spini, art curator Vittoria De Franchis, and Art Director Enrico Manganaro under the guidance of Editorial and Artistic Director Virginia W. Ricci), and then displayed in what we can define as a freaky digital artspace pushing the boundaries of the ordinary.

With Ful/mine (follow on Instagram at @fulmine.art), Guidi wants to put people at the center, especially the artists who are already involved in @GUIDI_community on Instagram, which counts more than 80,000 followers from around the world. By immersing visitors in underground art in all of its manifestations, Ful/mine acts as a container of multisensory experiences, prompting audiences to change their perspectives and get constantly inspired.

“Ful/mine is a chamber of wonders where those uncanny sparks that enlighten and strike us are showcased and connected. Impulsive, impetuous, bold, and electric. Just like a lightning bolt.” —Virginia W. Ricci, Editorial and Artistic Director of Ful/mine

To learn more, visit fulmine.art and watch the video manifesto.

 

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Harmonious Drawings and Sculptural Renderings by Louise Despont Conjure Balance in Nature

“Taraxacum,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 75 1/4 x 95 inches. All images courtesy of Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, NYC, and Galerie Isa, Mumbai, shared with permission

Balance, symmetry, and the geometries of proportion create a distinct visual lexicon for Louise Despont. Working in graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger paper, the French American artist practices an alchemy of pattern and color, fusing the two into intricate, contemplative renderings that evoke natural elements. “I think my work has always attempted to bridge the worlds of plant wisdom and healing with a language of architecture,” Despont tells Colossal. “I’m interested in drawing the invisible, in attempting to represent the unseen but nonetheless powerful forces and systems that surround and inhabit us. I’m interested in art-making as a co-creative experience, a bit like gardening. I plant the seeds and tend to the work, but what grows comes from its own source.”

Inspired by the homeopathy and alternative medicine practiced by the artist’s mother, Despont’s works often hearken back to botanical forms as she renders petals and writhing stems in pastel hues. Her sculptural drawings utilize bamboo and string to perfectly mirror the sweeping lines and circular shapes on each side of a three-dimensional form, and this desire for engineered precision is a nod to her grandfather, father, and partner who all have backgrounds in architecture. Whether on paper or dyed fabric, her works illuminate nature’s organic harmonies and are tinged with a reverence for its more mystical properties, focusing on the energies and expressions of the world around us.

Before moving to her current home in Mallorca, Despont was featured in three Art21 films in New York and Bali that offer insight into her earlier practice. The artist’s drawings will be on view at Art Basel in Miami this December with Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, and she is currently working on a book slated for release next year. For glimpses into her studio and process, head to Instagram.

 

“Mercurius,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 75 1/4 x 95 inches

Detail of “Mercurius,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 75 1/4 x 95 inches

“Aconite,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages 75 1/4 x 95 inches

“Ignatia,” bamboo and string on botanical dyed hand-woven cotton, 93 x 81 inches

“Vital Force IV,” graphite, colored pencil, and pure gold leaf on antique ledger book page, 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches

“Arsenicum Album Constitution,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 56 1/4 x 48 inches

Top left: “Arsenicum,” bamboo and string on botanical dyed hand-woven cotton, 93 x 81 inches. Top right: “Veratrum Album,” bamboo and string on botanical dyed hand-woven cotton, 93 x 81 inches. Bottom left: “Silicia,” bamboo and string on botanical dyed hand-woven cotton, 73 x 59 inches. Bottom right: “Conium,” bamboo and string on botanical dyed hand-woven cotton, 93 x 81 inches

“Calc Fluor,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 53 x 67 1/4 inches

Detail of “Taraxacum,” graphite and colored pencil on antique ledger book pages, 75 1/4 x 95 inches

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