Paper-Thin Ceramic Pieces Puzzle Together to Form Elegant Vessels by Ellis Moseley

All images © Ellis Moseley, shared with permission courtesy of Hugo Michell Gallery

Through a methodical and labor-intensive process of layering petals of thin clay, Adelaide-based artist Ellis Moseley creates elegant, airy vessels that appear to flutter where they sit. Using paper-clay slip—a fine-grained, lightweight, and durable ceramic medium made from mixing clay slip with fiber—the sculptures are composed of strips dried on a plaster bat. The individual pieces are then peeled away and applied to a smooth base. He begins at the bottom and works up in a loose spiral, retaining the delicate edges and emphasizing each vessel’s contours.

In his recent exhibition Heist at Hugo Michell Gallery, Moseley focused on a color palette of pastel pinks, blues, and greens, coalescing fine art and functionality. Find more of his slip-cast work on his website.

 

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Paper-Thin Ceramic Pieces Puzzle Together to Form Elegant Vessels by Ellis Moseley appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/eOdXw6D
via IFTTT

Poetic Drawings by Yuria Okamura Meditate on the Sacredness of Plants

All images © Yuria Okamura, shared with permission

Melbourne-based artist Yuria Okamura intertwines sacred geometries with medicinal botanicals in her delicate drawings and wall works. Evoking animism and the Buddhist and Shinto beliefs she encountered during her childhood in Japan, Okamura’s renderings in pen and acrylic create sites for meditation and contemplation with symmetries, muted color palettes, and subdued, calming auras.

Often accompanying the smaller works on paper are large-scale patterns the artist draws on the walls surrounding the pieces to create immersive architectural installations. This pairing establishes “a temple-like space for enshrining nature,” she says, and together, the works emulate the quiet, reflective qualities of places of worship.

Some of Okamura’s works shown here are on view through August 20 as part of Melbourne Now at NGV Australia. Find more of her exquisite renderings on her site and Instagram.

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Poetic Drawings by Yuria Okamura Meditate on the Sacredness of Plants appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/2XGw6vi
via IFTTT

Looks Fishy: Andrey Savin Greets Marine Denizens in His Vibrant Underwater Portraits

All images © Andrey Savin, shared with permission

Skirting the sandy sea floor or floating amidst anemone fronds, the subjects of Andrey Savin’s portraits can’t help but act a little fishy. The photographer meets most of the marine species in the waters around where he lives in the Philippines, fascinated by their enigmatic habits and unique interactions. “The most interesting moments for me are when I observe relationships between living creatures of the same species or interspecies relationships,” he tells Colossal. A finalist for the 2022 Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest, he highlights each individual’s distinctive traits, from snaggleteeth to speckled scales, and their remarkable aquatic home.

Savin is currently working on a project investigating how to take high-quality video with smartphones underwater, along with a continuing focus on capturing animal behavior. You can find more on his website, Instagram, and Behance.

 

 

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Looks Fishy: Andrey Savin Greets Marine Denizens in His Vibrant Underwater Portraits appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/sd73DHZ
via IFTTT

Spikes, Interlocked Rings, and Bold Bulges Sprout from Megan Bogonovich’s Otherworldly Ceramic Botanicals

All images © Megan Bogonich, courtesy of Kishka Gallery & Library, shared with permission

“There is a tree on my road that has been cut very strangely to accommodate a power line, and I think about that tree a lot,” says Megan Bogonovich, who envisions the otherworldly potential of human touch on the environment through playful, botanical sculptures.

Based in Norwich, Vermont, Bogonovich recognizes nature’s immense capability for adaptation and strength in seemingly inhospitable spaces. “The whole dandelion growing out of a pavement crack thing,” she says. Her works embody transformation and abundant growth, and unusual colors, shapes, and textures arise in surreal combinations. With bulbous bases, spiked protrusions, and interlocked petals, the works imagine “the batty possibilities of what could be growing in the universe or what might be the first thing to sprout up after an environmental disaster.”

Rooted in play and the “ceaseless goofiness” of reproduction, the sculptures evolve throughout a lengthy process. Bogonovich begins by hand-building small geometric and organic forms like cones, tubes, ovoids, and textured patches made with drilled holes, cuts, and everyday objects like buttons, which she then casts in plaster to make a mold. “If I cast 30 molds one day, by the next day I have a set of slip-cast tinkertoy-type parts that I can alter and bend or duplicate. It’s a lot of labored build-up to get to a point where I can work spontaneously and impulsively with a material that would otherwise want planning,” she says. 

 

These malleable forms are then fired and readied for glazing, a slow, meticulous process that involves several layers and bouts in the kiln at varying temperatures. “The sculptures are matte white when they first come out of the kiln. I let a lot of pieces build up before I start glazing,” Bogonovich says. “I get used to being surrounded by ghost flowers, so when the tide changes to color it feels like a big shift in the studio.” Like nature, glazing is unpredictable, and the pastel pinks, bold oranges, and mottled hues add a whimsical, playful element to the works. “I live in the woods in Vermont, and at this time of year, there is so much green. It’s nice to imagine bright yellow tree trunks or hot pink maple leaves,” she says. 

Bogonovich works with Kishka Gallery & Library, where she recently held a solo show, and has sculptures on view through May 20 at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York. Find more of her pieces on her site and Instagram.

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Spikes, Interlocked Rings, and Bold Bulges Sprout from Megan Bogonovich’s Otherworldly Ceramic Botanicals appeared first on Colossal.

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

Ruslan Khasanov Brings Cosmic Phenomena Down to Earth in His Mesmerizing Short Film ‘Space Iris’

All images © Ruslan Khasanov, shared with permission

For more than ten years, Ruslan Khasanov (previously) has been enthralled by the ecstatic effects of light, color, and movement, which he expresses in an ongoing series of photographs and videos. Composed of a mixture of liquids like water, oil, and paint, he captures hundreds of high-resolution images that are then edited into a short film titled “Space Iris,” which is accompanied by an original composition by Fabio Fonda. “The iris, with its intricate patterns and colors, shares a striking resemblance to the vibrant and colorful cosmic nebula,” Khasanov says. “Just as the eye is a window to the soul, the nebula serves as a window to the vast universe beyond.”

You might also enjoy his earlier projects “Eye” and “heterochromia iridum,” which you can find among many other pieces, on Behance and Vimeo.

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Ruslan Khasanov Brings Cosmic Phenomena Down to Earth in His Mesmerizing Short Film ‘Space Iris’ appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/H7fDUCe
via IFTTT

Brendon Burton Captures Moments of Nostalgia and Wonder in North America’s Most Isolated Places

All images © Brendon Burton, shared with permission

Growing up in an isolated community, photographer Brendon Burton developed an eye for the way decaying buildings nestle into the landscape or punctuate vast expanses. Now based primarily in Portland, Oregon, he travels around the U.S. in search of rural places that are culturally worlds apart from major urban centers, seemingly existing on their own timelines. Like his series Thin Places, his recent body of work titled Interstices—to which some of these images belong—emphasizes the notion of liminality, advancing time, and spaces for passing through.

Utilizing drones to achieve dramatic aerial views in addition to intimate perspectives shot from ground level, Burton highlights the relationships between the built environment and wilderness, ancestry and life cycles, and presence and local traditions. “I recently visited the Deep South for the first time and documented Courir de Mardi Gras in a rural Cajun community in Louisiana,” he says. “It was truly an insane event, and the people I met were so kind and welcoming. I definitely will be visiting the South again soon.”

Burton is currently working on a second photo book focusing on the effects of the climate crisis and cultural isolation in rural communities throughout North America. As for future trips, he is headed to Saskatchewan and Manitoba this summer, then rural Appalachia in the autumn. Prints are available on his website, and you can find more on Instagram.

 

 

 

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Brendon Burton Captures Moments of Nostalgia and Wonder in North America’s Most Isolated Places appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/H9svWZk
via IFTTT

Through Otherworldly Graphite-and-Ink, Juliet Schrekinger Advocates for Protecting Endangered Species

“The Timekeepers.” All images © Juliet Schrekinger, shared with permission

Photography has an impulse for preservation, of cloistering the fleeting and saving it for future recollection. Artist Juliet Schrekinger references this act of protection in her ink-and-graphite works that evoke the grainy qualities of black-and-white film through a distinctly surreal vision.

Throughout her childhood, Schrekinger witnessed her mother taking countless photos of family events and happenings that were then displayed. “I continually saw the greatest moments I shared with my loved ones framed in our home, colorless time capsules that I would turn to for years to come,” the artist says. “I began to feel a deep desire to recreate these sorts of time capsules in my work but wanted to incorporate scenes that did not occur in this world.”

Mimicking the lighting and tonal contrasts of her mother’s images, Schrekinger’s renderings fuse the anatomically accurate with the otherworldly. While many of her scenes are unearthly—a pangolin wraps its long, scaly tail around the torso of a fox, sea birds perch upon a squid’s sinuous arms, and a band of hares appears to float through the sky—the animals are depicted in exacting detail, and the likeness of their fur, feathers, and tentacles is the result of extensive research. “I have traveled up and down both the east and west coast of the U.S., taking my own reference photos of birds, aquatic life, ocean environments, trees, and so much more that all ends up being used as a starting point in my work,” she tells Colossal, noting that when it’s impossible to use her own images, she collates five to ten photos to create a specific form.

 

“Peter The Pangolin And Fable The Sierra Nevada Red Fox”

Most of the animals featured in Schrekinger’s work are endangered or vulnerable, and she’s concerned with environmental destruction, loss of habitat, and the threat many species face as the world warms and the climate changes. Pangolins, for example, are thought to be the most-trafficked non-human mammal, while the North Atlantic Right Whale is one of the most endangered species, with fewer than 350 left worldwide. “Above all else, I feel the most important aspect of what I do is raising awareness for endangered and vulnerable species,” she says. “I feel it is my duty to use my art to promote a consciousness in our society of the serious problems facing those who have no voice.” In recent years, she’s collaborated with numerous conservation organizations like the Pangeaseed and Surfrider foundations, to create works advocating for greater protection.

Schrekinger, whose studio is in Amityville, New York, is involved in several group exhibitions in the coming months, including Existential on view through May 21 at Antler Gallery in Portland and upcoming shows with Modern Eden Gallery, Stranger Factory Gallery, and Nucleus Portland. She’s also preparing for a solo exhibition opening in October at Arch Enemy Arts. You can find originals and prints on her site, and follow her latest works on Instagram. (via Beautiful Bizarre)

 

“William And The Sea Birds”

Left: “Clara.” Right: “Hamlin”

“Oscar’s Lighthouse”

“Vasey The Vampire Squid And Her Haunted Boat House”

Left: “Horton.” Right: “Willy”

“Oscar And The Gulls”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Through Otherworldly Graphite-and-Ink, Juliet Schrekinger Advocates for Protecting Endangered Species appeared first on Colossal.

from Colossal https://ift.tt/30ivVhJ
via IFTTT