A Heartbreaking Documentary Follows Mohamad Hafez as He Processes the Indelible Imapcts of the Syrian War

“This knob here is a radio switch, but what I see in it is an exploded engine,” says Mohamad Hafez (previously) in the opening of a new short film. The project of Jimmy Goldblum for The New Yorker Documentary series, “A Broken House” is a heartbreaking glimpse of the artist’s life and work and the horrific impacts of the Syrian war.

Born in Damascus, Hafez originally came to the U.S. on a single-entry visa to study architecture. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, travel restrictions changed, and he realized that he had to stay in the U.S. or risk not being able to return to complete his degree. Hafez missed weddings, funerals, and births and an immense homesickness grew. At one point asked himself, “If you can’t get home, why don’t you make home?” That prompted what’s now a mainstay of his practice, which involves constructing architectural miniatures of his native city using found objects. “I wanted to build the Damascus of my memories,” he says.

 

Although “A Broken House” begins with the artist’s studio in New Haven, Connecticut, the majority of the documentary follows the aftermath of the civil war. Goldblum and Hafez visit a refugee camp and speak with a father living there, and they spend time with the artist’s mother in Beirut, who refuses to leave her home in Syria, because it’s the closest city Hafez can travel to without being ensnared in the war.

Ultimately, the film highlights how the war has caused an immense loss of life and destroyed important cultural and historical sites. Hafez reflects this damage in his miniatures, which often feature dust-coated rubble, chipped paint, and fragments of bombed-out buildings. “If something did not look right,” the artist says about his work, “I took a hammer to it, and I snapped it, and I would throw ash on it, and I would burn it.” Although Hafez is intent on humanizing refugees, he tends to leave the ruins devoid of people to instead focus on the grim aftermath of war without blood or bodily harm.

Learn more about the artist in this conversation with Colossal from a few years back, and explore his latest works on Instagram.

 

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Mestiz’s Furniture and Fixtures Meld Vibrant Craft Traditions with Mexican Flora and Fauna

All photos by Pepe Molina, © Mestiz, shared with permission

Wander into the new Mestiz space in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and you’ll encounter suspended cacti lights made of hot pink wicker, wooden tables shaped like spiky fauna, and wool rugs evocative of mythical animals. Founded by architect and designer Daniel Valero in 2015, the studio is known for collaborating with local artisans and makers to create functional home goods and decorative objects that capture the vibrancy and textures of the surrounding environment. Valero’s pieces reflect the traditions of local craftspeople, and he focuses on using “the same tools they have always used to create new things,” he said in an interview.

Mestiz’s most recent designs include a cherimoya chair, which has dried palm fringe and gouged feet that mimic the fruit’s surface. Follow the latest projects, and take a tour of the new workspace on the studio’s Instagram.

 

Valero in the studio

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‘An Indigenous Present’ Is a Paradigm-Shifting Illumination of Native North American Art Today

Jamie Okuma, “Elk Boots” (2017), glass seed beads on Giuseppe Zanotti boots, 21 x 7 inches. Photo by Cameron Linton, courtesy of Ellen and Bill Taubman. All images © DelMonico Books, shared with permission

“Historically, books about contemporary Native and Indigenous art have often been composed of academic essays illustrated with artworks by Indigenous makers,” Jeffrey Gibson (previously) says in the introduction to An Indigenous Present. “The writing often references previously published texts that can be problematic and outmoded.” Released by DelMonico Books/Big NDN Press last month, the nearly 450-page volume renders solid a new paradigm of representation and visibility of Native North American art.

Works by more than 60 artists comprise the monumental survey, exploring myriad practices focused on and intersecting contemporary art, music, filmmaking, choreography, architecture, writing, photography, design, and more. The tome highlights the remarkable diversity of media and cultural influences across the continent, from fashion artist Jamie Okuma’s intricately beaded designer boots to Dana Claxton’s elaborate Headdress portrait series to Northwest Coast artist and Chief Beau Dick’s expressive masks. Gibson continues:

For An Indigenous Present, I wanted to make a lavish picture book (“sexy” was a word I used a lot to describe this project) that invites an audience to consider the creative and conceptual spaces artists need to think freely, disrupt the flow, take chances, make mistakes, and even fail in the process of creating something new.

Find your copy on Bookshop.

 

Melissa Cody, “Dopamine Regression” (2010), 3-ply wool, aniline dyes, wool warp, and 6-ply selvedge cords, 70 x 48 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York

All pieces by Dana Claxton. Images courtesy of the artist

Wendy Red Star, “Awaxaawippiia (Ominous Mountains)” (2021), acrylic, graphite, kitakata paper, and marble paper in 30 parts, overall: 112 x 183 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Sargent’s Daughters, New York

Beau Dick, “Volcano Woman” (c. 2005), red cedar, acrylic, and horsehair, 24 x 20 x 10 inches. Image courtesy of Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver

Both pieces by Caroline Monnet. Images courtesy of the artist

Meryl McMaster, “Dream Catcher” (2015), Giclée print, 32 x 66 inches. Image courtesy of the artist, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, and Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, Montréal

Nicholas Galanin, “Never Forget” (2021), iron, paint, and steel, 59 x 360 feet. Image courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York

Raven Halfmoon, “Hey’-en, Ina, Ika” (2020), stoneware and glaze, 58 x 48 ½ x 19 inches. Image courtesy of the artist

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 ‘An Indigenous Present’ Is a Paradigm-Shifting Illumination of Native North American Art Today appeared first on Colossal.

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The Supernatural Veils El Gato Chimney’s Magical Paintings of Adorned Animals

“Home Sweet Home” (2021), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters. All images © El Gato Chimney, courtesy of Tory Folliard Gallery, William Baczek Fine Arts, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, and Vision West Contemporary, shared with permission

Strips of vibrantly patterned fabrics, entwined red thread, and everyday objects floating in the sky are a few of the recurring motifs within El Gato Chimney’s works. The Milan-based artist has a surreal vision tinged with metaphysics, spirituality, and myth that he layers into scenes replete with unexpected details: clusters of birdhouses and floral embellishments envelop a bird’s upper body like a garment, a forlorn mule clutches a gold staph while yellow frogs climb its torso and legs, and a detached arm emerges from a cloud grasping an angry snake. Each piece marries the natural world with the occult and magical, firmly placing recognizable subjects and objects within the supernatural realm.

Working in vivid watercolor and gouache, El Gato Chimney is drawn to animal symbolism across folk traditions and cultures, whether it be European mountain regions, the Himalayas, or areas in Japan. “It’s incredible to discover how many similarities there are between these three areas, especially in relation to animals and their symbolism,” he says. “I use birds more than other animals because birds are the animals with more symbolism and magic power for almost all cultures.”

El Gato Chimney currently has works included in the group exhibition Birds Rising at Brassworks Gallery in Portland, with upcoming shows planned at Visions West Contemporary in Bozeman and Denver and at Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea in Milan. Find more of the artist’s work on his site and Instagram.

 

“The World” (2023), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 140 x 100 centimeters

“Unexpected Choice” (2022), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters

Left: “The Age Of The Trees” (2022), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters. Right: “Lost And Found” (2021), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 50 x 70 centimeters

“Dangerous Worlds” (2021), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters

“Ghost of Himalaya” (2023), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 98 x 153 centimeters

“Trinity” (2023), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters

“Fuochi Fatui” (2023), watercolor and gouache on cotton paper, 100 x 70 centimeters

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 The Supernatural Veils El Gato Chimney’s Magical Paintings of Adorned Animals appeared first on Colossal.

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Fantastic Creatures and Common Animals Materialize in Miguel Arzabe’s Woven Bestiaries

“Animales Familiares,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 78 x 108 inches. All images © Miguel Arzabe, courtesy of Johansson Projects, shared with permission

In Miguel Arzabe’s bestiaries, wide-eyed owls, pink pumas, and whale sharks emerge from planes of woven acrylic. The Oakland-based artist draws on his Bolivian roots and Andean textile traditions as he laces strips of sliced paintings into landscapes occupied by creatures both real and mythological. Arzabe’s most recent body of work, Animales Familiares, brings these beasts to the fore through vivid planes of blurred Earth and sky.

The artist begins each piece by reproducing a pair of modernist paintings, which he cuts into thin lengths and weaves together. Most often unrecognizable in their new forms—Rothko’s clear influence in the color-blocked  “Tiburón Ballena” makes the piece an outlier—the replicas root the works in Western art history. Arzabe distorts these references, though, by layering the paintings into new landscapes, intertwining the varying geographies and cultures to allow both to coexist.

On view from September 16 to October 29 at Johansson Projects, Animales Familiares imagines creatures common to the planet and spiritual realm to consider “one’s place in the universe,” Arzabe says.  Find more of the artist’s work on his site and Instagram.

 

“Flamencos,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 56 x 78 inches

Detail of “Flamencos,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 56 x 78 inches

“Puma Roja,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 50 x 72 inches

“Tiburón Ballena,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 50 x 46 inches

Detail of “Animales Familiares,” woven acrylic on canvas and linen, 78 x 108 inches

“La Bestia del Progreso,” woven acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

“Nada De Nada,” woven acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Arzabe at work

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Persian Carpets Merge With Crumbling Concrete in Jason Seife’s Elaborate Paintings

All images © Jason Seife, shared with permission

Using fine-tipped brushes to compose intricate details, Jason Seife (previously) reimagines Persian carpets as remarkable acrylic paintings. Over the past six years, he has increasingly incorporated concrete in place of canvas, inviting relief elements that gouge into the surface. “Each painting has its own set of obstacles,” he wrote recently on Instagram. “The sculptural elements, which add depth and texture to what is normally a very flat process, are some of my favorite parts of working with this material.”

Seife examines our associations around architecture and interior space, transferring patterns we normally see beneath our feet onto the wall. The chipped concrete evokes crumbling villas or excavated ruins, as if the carpets have melded with and grown into the architecture itself. In his recent exhibition at Pérez Art Museum Miami, the artist exhibited some of his largest works to date, incorporating colorful panels nestled within wallpaper-like botanical reliefs.

Find even more on Seife’s 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 Persian Carpets Merge With Crumbling Concrete in Jason Seife’s Elaborate Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

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