Swelling With Sugary Pastels, Pip & Pop’s Psychedelic Installations Revel in Food Utopias

Detail of “When Flowers Dream” (2022). All images © Pip & Pop, shared with permission

“I’m fascinated by fictional geographies and paradise mythologies, places where we can escape our earthly realities,” says artist Tanya Schultz, also known as Pip & Pop, whose large-scale candied cacophonies explode with sugary pastels and delicious textures (previously). “These places may or may not exist, are often found by chance, and are impossible to locate again once you leave. I think they can be seen as illusory places where we project our dreams and desires.”

Schultz draws inspiration from mythological utopias of luxury and plenty, like the medieval Pays de Cockaigne, also known as Luilekkerland or Schlaraffenland. In a place characterized by idleness and comfort, “the streets are paved with pastries, houses are built from cakes, mountains made of pudding, and cheese rains from the sky,” the artist says. She continues:

Throughout history, tales of food utopias became popular in times of food deprivation, especially during medieval times. People created stories, songs, and maps of these places as a way to escape reality and imagine a better future, where there would be abundant food. At other times, these lands of plenty were seen not as escapist fantasies but rather cautionary tales of gluttony.

Over time, Pip & Pop’s installations have grown in size and complexity. Schultz and her studio team incorporate sugar in various forms, “from soft, fragile piles to hard, candy-like substances,” the artist tells Colossal. “But it all starts with hand-dyeing sugar in hundreds of shades of pastel and neon colours.” The large-scale, psychedelic installations also employ modeling clay, rhinestones, beads, papier-mâché, rainbow string, pompoms, and tiny polymer cakes and fruits.

If you’re in Santa Fe, Pip & Pop has a permanent work on view at Meow Wolf. You can also find more on the studio’s website, and keep an eye on updates on Instagram.

 

“When Flowers Dream” (2022), installed at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London

“In a place I could not find” (2023), installed at Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles

Details of “In a place I could not find”

Detail of “When Flowers Dream”

Detail of “When Flowers Dream”

“Where the Sun Shines Every Day” (2021), installed at Burlington City Arts, Vermont. Photo by Sam Simon

Detail of “Where the Sun Shines Every Day.” Photo by Sam Simon

Detail of “Where the Sun Shines Every Day.” Photo by Sam Simon

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Spirited Animals Emerge from Salvaged Scrap Metal in Brian Mock’s Sculptures

All images © Brian Mock, shared with permission

The nuts and bolts of Brian Mock’s metal menagerie are often just that: nuts and bolts. From his home studio in Aloha, Oregon, Mock transforms small springs, tools, silverware, and other scraps from auto shops and recycling centers into lively animal sculptures. Each work begins with research into a particular species’ comportment, followed by a sketch that eventually, through the help of grinders, cutting discs, and a welder, becomes a lustrous owl, bear, or prowling snow leopard.

Mock works entirely on commission and has quite a few projects in progress, including cowboy boots, a human face, and several dog sculptures. Follow the latest on Instagram.

 

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Amber Cowan Transforms Flameworked Vintage Glass into Lush Assemblages

“Bittersweet, River and Milk” (2023). Photos by Matthew Hollerbush. All images © Amber Cowan, shared with permission

In elaborate detail, Amber Cowan recycles vintage glass into sculptures that effervesce with botanical frills and nostalgic motifs (previously). Many of the pieces shown here comprise the artist’s exhibition Alchemy of Adornment, now on view at the Museum of American Glass at WheatonArts, delving into the phases of popularity and eventual decline of glassware. “By the end of the 20th century, inexpensive pressed milky white and colored glass candy dishes, vases, and novelties—once proudly displayed in American homes—had fallen from favor,” says an exhibition statement.

Cowan draws on the medium’s legacy in her intricate wall pieces and freestanding sculptures, emphasizing the vast potential of the material. Vessels, kitsch, and decor transform into fantastical assemblages centered around femininity, change, and nostalgia. Using glass found in thrift stores, online sales, or by way of friends, Cowan incorporates antique pieces with flameworked cullet, or waste material that can be remelted. Sometimes, strangers donate their objects to see them revived in an artwork, and many of the fragments originate from defunct regional manufacturers in distinctive colorways that will never be produced again.

Alchemy of Adornment continues through December 31 in Millville, New Jersey. Find more on Cowan’s website and Instagram.

 

“Melanie Walking Snail with Cart” (2023)

“Art Nude Cascade in Jade” (2023)

“Candelabra in Shell” (2023)

“Dreams of a Decendant of Sirenuse” (2022), commissioned by Brunnier Art Museum

Detail of “Dreams of a Decendant of Sirenuse”

“Willie the Mouse with Tractor and Train” (2023)

“Cornucopia in Shell” (2021)

“Lamb and Dog in Sky and Milk” (2023)

Detail of “Bittersweet, River and Milk”

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 Amber Cowan Transforms Flameworked Vintage Glass into Lush Assemblages appeared first on Colossal.

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More Than 10,000 Indigenous Earthworks Hidden in the Amazon Reveal Human Connections to the Forest Over Millennia

Photos by Diego Lourenço Gurgel, courtesy of Vinicius Peripato, shared with permission

For at least 12,000 years, Indigenous societies have called the Amazon basin home, but for archaeologists, finding evidence of these ancient communities is often inhibited by the region’s dense forest. Thanks to remote-sensing LiDAR, or light detection and ranging technology, researchers Vinicius Peripato and Luiz Aragão of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research led surveys that identified 24 previously undocumented earthworks. Recently publishing their findings in Science, they share:

These ancient Indigenous societies had profound knowledge of earthmoving, riverine dynamics, soil enrichment, and plant and animal ecology, which allowed them to create domesticated landscapes that were more productive for humans. With earthmoving techniques, Indigenous peoples created a wide variety of earthworks (i.e., ring ditches, geoglyphs, ponds, and wells), mostly between 1,500 and 500 years before present, with social, ceremonial, and defensive functions.

Stunning aerial photographs taken in the raking light of the late afternoon reveal monumental geometric shapes in the land, often seen in clusters or concentric arrangements. Using distribution models and comparing the abundance of large-scale archaeological sites across the area, the scientists suggest that between 10,000 and 24,000 sites remain undiscovered across Amazonia’s 2.59 million square miles.

Peripato, Aragão, and their team also uncovered evidence of domesticated tree species, proposing that some of the the societies actively practiced forestry. “These archaeological legacies can play a role in present-day debates around Indigenous territorial rights,” the researchers say. “They serve as tangible proof of an ancestor’s occupation, way of life, and their relationship with the forest.”

Explore more of the team’s research in-depth on Science.

 

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Anish Kapoor’s ‘Untrue/Unreal’ Dissolves Dichotomies Through Sculptural Interventions at Palazzo Strozzi

“Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint. All images © Anish Kapoor, courtesy of Palazzo Strozzi, shared with permission

Untrue Unreal exemplifies the questions British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor (previously) has grappled with throughout his career, particularly those surrounding space and perception. On view now at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, the exhibition encompasses new and previously shown works that offer insight into the mainstays and evolution of the artist’s decades-long practice, along with his profound interest in materiality.

Opening the show is “Void Pavilion IV,” a sleek, white cubic structure nestled inside the Renaissance courtyard. Viewers are invited to walk through the stark, geometric form, which functions like a void, plunging them into a quiet, meditative space before venturing into the galleries. Inside are several of Kapoor’s earlier works, including the well-known “Svayambhu.” Sliding between two spaces and leaving gloopy clumps in its wake, the massive brick of red wax explores how architecture shapes materials and the relationship between matter and emptiness. Other works include the primary colored sculptures of “To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red” and “Angel,” which probe the tension between the earthly and non, along with “Newborn,” a mirrored sphere evocative of the artist’s iconic “Cloud Gate” in downtown Chicago.

Dualities of all kinds—geometric and biomorphic, transience and permanence, concave and convex—characterize Kapoor’s work and emerge in the exhibition title. Considering how boundaries between two distinct objects or concepts dissolve, Kapoor explains about Untrue Unreal:

At this time of ultra-nationalism taking the world over, political fiction poses as the real and is blind to history. The real/unreal–true/untrue game is a trope of our times… I dare say that we have lost touch with human reality and that of our fellow comrades, a hundred million of whom wander the world as refugees. All this in blind ultra-nationalists’ indoctrination. Untrue–Unreal today. The artist’s role, according to me, is to look to the unknown or half-known. I have nothing to say. My truth is to trust in what I don’t know or half know, in this the Untrue/Unreal is a guide.

Untrue Unreal is on view through February 4, 2024. Find more of Kapoor’s work on Instagram.

 

“Void Pavilion VII” (2023)

“Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint

Detail of “Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint

“Newborn” (2019), stainless steel, 300 x 300 x 300 centimeters

“Angel” (1990), slate and pigment

“To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red” (1981), mixed media and pigment

“Endless Column” (1992), mixed media

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An Ambitious Series of Portraits by Uli Westphal Captures the Character of Every Edible Plant Seed

Top row, left to right: Aronia melanocarpia (black chokeberry), Atriplex hortensis (orache), and Avena sativa (oat). Second row: Averrhoa carambola (star fruit), Basella alba (malabar spinach), and Beta vulgaris (beet root). Third row: Betula pendula (birch), Borago officinalis (borage), and Brassica juncea (brown mustard). Bottom row: Brassica oleracea (cabbage), Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea), and Calendula officinalis (marigold). All images © Uli Westphal, shared with permission

From the fuzzy casing of the levant cotton seed to the speckled scarlet runner bean to the star-shaped pod of the aptly named star anise, the minuscule sources of the world’s edible plants take center stage in photographer Uli Westphal’s newest project. Fascinated by food systems (previously) and the myriad ways we have adapted botanicals to our needs, the artist showcases the phenomenal diversity of plants, or in this case, their tiny origins. In the ongoing Seeds series, he creates a collective portrait of all edible plants, capturing incredible textures and colors in micro-photographic detail.

While other projects include amassing large quantities of produce, he started focusing on a collection of crop seeds during the pandemic, many of which he accumulated over the years. Currently, he has about 400 species, with a shortlist of 3,000 considered highly edible. Varying in shape, size, color, and texture, the specimens require a setup that allows Westphal to capture every minute characteristic.

 

Carica papaya (papaya)

Because the seeds are often so tiny they’re impossible to capture with traditional camera lenses, Westphal added high-resolving microscope objectives—the magnifying part of the microscope lens closest to the object—to his camera. The objectives have an extremely shallow depth of field, so he built a machine that moves the camera a few micrometers at a time, allowing him to take hundreds of images of each seed. These individual shots are used to create one composite image in which the entire seed is in focus.”It’s a time consuming but rewarding process that reveals a world that would otherwise remain invisible to the naked eye,” he says.

Westphal considers this body of work, in addition to others like the Cultivar Series, “infinite projects that I intend to pursue and expand for as long as I’m around…I believe we need this knowledge to raise awareness, celebrate, and safeguard this botanic cornucopia.”

If you’re in The Netherlands, you can see some of the images in the exhibition Spacefarming at the Evoluon in Eindhoven, which continues through March 2024. Westphal is currently working on a project site to accompany the series, but in the meantime, you can explore some of his other projects on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.

 

Illicium verum (star anise)

Top row, left to right: Opuntia ficus indica (prickly pear), Origanum vulgare (oregano), and Oryza sativa (rice). Middle row: Panicum miliaceum (millet), Papaver somniferum (bread seed poppy), and Passiflora edulis (maracuja). Bottom row: Passiflora quadrangularis (giant granadilla), Pastinaca sativa (parsnip), and Pennisetum americanum (pearl millet)

Centaurea cyanus (cornflower)

Cucurbita ficifoli (fig leaf gourd)

Gossypium herbaceum (levant cotton)

Elettaria cardamomum (kardamon)

Ribes rubrum (redcurrant)

Phaseolus coccineus (scarlet runner bean)

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 Ambitious Series of Portraits by Uli Westphal Captures the Character of Every Edible Plant Seed appeared first on Colossal.

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