Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Thin Strips of Colorful Vinyl Spill Over Derrick Velasquez’s Wooden Sculptures

a sculpture of colorful layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 290” (2021), vinyl and wood, 23 X 21 X 1.25 inches. All images courtesy of Pentimenti Gallery, shared with permission

Gracefully stacked atop humble wooden shapes, thin strips of vinyl create kaleidoscopic planes in the sculptures of Derrick Velasquez. The Denver-based artist draws on the principles of color theory to create wall-based works with innumerable layers evocative of sediment or brushstrokes. All finished with staggered edges that curl upwards, the pieces are part of Velasquez’s Untitled series, which utilizes the same curved shape and varies in palette and size. “Slowly building these sculptures becomes akin to layers upon layers of the experiences and connections we make inviting a perceptual encounter and a tactile experience,” he says.

The works shown here are part of Velasquez’s solo show Close To The Memory Of on view from November 7 to December 22 at Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia. Find more of his sculptures on his site and Instagram.

 

a sculpture of colorful layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 389” (2023), vinyl and cherry, 54 x 30 x 1.5 inches

a sculpture of black and white layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 386” (2023), vinyl and maple, 46 x 40 x 1 inches

a sculpture of colorful layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 388” (2023), vinyl and maple, 46 x 35 x 1 inches

a sculpture of colorful layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 393” (2023), vinyl and cherry, 24 x 29 x 1 inches

a sculpture of colorful layers of vinyl folded over a central wooden pole

“Untitled 366” (2023), vinyl and maple, 25 x 29 x 1 inches

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 Thin Strips of Colorful Vinyl Spill Over Derrick Velasquez’s Wooden Sculptures appeared first on Colossal.



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In ‘Atacama,’ Renewable Energy and Mining Converge in a Stunning Bird’s-Eye View of Human Impact

a black and white aerial photo of wind turbines on the landscape

Valle de los Vientos Wind Farm, Atacama Desert, Chile (2017). All images © Jamey Stillings, courtesy of Steidl, shared with permission

An arid region with uncanny similarities to Mars, the Atacama Desert is sparsely inhabited by animal life but rich in mineral deposits. Located west of the Andes Mountains in northern Chile, the area is home to massive mines harvesting a third of the world’s copper and lithium supplies. These extractions date back to at least the 19th century, having scarred and damaged the landscape in the process.

The same dry, sun-soaked qualities that make the Atacama inhospitable uniquely position it as a lucrative site for generating wind and solar power, two forms of renewable energy that stand in opposition to the region’s history of fossil-fuel dependence. Santa Fe-based photographer Jamey Stillings spent part of 2017 flying over the region documenting the shift toward sustainable sources, now compiled in a recent book published by Steidl.

Dozens of aerial images fill the 160 pages of Atacama: Renewable Energy and Mining in the High Desert of Chile, juxtaposing the older mines with the newer solar and wind plants. Stillings not only captures the beautiful and saddening sights most humans will never witness firsthand but also illuminates our current crossroads: as we collectively consider how to live in ways that are less ecologically destructive, we also need to plan for realistic, and even obvious, alternatives like those available in Atacama and clearly identify how we’ll transition from one system to the next.

Atacama is available on Bookshop, and you can find more from the series, along with Stillings’ other projects, on Instagram.

 

an aerial image of a white circular form with extension on the bottom part on a brown landscape

Cerro Dominador Concentrated Solar Plant under construction, Chile (2017)

clouds hover over silver solar panels in a mountainous region

El Romero Solar Photovoltaic Plant, Chile (2017)

rectangles of aqua cloak a landscape

Mina SQM Lithium Mine, Salar de Atacama, Chile (2017)

a mountainous region in and oranges and purple

Aerial landscape, Atacama region, Chile (2017)

a geometric form of solar power sits on a darkened landscape

Pampa Elvira Solar Thermal Plant located at Minera Gaby Copper Mine, Chile (2017). ‘Atacama’ book cover

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 In ‘Atacama,’ Renewable Energy and Mining Converge in a Stunning Bird’s-Eye View of Human Impact appeared first on Colossal.



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The BBC’s Award-Winning ‘Planet Earth’ Returns for a Thrilling Yet Alarming Third Series

The BBC’s award-winning series Planet Earth returned this month with eight episodic documentaries that showcase the most awe-inspiring, miraculous, and seemingly impossible-to-capture sights of the natural world. As usual, the stunning footage is paired with the iconic voice of now 97-year-old Sir David Attenborough and captures a wide range of animal life, from a rhinoceros lumbering through city streets to flamingoes attempting to nest among the flooded lands of the Yucatán Penninsula.

Shot in 43 countries for the past five years, the episodes are thematic, focusing on ecosystems like oceans and forests or topics like extreme living conditions and human impacts. As should be expected with anything planet-related in 2023, critics are warning that this season is as beautiful as it is frightening. The series includes the usual animal antics and predator vs. prey relationships, along with necessary adaptations and struggles faced by life on a planet facing catastrophic collapse and habitat destruction.

Watch the trailer above, and mark your calendars for November 4 when Planet Earth III premieres on BBC America in the U.S.

 

a cave opening into a lush forest

camels walk across the desert

two wolves cross ice

a rhino walks in the middle of the city

green frogs cling to each other in a cluster on leaves

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 BBC’s Award-Winning ‘Planet Earth’ Returns for a Thrilling Yet Alarming Third Series appeared first on Colossal.



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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Over 100 Spectacular Artworks Line an Australian Beach for the Annual ‘Sculpture by the Sea’

a child sits on a sculpture of a melted ice cream truck on a beach

The Glue Society, “Hot with A Chance of a Late Storm” (2006). Photo by Louise Beaumont. All images courtesy of Sculpture by the Sea, shared with permission

From a beefy seated gorilla to a sleek shell with human legs, a spectacular collection of public artworks currently populates the walk from Bondi to Tanarama beaches on Australia’s southwest coast. Celebrating its 25th year in this location, the annual Sculpture by the Sea festival showcases more than 100 pieces in various mediums, styles, and sizes, all bordering the Pacific Ocean. Through early November, visitors to the two-kilometer stretch will encounter Gleb Dusavitskiy’s enormous pair of wings that soar into the sky, geometric shapes of translucent color by Emryn Ingram-Shute, and The Glue Society’s gloopy, melting ice cream truck, which debuted in the event’s 2006 edition.

Although temporary, Sculpture by the Sea is one of the largest outdoor sculpture parks in the world and on view through November 6. See more from the 2023 edition on Instagram.

 

two massive wire wing sculptures soar above a beach

Gleb Dusavitskiy, “I Believe I Can Fly.” Photo by Tyr Liang

an adult and a child run across the beach populated by colorful geometric shapes

Emryn Ingram-Shute, “No Colour in War.” Photo by Tyr Liang

Four times from top left, a seated silver gorilla, a rusty pipe drips pink fluid, a statue of a man in tattered garments stands near the sea, a geometric ram head rests on grass

Top left: Eiji Hayakawa, “Giant in the Forest.” Photo by Charlotte Curd. Top right: Markus Hofer, “Serum.” Photo by Henri Fanti. Bottom left: Laurence Edwards, “Man of Stones” (2022). Photo by Charlotte Curd. Bottom right: Osamu Ohnishi and Masako Ohnishi, “HITSUJI Hideout.” Photo by Henri Fanti

a tall plinth like sculpture with two sections of water-like material

Tsukasa Nakahara, “Water Blocks 19-11” (2021). Photo by Charlotte Curd

a metallic sculpture of a shell atop human legs

“Keep Walking.” Photo by Charlotte Curd

a melted ice cream truck on a beach

The Glue Society and James Dive, “Hot With the Chance Of A Late Storm” (2006-2022). Photo by Charlotte Curd

an oversized rusted can with peeled open top

Juan Pablo Pinto and Cristian Rojas, “The Hermitage.” Photo by Charlotte Curd

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 Over 100 Spectacular Artworks Line an Australian Beach for the Annual ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ appeared first on Colossal.



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Wind Animates Vibrant Fabrics in Thomas Jackson’s Ephemeral Environmental Installations

A photograph of a swathe of tulle floating in the wind in a landscape.

“Tulle no. 046” (2022), Nantucket, Massachusetts. All images © Thomas Jackson, shared with permission

Ethereal sheets of tulle appear to hover in spectral motion over meadows and in copses of trees in Thomas Jackson’s latest photographs. “If there’s a theme I’m focused on this year, it’s the relationship between the materials I use to make my installations and the landscapes they inhabit,” he tells Colossal. Each ephemeral installation (previously) responds to the surrounding environment, changing shape as it interacts with the wind. Often documented during the golden hour, the layers of thin fabric shift to become more or less opaque, overlapping into various color combinations in the light.

Recently, Jackson has begun to work with silk and continues to incorporate other everyday materials into his pieces, like plastic cups or aluminum trays. This past summer, he and a team of 60 volunteers coordinated the installation of “Collaborative Nature,” a public art project in a park in Tiburon, California, consisting of about 800 fabric “puffs” that responded to the wind, stuck into the ground with thin fiberglass stakes.

Jackson focuses on sustainability, taking a “leave no trace” approach to dismantling the installations when they are complete and recycling the materials into new projects. He says:

It would not be incorrect to say that I make art about nature with materials that represent a threat to nature itself. It’s contradictory, I know, and to a large degree, that’s the point. In fact, I think we’re all grappling with a similar contradiction in our daily lives. We revere nature and want to preserve it (most of us at least), but we also want to enjoy the comforts and conveniences of our petroleum-based, industrial economy. I want my work to exist in the space between those two incompatible desires. At the same time, I want viewers to consider what a sustainable equilibrium between ourselves and the natural world might look like.

Find more of Jackson’s work on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.

 

A photograph of a swathe of blue tulle floating in the wind in a landscape.

“Tulle no. 51_v2,” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia

A photograph of a public art installation of fabric "puffs" on the California coast.

“Collaborative Nature,” (2023), Tiburon, California

A photograph of a swathe of tulle floating in the wind in a landscape.

“Tulle no. 039” (2022), Neskowin, Oregon

A photograph of a swathe of yellow tulle floating in the wind on a beach.

“Tulle no. 44_v1” (2022), Nantucket, Massachusetts

A photograph of dozens of plastic yellow cups that appear to be floating in a forest.

“Cups no. 6” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia

A photograph of a swathe of colorful silk floating in the wind in a landscape.

Nantucket, Massachusetts

A photograph of a swathe of tulle floating in the wind in a landscape.

“Tulle no. 052” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia

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 Wind Animates Vibrant Fabrics in Thomas Jackson’s Ephemeral Environmental Installations appeared first on Colossal.



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Five Copper Petals Dramatically Enclose a Bamboo Yoga Studio in a Lush Bali Village

a building made with a scalloped roof in copper

All images © Lumi Shala

A yoga and meditation studio in Bali welcomes visitors to relax and stretch under an airy bamboo canopy. A recent project of the local architecture firm IBUKU, “Lumi Shala” is a copper-coated structure with scalloped roofing that layers like five overlapping petals. The metallic covering is met with interlaced bamboo infrastructure inside, as those same botanical-like forms sweep upward in massive arches and “reflect warm golden light onto the bellies of the blonde bamboo ceilings inside, inspiring feelings of lightness and freedom,” the designers said. Earthen walls also support the roof with gaps that allow seamless movement between interior and exterior and sunlight to stream into the space.

“Lumi Shala” is one component of IBUKU’s larger plan for the yoga studio, and you can find more on the firm’s site. (via Dezeen)

 

a copper building with scalloped roof

the interior of a building with three structural forms ascending from floor to ceiling

two images, both of the exterior of the building with copper roofing and concrete base

latticed bamboo leaf-like structures run from floor to ceiling while a person walks inside

an aerial view of the scalloped copper roof surrounded by lush green forests

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 Five Copper Petals Dramatically Enclose a Bamboo Yoga Studio in a Lush Bali Village appeared first on Colossal.



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Monday, October 23, 2023

Let’s Get Digital: Toshiya Masuda Recreates Retro Technology as Pixelated Ceramic Sculptures

a pixelated ceramic sculpture in red of a boombox with a cassette tape in front

“Low pixel CG ‘Recollection playlist 2.'” All images © Toshiya Masuda, shared with permission

Retro digital aesthetics meets analog techniques in the ceramic sculptures of Toshiya Masuda. The Japanese artist (previously) fuses the low-resolution, pixelated imagery associated with early virtual worlds with quotidian objects from a similar time in pop culture history. Blurry cubes of painted clay form a bright red boombox and cassette tape, a pair of high-top Converse, and a Polaroid camera with a crinkled photo emerging from its slot. By melding the two disparate forms, Masuda creates what he calls an “image gap,” an uncanny feeling in which the unreal is made tactile.

Nostalgic and youthful, the sculptures reflect technological evolution and our increasing reliance on devices. Masuda tells designboom:

I am 46 years old now. I remember when I was in primary school, computers became widespread, and by the time I was a university student, these were followed by smartphones and tablets. It was like the dawn of the digital age. I am part of the generation where digital objects gradually increased their presence in our lives… One of the most important things for me when I create my work is to make sure that it expresses the times in which I live.

A few years back, Keiko Art International produced a short film documenting Masuda’s process and thinking that’s worth the watch. You can find more of his work on his site.

 

a pixelated sculpture of a polaroid camera with ceramic photos nearby

“Low pixel CG’Memory container 2′”

two ceramic sculptures of rollerskates

“Low pixel CG ‘Super Idol'”

pixelate red converse high top sneakers

“Low pixel CG ‘All Star’”

a ceramic cassette player and cassette

“Low pixel CG’Recollection Playlist'”

Two images, both of ceramic vases that appear pixelated

Left: “Low pixel CG ‘Withering Flowers.'” Right: “Low pixel CG ‘Family Taking Refuge from a Bombing Raid’ (V&A collection)”

Two pixelated ceramic flowers in tall green vases

“Low pixel CG ‘Transition'”

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 Let’s Get Digital: Toshiya Masuda Recreates Retro Technology as Pixelated Ceramic Sculptures appeared first on Colossal.



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A Knotted Octopus Carved Directly into Two Pianos Entwines Maskull Lasserre’s New Musical Sculpture

“The Third Octave” (2023). All images © Maskull Lasserre, shared with permission Behind the hammers and pins of most upright pianos is a ...