Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Toon Joosen Splices Snapshots of ’60s Life into Tongue-in-Cheek Collages

people rest on lily pads like they're a beachfront

“Oh, island in the sun.” All images © Toon Joosen, shared with permission

Artist Toon Joosen (previously) continues his retro mashups, splicing two distinct images into ironic and amusing juxtapositions. Having amassed an enormous archive of magazines and newspapers from the 1960s, Joosen tends to identify a pair of clippings “that together strengthen or alienate the whole,” he says. Through warped perspectives and exaggerated scales, the resulting collages reveal the artist’s signature wit as they depict people lounging on massive lilypads, a young boy spraying whipped cream on a beach, and a fisherman reeling in love.

Joosen sells his collages as prints, cards, and more on Etsy, and you can follow his latest creations on Instagram.

 

people appear to climb corrugated cardboard

“Let’s take the stairs”

two kids appear to carry of a bucket of words from a page

“Let’s make a story of our own!”

a kid appears to spray whip cream on a beach full of people

“It’s the same boy who puts snow on mountaintops”

a man fishes in a boat and reels in the word "love" from a book page

“True love that’s a wonder these days …”

a person appears to grab a red rope that's dangling from a map

“Hold on, I’m coming …”

a kid sits on a heap of words on a page

“I still haven’t found what i’m looking for…”

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 Toon Joosen Splices Snapshots of ’60s Life into Tongue-in-Cheek Collages appeared first on Colossal.



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Open Planet Is a Growing Library of 4,500 Free Videos Documenting Nature and Climate Issues Around the World

Climate science has a communication problem. Abstract data, figures, and projections into the distant future can be tough to comprehend. Without effective storytelling tools to convey the severity of the crisis and what’s at stake if we don’t act, it can be difficult to motivate the broader public to advocate for change.

The team at Open Planet wants to bridge that gap. A collaboration between Studio Silverback and  Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE Lab, the new digital library contains a growing collection of climate and nature footage available for free use. Open Planet currently boasts some 4,500 clips that travel around the globe, from Bird Island off the Georgian coast to Brazil’s Jamari River to Pangti Village in western India. Documenting animals, plants, landscapes, and more, the footage is diverse in subject matter and captures visual evidence of some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Director Colin Butfield shares:

As filmmakers, we know stories can be powerful agents of change, and with the window for action rapidly closing to address the planetary emergency, there’s never been a greater need for compelling, authentic storytelling. Open Planet will not only present the causes and impacts of climate change and nature loss but also the incredible ingenuity of those driving innovation to keep crucial sustainability targets within reach.

While some videos were created specifically for the platform, others are submitted by filmmakers, broadcasters, and production companies, and new footage is added daily. “Our immediate focus is to significantly grow the Open Planet footage library to cover a wider range of issues and regions globally so that more stories can be told to more audiences,” says Bethany Hutchings, who leads communications and content. “Crucially, our content needs to then reach changemakers around the world to deliver impact on a greater scale.”

Open Planet recently released its first collection focused on India, which has already reached more than 400 million viewers, and the full library is set to launch early next year.

 

a bird with blue feathers perches on wood

a blue ocean expanse

a woman holds a sapling

a snowy mountain

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 Open Planet Is a Growing Library of 4,500 Free Videos Documenting Nature and Climate Issues Around the World appeared first on Colossal.



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Tender Moments, Vibrant Plants, and Georgian Culture Adorn the Tbilisi Streets for the Annual Mural Fest

a mural of a woman grabbing her two children

Milu Correch. All images courtesy of Tbilisi Mural Fest, shared with permission

Since launching five years ago, Tbilisi Mural Fest has transformed the streets of Georgia’s capital into a vivid, outdoor gallery featuring dozens of large-scale works in myriad styles. The 2023 event—which expanded to the city of Kurasisi, as well— wrapped up this month with a similarly eclectic collection of works, including Thiago Mazza’s vividly painted botanicals (previously), a realistic rendering of a grandmother pressing dough by Sasha Korban, and Milu Correch’s touching portrait of a mother grasping her two young children. Find a selection of the 2023 murals below and check out the festival’s Instagram for more.

 

hands hold a bunch of grapes in a mural

an older woman presses dough while wearing a green apron

“Grandma” by Sasha Korban

a bright floral mural in a city

Thiago Mazza

a profile of a young person who appears to be walking away with their belongings and an extra set of arms

Telmo & Miel

two blue and white patterned murals on sides of a building

Chertova Tina

a vibrant mural with faint portraits emerging through the color

“Mokhevian” by Gera 1

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 Tender Moments, Vibrant Plants, and Georgian Culture Adorn the Tbilisi Streets for the Annual Mural Fest appeared first on Colossal.



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Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Touch the Rainbow: Trippy Rugs Weave Kaleidoscopic Color into Plush Floor Coverings

an aerial view of a colorful rug with a chair on top

The Rain Rainbow Carpet. All images ©˙Ken Kelleher

The days are getting shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the cheery colors of a summertime rainbow. From the studio of artist Ken Kelleher, a trio of rugs weaves bright, bold hues into organically shaped floor coverings. Hand-dyed, carved, and tufted, the vibrant designs are made with New Zealand wool and evoke rain, drips, and puffy clouds, all rich with kaleidoscopic color.

Shop the collection on Ken Kelleher Sculpture. (via swissmiss)

 

an aerial view of a colorful rug with a chair on top

The Cloud Rainbow Carpet

an aerial view of a colorful rug with a chair on top

The Drip Rainbow Carpet

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 Touch the Rainbow: Trippy Rugs Weave Kaleidoscopic Color into Plush Floor Coverings appeared first on Colossal.



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In Meticulous Paper Portraits, Yulia Brodskaya Coaxes Visions of a Compassionate Future

A quilled paper portrait of a woman wearing a furry parka with geometric shapes and colors on her face.

“Northern Lines.” All images © Yulia Brodskaya, shared with permission

For millennia, cultures across the globe have venerated mother goddesses who embody maternal roles and symbolize fertility and cosmological creation. For the Inuit, Nerrivik is known as the sea mother and provider, and another deity associated with the sky, Pinga, watches over the hunt. In the Odinani tradition of the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria, Ala presides over the underworld and observes morality, fertility, and creativity. And in Greek mythology, Gaia is poetically portrayed as the personification of the Earth and the ancestor of all living beings.

For artist Yulia Brodskaya, the unequivocal power of Mother Earth encompasses a vibrant series of quilled paper portraits (previously) that celebrate cultural diversity and women around the world. She says:

I create from the place of honoring history and the past—drawing lots of inspiration from various cultures existing on the planet, but at the same time, making a conscious choice to bring forward a new vision of the future: a future when we, as a collective, have healed our past, released the pain, and integrated all the lessons that brought us all here to this moment in time: unified humanity—people of Gaia.

In her new pieces, Brodskaya continues to explore resilience and hope through dreamlike portraiture. She meticulously cuts, creases, and curls thin pieces of paper to build up a relief one strip at a time, adding mystical elements like swirls and geometric shapes. In “Envisage,” a human profile merges with that of a horse, while in “Mother Energy,” leaping dolphins reflect the strength, connection, and joy of motherhood.

Brodskaya portrays a future she desires, one of brightness, openness, and compassion. She says that “this is a personal exploration of how this new reality would feel like. How would it feel to interact with a human being from this version of the future?”

Find more on the artist’s website, and follow on Instagram and TikTok, where she often shares insights into her process.Yulia

 

A quilled paper portrait of a Black woman holding her baby in a spiraling composition with a background of dolphins.

“Mother Energy”

Detail of quilled paper.

Detail of “Mother Energy”

A profile portrait of an Africa figure wearing beaded accessories, standing in front of a horse.

“Envisage”

Detail of quilled paper.

Detail of “Envisage”

A quilled paper portrait of an Indigenous American woman with geometric symbols and feathers.

“Light as a Feather”

Detail of quilled paper layers.

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

Detail of a portrait focused on the eyes, showing quilled paper pieces.

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

A quilled paper portrait of a woman looking straight at the viewer with mystical geometry merged with her skin and hair.

“Starseed”

Detail of paper quilling on a portrait.

Detail of “Starseed”

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 Meticulous Paper Portraits, Yulia Brodskaya Coaxes Visions of a Compassionate Future appeared first on Colossal.



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Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries

A large embroidery hoop with a piece made of thread and real flowers.

All images © Olga Prinku, shared with permission

Using a vibrant array of real flowers and foliage, North Yorkshire-based artist Olga Prinku (previously) designs intricate embroideries that explode with natural colors and textures. The artist embraces experimentation at a large scale, challenging the traditionally more intimate surfaces of embroidery.

In addition to blooms and leaves, Prinku has recently focused on branches in a new series called Graft. Using primarily silver birch, she describes the works as “a reference to the horticultural process of transferring twigs from one setting to another but also a nod to the slang meaning of ‘hard work’—it takes a lot of time and patience!”

Prinku’s embroideries are currently on view in a group exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts in London through November 18, and a piece selected for the SCAF Emerging Artist Award is on view until January at Lawrence Batley Theatre Gallery. She is currently working toward a major exhibition for Hidcote in the Cotswolds next year. Find more on her website, and follow her on Instagram for updates.

 

A delicate embroidery piece made with real yellow flowers on a transparent screen.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

Detail of embroidery made with real flowers.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface, with a wooden frame.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface.

An embroidery artwork made with real flowers on a transparent surface, hinting at the shape of an eye.

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 Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries appeared first on Colossal.



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Monday, November 6, 2023

The Drifters Project Harnesses Community to Clean the Oceans and Visualize Global Plastic Pollution

a pile of colorful nets on the land. the artist sorts them

“Pam In Net” (2008), Southpoint, Hawai’i, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund collaboration. Photo by Megan Lamson. All images © Pam Longobardi, shared with permission

In 2006, Pam Longobardi traveled to Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, for a residency. Cradled by a rugged coastline and high cliffs towering over the Pacific Ocean, the point marks a confluence of currents where marine life and debris gather on shore, making it a popular fishing spot and unintentional waste collection site. “There I saw an immense multitude of colors and forms of plastic that was being vomited out of the ocean, piled so deep it was beyond my arm’s reach to the bottom,” Longobardi tells Colossal. “The shock was so profound that it completely reoriented my art practice and my life.”

While determined to address the issue, Longobardi quickly understood she couldn’t work by herself. “As an artist, still going on my research missions to Hawai’i as frequently as I could but still often alone, it began to be overwhelming, exhausting, depressing to the point of self-doubt,” she says. Instead, she wanted to create something collaborative and community-based, linking activists, environmentalists, and artists with people living in the region and directly witnessing the impacts. These experiences spurred a now two-decade endeavor known as the Drifters Project, a practice of creating installations and sculptures that help visualize the catastrophic amount of plastic ruining the world’s ecosystems.

 

a swirling wall sculpture of found ocean plastic

“Ocean Archaeology of Our Time” (2023), global ocean plastics from Maldives, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Alaska, California, and Georgia coasts, mounted on painted marine plywood, 9 x 5 feet

Most works begin with Longobardi and a team cleaning specific areas and preventing plastic from embarking “on the wild journey that ends at sea and negatively impacts many, many life forms along the way.” Once the area is scoured and cleared, the artist arranges the findings by color or material into works that convey the immensity and breadth of over-consumption and the inadequacy of our waste systems.

Recent installations include “Endless (zombie Brancusi),” a series of nine totem-like sculptures made of nets and styrofoam, and an algae-shaped work titled “Ocean Archaeology of Our Time.” Although created in the Maldives, an island nation at the forefront of sea level rise and currently grappling with the effects of luxury tourism, the latter piece exhibits more than 1,000 components gathered both locally and in locations like Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Alaska. “It’s important in my works that I remix, as the ocean does, plastics from all over because it is not one place’s issue,” Longobardi says. “It’s (an) all-places problem.” This global vision grounds the Drifters Project, which calls attention to the way cigarette butts, bottle caps, and packaging from one part of the world can wash up on shores thousands of miles away.

 

One of Longobardi’s largest endeavors is “Plastic Free Island,” an ongoing initiative to keep waste from the beaches of Kefalonia, Greece. Launched in 2011, the project initially paired an international team of students with hundreds of the island’s citizens. Together, they harvested refuse from the shores and created a 44-foot installation and performance. “Plastic Free Island” can provide a sustainable template for reimagining island communities directly facing the impacts of the climate crisis, she says, noting, “Last summer when I went back, we found that all the cafes had switched to paper straws. It was a most rewarding moment to see the results of direct art/science/activism take shape.”

That the Drifters Project can foster community and spark real-world change is also evident in Longobardi’s 2022 book Ocean Gleaning, which documents her works and collaborations over the years along with contributions from about 75 people with similar interests. This crowd-sourced section records evidence of plastics gathered around the world with commentary on the findings. The book also documents waste materials animals often mistake for food, further implicating humanity in causing environmental harm. As Sarah Rose Sharp writes in a review, “The forensic examination of plastics in Longobardi’s work has particular resonance in the context of popular interest in true crime. Stories of horrific murders can always find a voracious audience, but an environmental threat which could ultimately be history’s greatest serial killer is somehow less sensational or interesting.”

 

A drop shaped installation of black plastic objects on a wall

“The Crime of Willful Neglect”

Ultimately, though, Longobardi is hopeful. She describes visiting a waterway and beginning to clean even when she hadn’t planned to. “Typically, if there are other people about, someone will ask me what I am doing and then begin to help me,” she shares. “These kinds of spontaneous actions with strangers are the basis of Drifters Project: that anyone, anywhere, can train their eyes to (search for plastic), and you will see it everywhere.”

With an estimated 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic leaching into the oceans every year, tackling pollution needs to be a truly collaborative and global effort, and initiatives like the Drifters Project are one way to make such a staggering problem accessible to people wanting to get involved. Part of Longobardi’s goal is to direct our attention to the magnitude of the problem, instigate movements to refuse single-use and disposable items, and use art to tangibly mitigate some of the consequences already in effect. She explains:

I believe the ocean to be the consciousness of the planet. It is where all life on Earth began. By paying attention to the greater interconnected network outside of our immediate lives, we witness the effects of our actions on all other life forms in this world…It’s really powerful, and the best part of my project, to broadcast the emergence of a collective transformation in understanding our presence on Earth.

Ocean Gleaning is available from Fall Line Press, and you can find more about the Drifters Project on its site and Instagram.

 

a tangled, suspended sculpture of colorful nets and ropes

“Anxiety of Appetites” (2020), recovered and assembled ocean-made driftnet balls, floats, feathers, barnacles, and bryozoa,
122 x 60 x 60 inches

an installation of black and blue colorful objects on a wall

“Swerve” (2019), over 500 ocean plastic objects from Alaska, Greece, California, Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, and Costa Rica, steel specimen pins, 96 x 54 x 8 inches

An installation of tall sculptures on a wall

“Endless (zombie Brancusi)” (2020), vagrant polystyrene, sea turtle bites, wood, steel, magnets, seven elements ranging from 3 to 6 feet

A detail shot of plastic objects arranged by color

Detail “Archeology of Desire” (2021), over 1,000 pieces of ocean plastic from Indonesia, Hawaii, California, and Costa Rica, 144 x 96 x 9 inches

plastic objects arranged by color in a large oval

“Archeology of Desire” (2021), over 1,000 pieces of ocean plastic from Indonesia, Hawaii, California, and Costa Rica, 144 x 96 x 9 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 The Drifters Project Harnesses Community to Clean the Oceans and Visualize Global Plastic Pollution 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 ...