Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Surreal Anatomies and Architectural Motifs Emerge from Elegant Sculptural Candles

a pale pink architectural candle that looks like steps ascending a pillar. a blue curtain is in the background

Aline Asmar d’Amman, “Aspiration.” All images by Carl Halal, © House of Today

Ten Lebanese designers have collaborated with artisans from the Beit Chabab Hospital Workshop to create a unique, limited-edition collection of sculptural candles. The initiative of the nonprofit House of Today, The Candle Project features ten carved, wax works in varying colors and styles, ranging from Aline Asmar d’Amman’s architectural “Aspiration” with winding staircases to LimbObject’s surreal entanglement of hands and arms. Each piece is available from House of Today, with proceeds benefiting the hospital and the nonprofit’s mentorship program. (via designboom)

 

a sun-like candle with wicks at the end of the rays

Richard Yasmine, “Sinking sun for another one”

two carnal globs in pink and white coil together

Flavie Audi, “Nothing is forever”

a round candle with a diamond shaped pattern all over the surface

Nada Debs, “Spiritual sphere”

a light purple flower-like candle on a green and pink backdrop

Carla Baz, “Chrysalis”

two images, on left is a blue tower of three orbs with splotches on the surface. on left are two candles that appear like architectural ornamentation

Left: Sayar & Garibeh, “Flaws.” Right: 200 Grs, “Blrrrrr”

a red candle in the shape of an orb with braided elements and hands reaching out

LimbObject, “I am here”

a squiggly purple candle

Tamara Barrage, “Silhouettes”

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 Surreal Anatomies and Architectural Motifs Emerge from Elegant Sculptural Candles appeared first on Colossal.



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Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Moss, Pine Bark, and Roots Camouflage Tiny Refuges Among the Wild Swedish Forests and Farmland

a man peers out from the hole of a round moss covered hut

“Moss Hut.” All images © Ulf Mejergren, shared with permission

Artist and architect Ulf Mejergren (previously) continues his interest in cozy, outdoor constructions with a new series titled Farm Art. Collaborating with farmer Robert Pettersson, Mejergren built several site-specific structures from materials found around Pettersson’s property in Grödinge, Sweden.

For “Pine Bark Hut,” the pair layered thick, gnarly wood into a slender cabin camouflaged between two trees, a space first used for hunting and then storing tools. Similarly, “Root Hut” entwines gathered branches with the existing roots to create a small, sand pit enclosure nestled beneath the forest, while the circular “Moss Hut” stands 4.5 meters tall among the trees. The latter work “stems from the farmers’ hunting interest,” Mejergren writes. “For many years, he has put food at certain points in the forests so wild boars come to feed there. The problem is they are like bulldozers in the forests, looking for insects and roots in the soil, so they have dug up moss from the forest floor and left them scattered in big droves.” Cloaked in the remaining lichen, the structure is a disguised refuge among the wild landscape.

Other works in Farm Art are more aesthetically driven, like the vivid “Sunset.” Made of dandelion heads at full bloom, the spherical form appears to glow in a field of weeds and wildflowers. Find the full series on Mejergren’s site and Instagram.

 

a hut in between two trees made of bark. a person peers out from the center

“Pine Bark Hut”

a young girl sits underneath a large round circle made of bright yellow dandelions

“Sunset”

a man peers out from the center of a mossy hut

Detail of “Moss Hut”

two girls sit in front of a bright yellow orb made of dandelions

“Sunset”

a child sits under bank with a branch-constructed hut in front of him

“Root Hut”

dried hay envelops a home

“Hay House”

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 Moss, Pine Bark, and Roots Camouflage Tiny Refuges Among the Wild Swedish Forests and Farmland appeared first on Colossal.



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More Than 100 Photographers Team Up for Vital Impacts Print Sale Supporting Elephant Conservation

three flamingos eat in water, with their distorted reflections in the foreground

Tim Flach, “Flamingo Reflections.” All images courtesy of Vital Impacts, shared with permission

Since launching a few years ago, Vital Impacts (previously) has raised more than $2 million for conservation and humanitarian efforts. The nonprofit hosts annual print sales to raise funds for various causes, bringing together hundreds of photographers from around the globe who document the beauty and unexpected moments of the natural world. This year’s initiative encompasses images of both the minuscule and the vast, from a close-up of the tiny, bulbous tentacles of a blue button jellyfish to a stunning composite of a star being born.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward Retei Elephant Sanctuary, Africa’s first Indigenous-owned and-run group seeking to return 13 orphaned elephants to the wild. Shop the collection on Vital Impacts.

 

jane goodall bends her head to an outstreached primate hand

Michael Nichols, Jou Jou and Dr. Jane Goodall, Brazzaville Zoo, Republic of Congo (1990)

a black and white photo of a lightning strike emerging from a massive cloud and hitting the ground along the horizon

Mitch Dobrowner, “Lightning Strikes”

a woman crouches down to grasp a tiny baby elephant

Ami Vitale, “Mary and Lodokejek”

an elephant swims in a pool

Jody MacDonald, “Rajan Morning Walk”

a gassy expanses of yellow, beige, red, and purple with bright stars

James Webb Telescope, “Birth of Sun-like Stars”

an edited image of deer in a gorge environment colored with pink and blue

Jim Naughten, “Muledeer”

two tiny owls each lift a leg and look straight at the camera

Javier Aznar, “Two Owls”

David Liittschwager, “Blue Button”

two white birds tussle mid-flight on a completely white snowy backdrop

Michelle Valberg, “Mid-Air Flurry”

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 More Than 100 Photographers Team Up for Vital Impacts Print Sale Supporting Elephant Conservation appeared first on Colossal.



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Kendall Ross Gets Personal with Her Colorful Sweaters Embedded with Stories

A colorful, oversized sweater with numerous messages on it, worn by the artist. Some of the messages read things like, "I would never wear this in public" or "Don't worry I just tell everyone everything."

“I would never wear this in public” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed for Factory Obscura in Oklahoma City. All images © Kendall Ross, shared with permission

Creating pieces that are part artwork and part fashion, Oklahoma City-based artist Kendall Ross of I’d Knit That imbues her knitwear with plenty of personality. “My I’d Knit That project got started because I thought the name was funny, and I was convinced I needed to claim the Instagram handle before someone else did back in 2019,” she tells Colossal. “Originally, it was a very casual way for me to share photos of what I was making and to organize knitting meet-ups with my friends from college. Still, I started taking it very seriously, and it ended up being a very important way for me to share my art and connect with other artists.”

Ross emphasizes bright hues in her pieces, using stitching methods like intarsia or Fair Isle colorwork—also known as stranded colorwork—to illustrate playful graphics and incorporate original texts. In a statement on her site, she writes that she is “drawn to telling unapologetically intimate, complicated stories of feminine, overlooked moments…putting private emotions on display for people to wear on their chest in their public lives.”

All of Ross’ vests and cardigans are hand-knit from either acrylic or wool yarn, the latter of which the artist hand-dyes herself whenever she is able. “I have done a lot of hand-dyeing in the past, and I really love the process of it,” she says, sharing that space is limited in her home studio, so she isn’t able to add color to all of her materials. This winter, she’s looking forward to a residency at Penland School of Craft in January, where she’ll focus on the hand-dyeing process.

Ross is currently working toward shows in 2024 in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and the Pacific Northwest, and she also teaches at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, where this winter, she is offering a class on how to knit sweaters for dogs. “I think they only agreed to let me do it because I talk about my basset hound Frankie so much, but I’m very excited about it!”

Find more in the artist’s shop, and follow updates on Instagram. (via Kottke)

 

A knit sweater with various messages like, "Are you tired of me yet?," "I need atention!" and "Check yes or no."

“Girl Talk” (2021), hand-knit acrylic

Two images side-by-side of colorful knit sweaters. The one of the left is green on an orange background with the message, "I thought this was supposed to calm me down." The image on the right shows a white and pink sweater on a periwinkle background, with messages like "Why is it so easy to believe in everyone except myself?"

Left: “Stress Knit” (2022), hand-knit wool. Right: “Bad Driver” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

A colorful handknit sweater with text that reads "You call me art, but keep me in the gift shop."

“Product Placement” (2023), hand-knit wool

A colorful hand-knit vest with various images of food and activities, with the text, "None of this is real."

“Fake Vest” (2023), hand-knit wool

Two side-by-side images of hand-knit sweaters. The one of the left is white with red borders, with images of yarn and knitting materials, and text that reads, "Did you know I still tell stories about you? You know you have so much history." The sweater vest on the right is yellow with the image of two chairs and text that reads, "I don't want to network, I just want your company."

Left: “Storyteller 2” (2023), hand-knit with wool for La Colombe Coffee. Right: “Company” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

A white and blue sweater photographed on a light blue background. The sweater has text messages on it that read, "Everyone will forget about this by tomorrow, but I won't forget about this tomorrow."

“Everyone will forget about this” (2023), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

A colorful hand-knit sweater photographed on a bright pink background. There are text messages in green boxes on the sweater that share things like, "I've always been boring, I just make pretty things."

“Boring” (2023), hand-knit wool

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 Kendall Ross Gets Personal with Her Colorful Sweaters Embedded with Stories appeared first on Colossal.



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Monday, November 20, 2023

Wander Through a Geometric Field of More Than 400 Pyramids in Jim Denevan’s ‘Self Similar’

An aerial view of a giant land art installation featuring 19 concentric circles of 448 pyramids formed from sand. The installation is on the shore of the Arabian Sea, and a figure stands in the center.

Photos by Lance Gerber, courtesy of Manar Abu Dhabi, shared with permission

For artist Jim Denevan, a paramount element of his creative practice centers on building experiences within landscapes through art and temporary events. Known for his large-scale land works that shape expanses of sand into precise geometries (previously), he allows time, weather, and changing tides to gradually reform the compositions back into natural terrain. Opening today in the capital of the U.A.E., Denevan’s expansive “Self Similar” is part of Manar Abu Dhabi, a new initiative celebrating public art and illuminating the city’s landmarks and vistas with light.

Bordered by the Arabian Sea on Abu Dhabi’s Fahid Island, visitors can reach the installation via a bridge that aligns with its geometry. “As I draw and shape these forms, an invitation is made; it emerges. An ‘entering into’ takes place,” he says of the creative process, mirroring the experience of wandering through the composition. The piece’s 19 rings and 448 pyramids span nearly a square kilometer, and at the work’s highest point, it reaches 27 meters tall.

Denevan, who is also a chef, founded Outstanding in the Field in 1999, inviting people to meet and dine at temporary tables in stunning locations before packing up and leaving the location just as it was. “In the tables he sets and the land artworks he creates, there is an element of organic impermanence at play,” says a statement on his site. The size and scale of his installations range from small compositions on beaches to city-size interventions that stretch miles, each in response to a specific site.

Manar Abu Dhabi continues through January 30, 2024, and you can explore more on Denevan’s website. You might also enjoy this music video from earlier this year, directed by Owen Brown of CNTRL5 and featuring the band ARIZONA, which centers around a 90,000-square-foot installation by Denevan in a dry riverbed in the American Southwest.

Manar Abu Dhabi continues through January 30, 2024, and you can explore more on the artist’s website.

 

An aerial view of a giant land art installation featuring 19 concentric circles of 448 pyramids formed from sand. The installation is on the shore of the Arabian Sea.

An aerial view of a giant land art installation featuring 19 concentric circles of 448 pyramids formed from sand. The installation is on the shore of the Arabian Sea.

A detail of sand pyramids.

Numerous sand pyramids in a geometric pattern.

A vertical view of a geometric installation in the sand featuring concentric circles of pyramids. Two figures stand in the center.

An aerial view of a giant land art installation featuring 19 concentric circles of 448 pyramids formed from sand. The installation is on the shore of the Arabian Sea, and a figure stands in the center.  A vertical view of a land art installation at night, illuminated by hundreds of lights on top of sand pyramids organized in concentric circles.

A figure walks among a land art installation of sand pyramids.

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 Wander Through a Geometric Field of More Than 400 Pyramids in Jim Denevan’s ‘Self Similar’ appeared first on Colossal.



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In a Documentary Short, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley Wield ‘Paint & Pitchfork’ in the Studio

In 2018, when their portraits of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were unveiled at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald were thrust into the spotlight. The portraits were formally installed in the White House in 2022, when filmmaker Christine Turner’s documentary short, “Paint & Pitchfork,” also debuted on The New Yorker.

Turner was approached by LACMA to profile the renowned American artists, giving them “the same reverence, dignity, and respect” that they afford their own sitters. In the short film, Sherald and Wiley discuss their first interactions with art and what compelled them to paint people.

Both artists have dedicated their practices to reframing Western European portraiture traditions that have historically excluded representations of Black people. For Sherald, this is a matter of portraying Black figures during pastimes and everyday scenes, expressing comfort, leisure, and joy (previously).

 

A film still of Amy Sherald painting in her studio. Portraits on paper and sketches sit on the wall in the foreground. A subtitle at the bottom reads, "I was born interested in art."

All images © The New Yorker

In the film, Sherald says, “A question that I’ve been asked often is, will you ever paint anybody other than Black people? And my answer is, no, I won’t. Because the image of whiteness has been perpetuated beautifully throughout history, so you don’t really need my help. Like I’m here to paint my own ideal and to represent that in the world. And if I can’t do that, then something is deeply wrong.”

For Wiley, painting involves examining the symbolism of power and prestige of Grand Manner portraiture (previously), positioning Black figures on horseback, wielding staffs, and standing in front of ornate decor. “Portraiture is about the resistance of death. But painting is also about the style of living that you want to live,” he says. In a later segment, he shares that his approach to painting is two things at the same time: “There’s the desire for acceptability. And then there’s the desire for revolution. I’m carrying both paint and pitchfork.”

Learn more about Christine Turner’s work on her website. And if you haven’t yet, check out our interview with Amy Sherald from earlier this year.

 

A film still of a painting in a gallery by Amy Sherald. The painting is of two Black figures on a beach with yellow and pink surfboards.

A film still of Kehinde Wiley, viewed in profile, painting in the studio.

A film still of a detail of a large painting by Kehinde Wiley, showing black men standing around a regal horse, with one figure on horseback.

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 a Documentary Short, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley Wield ‘Paint & Pitchfork’ in the Studio appeared first on Colossal.



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Remarkably Realistic Marine Invertebrates Made of Glass Surface at the Mystic Seaport Museum

A realistic glass model of a sea creature with a gray body and blue spiny frills on its arms and legs.

All photos by Joe Michael, courtesy of the Mystic Seaport Museum, shared with permission

From the mid-1800s to the 1930s, father-and-son artist duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka crafted thousands of glass models of flora and fauna (previously) in exquisite, scientific detail. Sea creatures were an area of particular fascination, as delicate spines, tentacles, and frills rendered in lifelike color extend from the bodies of squid and sea anemones. And at the Mystic Seaport Museum, a major exhibition of more than 40 of the remarkable specimens come to life in Spineless: A Glass Menagerie of Blaschka Marine Invertebrates.

Spineless dives into the history of the Blaschkas’ extraordinary contributions to scientific education, starting with the elder artist’s fascination with ocean life. Leopold was inspired to recreate specimens he saw in the wild and successfully completed a commission for a nearby natural history museum in the 1850s. He realized there was a demand for lifelike versions of creatures that scientists found challenging to preserve and document, and the glass variety required no special jars or chemical treatments to keep them looking as good as new.

Leopold found his audience in universities and museums around the world, establishing a mail-order business to ship the fragile pieces to institutions where they were used for teaching or put on display. Eventually joined by his son, the two “relied on their relationships with scientists, along with observations of live specimens held in aquariums, wet specimens, books, and scientific journals,” the Mystic Seaport Museum says in a statement.

The Blaschkas are also known for their fifty-year endeavor to make 4,300 models that represent 780 plant species, comprising the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, which you can visit at Harvard Museum. Spineless continues in Mystic, Connecticut, through September 2024. Plan your visit and discover more on the museum’s website.

 

A realistic glass model of a sea creature with antennae and colorful soft spikes.

Two images side-by-side. The left image shows three glass models of sea creatures or coral with stout trucks and colorful frills on top. The right image shows a glass model of a squid.  A glass model of a sea creature with numerous tentacles.

A composite image of three realistic glass sculptures modeled after sea creatures, like coral. They are viewed from above and show symmetrical flower-like shapes.

A realistic glass model of a sea creature, showing a gray body with fin-like legs and arms.  A composite image of three realistic glass sculptures of sea creatures, all resembling slug-like shapes with long bodies and antennae.

A glass sculpture of a long, snake-like sea creature with a purple and gold body and spikes along its back.

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 Remarkably Realistic Marine Invertebrates Made of Glass Surface at the Mystic Seaport Museum 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 ...