Faith XLVII Engages Humanity’s Shadows Through the Delicate Interplay of Light and Dark

“A Study of Light and Shadow V.” All images © Faith XLVII, shared with permission

Artist Faith XLVII (previously) describes a recent body of work as “a kind of scratching into the chiaroscuro of our souls.” Titled Clair-Obscur, the collection comprises wax-crayon drawings, stitched-map tapestries, installations, videos, and Polaroids that reflect on the fundamental duality between light and dark. Invoking the Jungian notion of shadow selves—the idea that people repress what they don’t like to acknowledge—Faith XLVII conjures both nature’s cycles and social and political issues, including environmental degradation, tyrannical rule, and human rights violations.

Works include a triptych of the moon’s phases that progress from light to dark, along with renderings of the 2020 MV Wakashio oil spill off the coast of Mauritius and two teens boxing in front of a younger audience waiting their turn. This latter piece depicts “the ‘Colonia Dignidad’ compound in Chile in the 1970s which became a notorious cult center under the rule of Pinochet,” the artist says. Often simply titled “A Study of Light and Shadow,” the works investigate various interpretations of darkness from the physical to the metaphorical. Together, the pieces suggest that recognizing the realities, atrocities, and hardships some would rather conceal is an essential step in our collective healing.

After debuting earlier this year at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Nancy, France, Clair-Obscur will open on December 2 at Danysz Gallery in Paris. Faith XLVII is widely known for her murals and public works around the world, which you can find on Instagram.

 

“A Study of Light and Shadow X”

“A Study of Light and Shadow II”

Left: “A Study of Light and Shadow II.” Right: “A Study of Light and Shadow VI”

“A Study of Light and Shadow XI”

“Chaos Theory XXI”

Detail of “Chaos Theory XXI”

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Studio Ibbini Juxtaposes Negative Space and Botanical Filigree in New Laser-Cut Paper Works

All images © Studio Ibbini, shared with permission

Artist Julia Ibbini and computer scientist Stéphane Noyer of the Abu Dhabi-based Studio Ibbini (previously) continue to collaborate on intricately constructed works that fall at the intersection of art and mathematics. The duo creates vessels and flat pieces by layering laser-cut papers into complex structures replete with floral filigree and ornate patterning.

While many of their three-dimensional sculptures appear to twist upward in tight, perfectly aligned rows, the pair incorporates more negative space into their recent pieces, many of which seem to morph from architectural or ornamental motifs into wild, botanical growths. Ibbini tells Colossal that this requires finding a delicate balance between the frail material and the resulting form to maintain the work’s structural integrity. She explains the process:

In the pieces that seem to be fading away, hand-made drawings are turned into computational tree structures and density maps on which graph theory and probabilistic algorithms are applied. Through this, we are able to manipulate the geometry of the work so that it looks almost as though the details are slowly eroding into empty space in the final piece.

Studio Ibbini will show works with Long-Sharp Gallery at Art Basel Miami starting next week and in a group exhibition at Sharjah Art Museum from December 13 to January 21. Keep up with the duo’s latest sculptures on Instagram.

 

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In ‘Nature Mart,’ Geoff McFetridge Queries Human Responsibility and Connection Through Minimal Paintings

“Person Person” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 50 X 40 inches. All photos by Jessann Reece, courtesy of the artist and Cooper Cole, Toronto, shared with permission

Canadian artist Geoff McFetridge is known for his distinct aesthetic that privileges feeling over visuals, all conveyed through minimal shapes and clean lines. In his latest body of work titled Nature Mart, McFetridge takes on connection, empathy, fear, and exploitation as he explores what it means to be in a community.

Rendered in bold, flat panes of color, his acrylic paintings feature nondescript figures joining arms, hopping a fence, and haphazardly tucked head or foot first into a silhouette evocative of a Trojan horse. While some works, like “Group Hug,” portray people seamlessly joined as if fused together indefinitely, others show a separation as in the mirrored “Thruwall,” a piece that depicts two nearly identical figures approaching the wall that divides them. Many of the paintings ask what our responsibility as humans is to each other and the species we share this planet with, which McFetridge broaches through his unornamented visual language.

Nature Mart is on view through January 20 at Cooper Cole in Toronto. Find more from the artist on Instagram. (via Juxtapoz)

 

“Horse Brainz” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 26 inches

“Group Hug” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 36 inches

“Protected by Lion” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 50 X 40 inches

“Horse That Jack Built 2” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 inches

“Over Fence” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 50 X 50 inches

“Tennis!” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 inches

“Thruwall” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 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 In ‘Nature Mart,’ Geoff McFetridge Queries Human Responsibility and Connection Through Minimal Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

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Ranjani Shettar’s Delicate Sculptures Entwine with the Lush Plant Life of the Barbican’s Conservatory

“Cloud songs on the horizon” (2023). All images are installation views of ‘Ranjani Shettar: Cloud songs on the horizon,’ Barbican Conservatory, © Max Colson, Barbican Art Gallery, courtesy of Barbican Centre, KNMA, Ranjani Shettar, shared with permission

Emerging from the lush, jungle-like conservatory at the Barbican is a collection of otherworldly sculptures that transform the venue into a site of metamorphosis. Largely made of muslin, reclaimed teak, and steel, the works were born in the rural Karnataka, India, studio of artist Ranjani Shettar, whose interest in nature’s resilience and adaptation is on full display at the iconic London space.

Shettar is known for her use of organic and industrial materials that she fashions into delicate, sometimes abstract, sculptures. In her solo exhibition titled Cloud songs on the horizon at the Barbican, the artist suspends pieces that appear like seed pods, plants, and other organisms within the 23,000-square-foot space. As viewers move along the pathways, the works seem to morph into different creatures and reflect the ways changes occur over time.

The Barbican’s glass ceiling plays a crucial role, as well, as it shifts perspectives depending on the time of day. Shettar softly illuminates some of the works when under the dark cover of night, adding that “natural light had to become an active ingredient of the sculpture-making, not a passive (one) that would happen later on. I had to consider it as a medium itself,” she says.

Cloud songs on the horizon is on view through March, and you can find more of Shettar’s works from Talwar Gallery.

 

“In the thick of the twilight” (2023)

“In the thick of the twilight” (2023)

“Cloud songs on the horizon” (2023)

Detail of “Cloud songs on the horizon” (2023)

“Moon dancers” (2023)

Detail of “Moon dancers” (2023)

Detail of “Cloud songs on the horizon” (2023)

“In the Wings of Crescent Moons” (2023)

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A Colossal Conversation: Arghavan Khosravi On Tension, Circumventing Censorship, and the Protest of Iranian Women

“The White Feather” (2023), acrylic on canvas over shaped wood panels, wood cutouts, plexiglass, metal nails, chainmail, feather, 82 x 50 x 16 inches. All images © Arghavan Khosravi, shared with permission

For Arghavan Khosravi, obscurity is the point. In a new conversation with Colossal, the Iranian artist recounts how she translates the experience of living a dual life—that of immigrating, of presenting differently when at school and at home, and of wanting to deny clear interpretations—into disjointed works that are equally alluring and destabilizing. She says:

I’m interested in this idea of contradiction in general, not just in how the paintings look. When I have imagery coming from different contexts—like historic, contemporary, Western, Eastern—this creates tension, which is like a visual translation of the tension Iranian people feel living in Iran. Most Iranians don’t believe how the governing system is thinking and believing, so there is always this clash between tradition, religion, and then modernity and secular ideas.

Khosravi discusses using a simple visual alphabet to convey complex narratives, feeling inextricably tethered to her home in Iran, and why she needs to paint every day to cope with injustice and heal from trauma.

Read the conversation.

 

“The Orange Curtain” (2022), acrylic on canvas over shaped wood panel on wood panel, 64 1/2 x 49 inches

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The 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest Highlights the Stunning Sights Above and Below the Surface

Jack Pokoj, a lizardfish’s open mouth reveals its last meal, Philippines. All images courtesy of Ocean Photographer of the Year, shared with permission

The waters surrounding the Philippines were fruitful for photographers this year, producing several winning images of the 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year contest. From a boastful lizardfish to a tiny paper nautilus floating among volcanic debris, the lauded shots document marine life above and below the surface, glimpsing not only the stunning beauty of land and sea creatures but also the threats many face given a warming planet and rampant pollution. Some of our favorite photos are shown here, and if you’re in Sydney, you can see the full collection through May 26, 2024, at the National Maritime Museum.

 

Jialing Cai, a Paper Nautilus drifts on a piece of ocean debris at night, surrounded by heavy sediment, Philippines

Michael Haluwana, illuminated by the Arctic sun, a polar bear walks across a glacier that is adorned by a waterfall, Arctic

Andrei Savin, a crab sits in the centre of a sea anemone as it sways in ocean current, Philippines

Craig Parry, a gentoo penguin, the fastest penguin species in the world, charges across the water, Antarctica

Sylvie Ayer, a manatee enjoys the crystal-clear waters of the Homosassa River, Florida

Renee Cappozzola, a female paper nautilus with egg case rides a small jellyfish, taken on a blackwater dive, Anilao, Philippines

Florian Ledoux, a polar bear cub contends with the fragility of melting ice, Svalbard, Norway

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 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest Highlights the Stunning Sights Above and Below the Surface appeared first on Colossal.

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Hera’s Imaginative New Murals Question the Animal Impulse to Migrate

“We all are Birds of Migration. Some With Feathers, Some Without” (2023). All photos by Brian Tallman, shared with permission

A mouse-costumed girl sitting on a duffel bag, a bird balancing on a unicycle, and bright blue narwhals swimming along the train line in Stavanger, Norway, are a few characters in Hera’s new murals considering the nuances of immigration and movement. “We all are Birds of Migration. Some With Feathers, Some Without” is a collection of works that ask viewers to recognize that mobility and resettling have been essential to human survival for millennia. The artist (previously) says:

We all exist today because our ancestors at some point either freely migrated to greener pastures, more fertile grounds, greater resources, and safer living conditions, or were forcibly moved from one place to another at some point at some point in history. Not even the most nationalist nationalist can deny the factual reality: humans still exist today because they migrated, they moved themselves, their families, their genes across lands, seas, continents.

Commissioned by Nuart—check out the 2023 edition of its annual festival in Aberdeen—the gestural murals are part of the Planes, Trains & Automobiles project bringing public artworks to high-visibility spots like airports and transit centers. The location also dovetails with Hera’s interest in migration, particularly as it relates to daily commutes. She says, “Some could argue that this does not count as an act of migration. But doesn’t it? Do students not leave their home, travel for miles and miles, to make more of themselves? Do commuters not leave their homes and families in order to make a living, and provide for their existence?”

The figures feature Hera’s signature wide, glassy eyes and costumes that transform them into scavenger-like creatures. Imbued with a sense of resilience, the characters emphasize the innate, animal impulse to travel and migrate that proliferates throughout the natural world.

See some of the works take shape on the artist’s Instagram.

 

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 Hera’s Imaginative New Murals Question the Animal Impulse to Migrate appeared first on Colossal.

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