Odolatant.com

By Associated Press

BARCELONA: After having maintained her innocence for nearly five years, pop star Shakira struck a last-minute deal to avoid the risk of going to prison on the opening day of her tax fraud trial in Barcelona on Monday.

Shakira told the presiding magistrate, José Manuel del Amo, that she accepted the agreement reached with prosecutors. She answered “yes” to confirm her acknowledgement of six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.

Under the deal, Shakira is to receive a suspended three-year sentence and a fine of 7 million euros ($7.6 million).

The trial, which would have included more than 100 witnesses over the following weeks, was instead called off after just eight minutes.

Prosecutors said in July that they would seek a prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of 24 million euros ($26 million) for the singer, who has won over fans worldwide for her hits in Spanish and English in different musical genres.

Shakira said in a statement provided by her public relations firm that she had wanted to fight on but put her family, career and peace of mind first.

“I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight,” she said. “I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love, my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career.”

The case hinged on where Shakira, now 46, lived during that period. Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Colombian singer spent more than half of that period in Spain and therefore should have paid taxes on her worldwide income in the country even though her official residence was still in the Bahamas. Tax rates are much lower in the Bahamas than in Spain.

The multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner waved and blew a kiss to a small crowd of bystanders before entering the courthouse. She briefly sat in front of the panel of judges, flanked by teams of prosecutors on one side and the defense on the other.

“This has been a difficult decision that took time to reach,” defense lawyer Miriam Company told reporters. “Her legal team had prepared the trial and were convinced we could demonstrate her innocence, but the circumstances changed and (Shakira) opted to accept the deal.”

Shakira turned down a deal offered to her by prosecutors to settle her case in July 2022, saying, via her Spanish public relations firm Llorente y Cuenca, that she “believes in her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law.” The details of that potential deal were not made public.

Shakira was named in the “Paradise Papers” leaks that detailed the offshore tax arrangements of numerous high-profile individuals, including musical celebrities such as Madonna and U2’s Bono.

Shakira’s public relations firm had previously said that she had already paid all that she owed and an additional 3 million euros (about $3.2 million) in interest.

The defense team for Shakira, the Barcelona firm Molins Defensa Penal, said in November 2022 that she had not spent more than 60 days a year inside the country during the period in question, adding she would have needed to have spent half the year in Spain to be considered a fiscal resident. Her defense argued that she was away from Barcelona for long stretches on a world tour in 2011 and then spent a lot of time in the United States as part of a jury for the NBC television music talent show The Voice.

Spanish prosecutors disagreed, and the investigating judge, Marco Juberías, wrote in 2021 on the conclusion of a three-year probe into the charges that he found there existed “sufficient evidence of criminality” for the case to go to trial. Shakira defended her innocence when she was questioned by Juberías in 2019.

She lost an appeal to have the case thrown out last year.

Shakira established her fiscal residency in Spain in 2014 at the same time her oldest child was enrolled in school in Barcelona, according to her defense team, as she was going to spend more time in the country with her family.

In Spain, an investigative judge carries out an initial probe and decides either to throw the case out or send it to trial. A court can waive prison time for first-time offenders if they are sentenced to less than two years behind bars.

In a separate investigation, Spanish state prosecutors charged Shakira in September with alleged evasion of 6.7 million euros in tax on her 2018 income. They accused her of using an offshore company based in a tax haven to avoid paying the tax.

Spain has cracked down on soccer stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade for not paying their full taxes. The former Barcelona and Real Madrid stars were found guilty of evasion but both avoided prison time after their sentences were suspended.

Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, has two children, Milan and Sasha, with Barcelona soccer star Gerard Piqué. The couple lived together in Barcelona before ending their 11-year relationship last year. Since then, she has resided in Miami.

After triumphing at the Latin Grammy Awards gala in Seville on Thursday, Shakira thanked her fans in Spain for “being with me in the good times and the bad.”

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

<br /> BARCELONA: After having maintained her innocence for nearly five years, pop star Shakira struck a last-minute deal to avoid the risk of going to prison on the opening day of her tax fraud trial in Barcelona on Monday.</p> <p>Shakira told the presiding magistrate, José Manuel del Amo, that she accepted the agreement reached with prosecutors. She answered “yes” to confirm her acknowledgement of six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.</p> <p>Under the deal, Shakira is to receive a suspended three-year sentence and a fine of 7 million euros ($7.6 million).googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });</p> <p>The trial, which would have included more than 100 witnesses over the following weeks, was instead called off after just eight minutes.</p> <p>Prosecutors said in July that they would seek a prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of 24 million euros ($26 million) for the singer, who has won over fans worldwide for her hits in Spanish and English in different musical genres.</p> <p>Shakira said in a statement provided by her public relations firm that she had wanted to fight on but put her family, career and peace of mind first.</p> <p>“I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight,” she said. “I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love, my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career.”</p> <p>The case hinged on where Shakira, now 46, lived during that period. Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Colombian singer spent more than half of that period in Spain and therefore should have paid taxes on her worldwide income in the country even though her official residence was still in the Bahamas. Tax rates are much lower in the Bahamas than in Spain.</p> <p>The multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner waved and blew a kiss to a small crowd of bystanders before entering the courthouse. She briefly sat in front of the panel of judges, flanked by teams of prosecutors on one side and the defense on the other.</p> <p>“This has been a difficult decision that took time to reach,” defense lawyer Miriam Company told reporters. “Her legal team had prepared the trial and were convinced we could demonstrate her innocence, but the circumstances changed and (Shakira) opted to accept the deal.”</p> <p>Shakira turned down a deal offered to her by prosecutors to settle her case in July 2022, saying, via her Spanish public relations firm Llorente y Cuenca, that she “believes in her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law.” The details of that potential deal were not made public.</p> <p>Shakira was named in the “Paradise Papers” leaks that detailed the offshore tax arrangements of numerous high-profile individuals, including musical celebrities such as Madonna and U2’s Bono.</p> <p>Shakira’s public relations firm had previously said that she had already paid all that she owed and an additional 3 million euros (about $3.2 million) in interest.</p> <p>The defense team for Shakira, the Barcelona firm Molins Defensa Penal, said in November 2022 that she had not spent more than 60 days a year inside the country during the period in question, adding she would have needed to have spent half the year in Spain to be considered a fiscal resident. Her defense argued that she was away from Barcelona for long stretches on a world tour in 2011 and then spent a lot of time in the United States as part of a jury for the NBC television music talent show The Voice.</p> <p>Spanish prosecutors disagreed, and the investigating judge, Marco Juberías, wrote in 2021 on the conclusion of a three-year probe into the charges that he found there existed “sufficient evidence of criminality” for the case to go to trial. Shakira defended her innocence when she was questioned by Juberías in 2019.</p> <p>She lost an appeal to have the case thrown out last year.</p> <p>Shakira established her fiscal residency in Spain in 2014 at the same time her oldest child was enrolled in school in Barcelona, according to her defense team, as she was going to spend more time in the country with her family.</p> <p>In Spain, an investigative judge carries out an initial probe and decides either to throw the case out or send it to trial. A court can waive prison time for first-time offenders if they are sentenced to less than two years behind bars.</p> <p>In a separate investigation, Spanish state prosecutors charged Shakira in September with alleged evasion of 6.7 million euros in tax on her 2018 income. They accused her of using an offshore company based in a tax haven to avoid paying the tax.</p> <p>Spain has cracked down on soccer stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade for not paying their full taxes. The former Barcelona and Real Madrid stars were found guilty of evasion but both avoided prison time after their sentences were suspended.</p> <p>Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, has two children, Milan and Sasha, with Barcelona soccer star Gerard Piqué. The couple lived together in Barcelona before ending their 11-year relationship last year. Since then, she has resided in Miami.</p> <p>After triumphing at the Latin Grammy Awards gala in Seville on Thursday, Shakira thanked her fans in Spain for “being with me in the good times and the bad.” Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp<br />



Art

#Hera
#murals
#public art
#street art

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.

#Hera
#murals
#public art
#street art

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Photography

#climate crisis
#contests
#fish
#oceans

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

#climate crisis
#contests
#fish
#oceans

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Design

#candles
#sculpture
#wax

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)

Richard Yasmine, “Sinking sun for another one”

Flavie Audi, “Nothing is forever”

Nada Debs, “Spiritual sphere”

Carla Baz, “Chrysalis”

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

LimbObject, “I am here”

Tamara Barrage, “Silhouettes”

#candles
#sculpture
#wax

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Dance

#JR
#public art
#trompe l’oeil
#video

“Our role as artists is always to search for the light,” says French artist JR (previously) about the second act of his Retour à la Caverne project. “We know this much: You don’t chase away the darkness with more darkness. You chase it away with light, however tiny.”

The work he’s referring to, though, is far from tiny. Cloaking Paris’s Palais Garnier while the building is under construction, Retour à la Caverne is an enormous trompe l’oeil facade, the first part of which depicts a cave carved into the grand structure that houses the opera. Illuminated at the center, the temporary piece highlights the physical and metaphorical interactions between light and dark. Broken into two acts like an opera libretto, the work references Plato’s allegory that emerging from the depths of the cave, and from darkness, brings knowledge.

“Act I” debuted earlier this fall with four nights of projected works, while the second part was held on November 12. “Back in September, we invited you to step out of the cave to go and explore. This time, we’re inviting you back inside the cave,” JR said while introducing the work. Whereas “Act I” portrays the cavern gouged into the center of the building, “Act II” switches perspectives, placing the viewers entirely inside the space.

Titled “Chiroptera,” the performance featured choreography by Damien Jalet and music by Thomas Bangalter. More than 150 dancers appeared through an elevated seven-story scaffolding after an eerie introduction by ballerina Amandine Albisson, who appeared to open the cave, causing a plummet into darkness. As with many of JR’s works, the artist asked the crowd to participate by using headlamps and their phones to illuminate the remainder of the performance, revealing the ways light can emerge from collective action.

Watch the full performance below, and find more from JR on Instagram.

“Retour à la Caverne – Acte II” (2023), Palais Garnier, Opéra de Paris

“Retour à la Caverne – Acte II” (2023), Palais Garnier, Opéra de Paris

#JR
#public art
#trompe l’oeil
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#astronomy
#embroidery
#light
#painting
#stars

What lies beyond the stars we see when we look up at the night sky? A group exhibition opening next week at Paradigm Gallery + Studio brings together the works of 18 artists who each capture the wonder of the unknown.

Curated by Colossal’s founder and publisher Christopher Jobson, Lone Splendor draws its name from John Keats’ poem “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” and conjures our enduring fascination with the cosmos and imagined worlds. The exhibition features works in a variety of mediums and styles, including the dense, thread portraits of Danielle Clough, Hari & Deepti’s illuminated sculptures, and Lorraine Loots’ tiny recreation of the enormous Pillars of Creation.

Lone Splendor will be on view through January 7, 2024, in Philadelphia. Join us on December 1 for an opening reception, and get a sneak peek of the available works on Paradigm.

Lorraine Loots

Duy Huynh

Eli McMullen

Graham Franciose

Jeremy Miranda

Andrew McIntosh

Allison May Kiphuth

#astronomy
#embroidery
#light
#painting
#stars

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Craft
History
Science

#Blaschka
#glass
#nature
#sculpture
#sea creatures

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.

#Blaschka
#glass
#nature
#sculpture
#sea creatures

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Design

#land art
#nature
#plants
#site-specific
#Ulf Mejergren

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.

“Pine Bark Hut”

“Sunset”

Detail of “Moss Hut”

“Sunset”

“Root Hut”

“Hay House”

#land art
#nature
#plants
#site-specific
#Ulf Mejergren

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Photography

#animals
#astronomy
#Vital Impacts

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.

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

Mitch Dobrowner, “Lightning Strikes”

Ami Vitale, “Mary and Lodokejek”

Jody MacDonald, “Rajan Morning Walk”

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

Jim Naughten, “Muledeer”

Javier Aznar, “Two Owls”

David Liittschwager, “Blue Button”

Michelle Valberg, “Mid-Air Flurry”

#animals
#astronomy
#Vital Impacts

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Craft

#fashion
#humor
#Kendall Ross
#knitting

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)

“Girl Talk” (2021), hand-knit acrylic

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

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

“Fake Vest” (2023), hand-knit wool

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

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

“Boring” (2023), hand-knit wool

#fashion
#humor
#Kendall Ross
#knitting

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#geometric
#Jim Denevan
#land art
#landscapes

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.

#geometric
#Jim Denevan
#land art
#landscapes

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Documentary

#Amy Sherald
#art history
#Kehinde Wiley
#painting
#portraits
#video



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).

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.

#Amy Sherald
#art history
#Kehinde Wiley
#painting
#portraits
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



#sponsor

Rhode Island School of Design has opened registration for its residential summer Pre-College program and year-round online intensive Advanced Program Online.

At Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Pre-College, rising high school juniors and seniors can experience life as a RISD undergrad and work alongside hundreds of other creative, highly motivated students who will inspire them to push their limits and produce their best work. Students will follow a college-level curriculum inspired by the RISD first-year experience with day-long studio classes, visits to the Nature Lab and RISD Museum, critiques, and projects that will forever shape how they approach art and design. Outside of the studio, students can participate in trips and events throughout Providence and beyond. Summer 2024 runs from June 29 through August 3.

To apply for the RISD Pre-College residential summer immersive, visit precollege.risd.edu/program-overview.

RISD’s Advanced Program Online is a year-round online intensive designed for high school students interested in pursuing art and design in college who want to learn best practices in developing their work. This series of college-level courses for students in grades 10 to 12 calls on creative young people to access a more ‘flexible mindset’—applying art and design methods to chart new territories of creation and problem-solving. The Spring 2024 term runs from March 2 to May 12, and the Summer 2024 term runs from June 22 through August 18.

To register for RISD’s Advanced Program Online year-round intensive, visit precollege.risd.edu/advanced-program.

Whether on-campus or online, students will participate in courses led by reputable teaching artists, learn to manage time and self-motivate, and develop concepts, sketches, and finished pieces that can be included in or inform their college applications. Both programs are designed to not only help students build portfolios but also develop as artists and individuals.

Learn more and compare programs at precollege.risd.edu/compare-programs.

#sponsor

Also on Colossal

Related posts on Colossal about sponsor



Science

#astronomy
#James Webb Space Telescope

The groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope and its predecessor the Hubble Space Telescope have collaborated on a new cosmic composite teeming with colorful galaxies. Using infrared observations from Webb and visible-light details from Hubble, astronomers stitched together an astonishing, panchromatic image of the MACS0416 cluster located approximately “4.3 billion light-years from Earth, meaning that the light from it that we see now left the cluster shortly after the formation of our solar system,” a release from the European Space Agency says. Our solar system is nearly 4.6 billion years old.

Both telescopes register wavelengths in black and white and in a manner that’s different from the way humans see light, so researchers assigned colors to galaxies to mimic our eyesight. “The bluest galaxies are relatively nearby and often show intense star formation, as best detected by Hubble, while the redder galaxies tend to be more distant, or else contain copious amounts of dust, as best detected by Webb,” the team says, noting that the image captures an exceptional range of wavelengths, from 0.4 to 5 microns. Intermediate galaxies are shown in green.

Because of gravitational lensing—this happens when an enormous celestial body, like the cluster shown, bends the path of light into a curved shape—this image of MACS0416 also magnifies light from additional galaxies even farther away, along with supernovae and individual stars. With its vivid, illuminating colors, the image is thought to be one of the most colorful depictions of the cosmos in existence. (via PetaPixel)



#astronomy
#James Webb Space Telescope

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#installation
#light
#sculpture
#Shinji Ohmaki

In “Gravity and Grace,” Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki poses a broad, if not daunting, question: what does it mean to exist? The installation, which features an imposing vessel carved with flora and fauna, radiates from the center and casts shadows in varied sizes and opacities around the gallery. Bulbous near the base with a slimmer neck that reaches toward the ceiling, the work’s shape evokes the tower of a nuclear power plant and spills light in every direction.

This iteration of “Gravity and Grace,” which is part of a series ongoing since 2016, is included in Ohmaki’s exhibition Interface of Being on view now at Tokyo’s National Art Center. The solo show features works made in response to the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to melt down and release radioactive water.

Reaching up to a whopping 840,000 lumens, “Gravity and Grace” harnesses the interplay of light and shadow to critique modern society’s dependence on energy, literally mapping illuminated patterns onto the viewers who pass by. The contrast also draws attention to nature’s cycles and the artist’s enduring interest in time and space, particularly the reminder that we all inhabit this planet for a relatively brief moment.

If you’re in Tokyo, you can see Interface of Being, which also includes a gossamer sculpture that undulates across the gallery like billowing fabric, through December 25. Otherwise, find more from Ohmaki on his site and Instagram.



Detail of “Gravity and Grace” (2023). Image courtesy of A4 Art Museum

“Gravity and Grace” (2023), installation view at National Art Center. Photo by Keizo Kioku

Detail of “Gravity and Grace” (2023)

“Liminal Air Space—Time Vacuum Fluctuations,” installation view National Art Center. Photo by Keizo Kioku

#installation
#light
#sculpture
#Shinji Ohmaki

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
History
Illustration

#art history
#Indigenous culture
#Mexico

In 1577, Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún finished a monumental encyclopedia of Mesoamerican culture. Working in collaboration with Nahua writers, artists, and elders, Sahagún documented life in the Aztec empire around the time of the Spanish conquest, together creating nearly 2,500 illustrations and 12 books recording the daily practices and culture of 16th-century Mexico. The text is widely regarded as one of the most important resources of Indigenous knowledge, especially considering most history is derived from colonial perspectives.

The Getty Research Institute recently released a digitized version of La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, which is best known as the Florentine Codex—this name comes from the text’s mysterious storage in the Medici family libraries for centuries. Although the Library of Congres and UNESCO’s Memory of the World have offered scanned iterations of the books since 2012 and 2015, respectively, this edition is the most widely accessible because of its searchable interface and additional context.

Organized by topic, text, and images, the new platform contains both the original Nahuatl and Spanish writings alongside English translations. In a conversation with Hyperallergic, Kim Richter, a researcher leading the project, described the dual texts as complementary and offering unique perspectives on the same events. Although the manuscript was originally thought to lack “aesthetic value…Today, we see them as an important testament of a tumultuous period in Mexico in the early decades following the conquest of Mexico,” Richter says.

The books, which begin with gods and rituals and end with conquest, are available to view page-by-page, with special sections devoted to deities, animals, and other aspects of everyday life from tamales and cacao to coyotes and chapulin, or grasshoppers. Included are Nahua ritual calendars, depictions of midwives attempting to heal those suffering from a grim smallpox outbreak, and the omens and horrors that accompanied the Spanish invasion.

Since launching earlier this month, the Florentine Codex has already inspired a video game set amid the aftermath of the 1520 Toxcatl massacre. The Getty also plans to release additional resources in conjunction with the digital archive, which provides a necessary addendum to colonial history.

“Metztli icualoca: lunar eclipse,” Book 7, Folio 7r, Artist N

“Disguised merchants in Tzinacantlan,” Book 9, Folio 18v, Artist N

“Papalomichin and Ocelomichin,” Book 11, Folio 62v

“Xicalpapalotl,” Book 11, Folio 100r

“Macuilocelotl,” Book 9, Folio 58r

#art history
#Indigenous culture
#Mexico

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



History

#art history
#books
#printmaking

Working together from about 1941 to 1969 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and almost entirely comprised of women block printers, the artists of the Folly Cove Designers comprised one of America’s longest-running collectives. The pioneering group produced hundreds of unique designs, and a new book by Elena M. Sarni from Princeton Architectural Press titled Trailblazing Women Printmakers: Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios and the The Folly Cove Designers details the group’s prolific history and extensive works.

Led by acclaimed children’s book author Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, the collective functioned similarly to a medieval craft guild. Artists would convene regularly for classes on design and technique and also hone their skills individually, either at home or in the studio. Afterwards, jurors assessed their designs, and upon approval, the works proceeded to the printing stage.

Cut from linoleum and block-printed onto mainly fabric, each design tells a story. Members were constantly urged to draw inspiration from their surroundings, whether depicting a musical performance, the local college campus, or kitchen utensils and ingredients. Each artist shared personal narratives and familiar scenes. According to the Cape Ann Museum, which houses the largest collection of work by the Folly Cove Designers, Demetrios encouraged artists to “draw ‘what they knew’ and to sketch their subjects over and over again until they made them their own.” Each intricate print documented daily life, giving voice to women’s stories.

Find your copy of Trailblazing Women Printmakers on Bookshop.

Eino Natti, “Polyphemus.” Photo by Gary Lowell, courtesy of Sandy Bay Historical Society

Louise Kenyon, “Head of the Cove.” Photo by Peter Morse, courtesy of Peter and Bobbi Kovner

Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, “Robin Hood.” Hood. Photo by Gary Lowell, courtesy of Sandy Bay Historical Society

Aino Clarke, “Atomic Age.” Courtesy of Cape Ann Museum

Louise Kenyon, “Smith College.” Photo by Peter Morse, courtesy of Peter and Bobbi Kovner

Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, “Finnish Hop.” Photo by Gary Lowell, courtesy of Sandy Bay Historical Society

Lee Natti, “Old Sturbridge Country Store.” Photo by Gary Lowell, courtesy of Kathryn Soucy

Group portrait of the Folly Cove Designers, courtesy of Cape Ann Museum

#art history
#books
#printmaking

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Illustration

#narrative
#plants
#surreal

Stories come to life on the page and introspective figures explore inner worlds in the dreamlike illustrations of Simón Prades (previously). His surreal scenes often feature silhouettes of people peering into the unknown, whether toward a distant memory, the wilderness, or the future. Rendered in deep hues with an emphasis on the effects of light and contrast, he draws attention to human nature and universal, emotional experiences of hope, nostalgia, and wonder.

Prades has worked as a freelance illustrator for more than ten years, finding visual language to express ideas in editorial and book publishing, film, music, and advertising. His clients have included The New York Times, Penguin Random House, Scientific American, and many more. “While I still love solving problems for clients, I must say that the urge to work on more personal projects has been growing and might manifest in a book or something like that soon,” he tells Colossal.

Prades is looking forward to a project next year that merges illustration with his other passion, cycling. During a 10-day tour through the Pyrenees, he plans to capture the experience in his sketchbook. Explore more of his work on his website and Behance, and follow updates on Instagram.

#narrative
#plants
#surreal

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Photography

#birds
#landscapes
#Søren Solkær

Since 2017, Danish photographer Søren Solkær has traveled Europe in search of the mesmerizing phenomenon of starling murmurations. Occurring before dusk during spring and autumn, cool weather and an instinct for safety gathers thousands of the black songbirds into enormous, undulating clouds. Solkær captures these enigmatic evening shows in his ongoing series Black Sun (previously), and a survey of these works opens at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington, next month.

The term “murmuration” is derived from starlings’ fluttering wings and flight calls, providing a distinct soundtrack to meadows and marshlands. Solkær remembers being fascinated by the birds as a child growing up in southern Denmark, where he would watch the creatures swoop through the sky near his home. The title Black Sun is derived from the Danish phrase “sort sol,” describing the way the aerial masses obscure the sun.

Coinciding with the exhibition, Solkær has just released a new monograph in the series titled Starling, documenting their movements in Ireland, Italy, Denmark, and The Netherlands. Starling is available for purchase now on Solkær’s website, and Black Sun will open December 9 and continue through March 10, 2024, in Seattle. Follow the photographer’s Instagram for more updates.

“Black Sun #183, Aventoft, Denmark”

“Black Sun #145, Rome, Italy”

“Black Sun #230, Sardinia, Italy”

“Black Sun #237, Sardinia, Italy”

“Black Sun #75, Aiguamolls de l’Empordá, Catalonia, Spain”

“Black Sun #128, Houtwiel, Friesland, The Netherlands”

“Black Sun #149, Rome, Italy”

#birds
#landscapes
#Søren Solkær

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Photography

#architecture
#clouds

For less than ten seconds, Berndnaut Smilde’s floating sculptures transform galleries, halls, and warehouses into uncanny spaces where indoors meets out. Puffy clouds made of smoke and water hang inside tiled interiors or industrial workshops for a brief time when they’re photographed by the artist’s collaborators. The ephemeral works are part of Smilde’s Nimbus series, ongoing for more than a decade. “I’m still fascinated by capturing a cloud. I never get bored by the process of how the appearance forms into a physical cloud, taking up space, reflecting light, and a specific moment,” he shares.

In recent years, the sculptures have become denser and larger, more imposing elements that haunt quiet spaces from Dubai to Paris to Washington, D.C. Depending on their location, the pieces take on varied meanings to explore questions of time, boundaries, and perception. Smilde explains:

The cloud is a great metaphor and it changes its context, its interpretation, with each space. The old chapel at the Hotel Maria Kapel art space in the Dutch town of Hoorn, where I made my first cloud, for example, emphasized the divine connotations, but in other environments, it could appear as an element escaped from a landscape painting, a thought, a heavenly place, a concealing element, or simply an in-between state. This fleeting aspect of the work is something I’ve embraced in my other artworks, as well. I’ve also learned not to always need to have full control over it and to accept change. A cloud isn’t durable, it changes, grows, and breaks apart.

Smilde’s work is included in a group show on view through March 17, 2024, at Museum Gegenstandsfreier Kunst in Otterndorf, Germany, and he’s currently creating a piece for a hotel in Amsterdam, where he’s based. Find more of his short-lived weather works on Instagram. (via Aesthetica Magazine)

“Nimbus De.Groen” (2017). Photo by Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

“Nimbus Katoenveem ” (2018).
Photo byCassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

“Nimbus Electriciteitsfabriek” (2022)

“Nimbus Museum De Lakenhal” (2022). Photo by Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

“Nimbus MdbK” (2021). Photo by Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

“Nimbus Atlas” (2017), exhibition view
at De.Groen fine art collection

#architecture
#clouds

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Craft
Design
History

#automata
#birds
#kinetic sculpture
#metal
#metalwork



In the 250 years since its fabrication in the studio of jeweler and entrepreneur James Cox, the Silver Swan automaton has beguiled viewers. The mechanical sculpture continues to live up to its original purpose, designed as a crowd-puller to the artist’s workshop in 18th-century London, which also served as a small museum. Today, it is an iconic resident of the The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in County Durham, U.K.

Cox modeled the life-size creature on a female swan, incorporating 2,000 moving parts, including 139 crystal rods and 113 neck rings. A slew of delicate pieces are encased in chased, repoussé silver, operated by three clockwork mechanisms that control a music box, a pool of glass with swimming silver fish, and the complex movements of the swan’s head and neck. At the 1867 Paris International Exhibition, its large scale and hefty price tag of 50,000 francs—today that would be well over $200,000—created a sensation. Five years later, the museum’s namesake, John Bowes, bought it in Paris for a tenth of that price and brought it home to the U.K.

In a video produced in 2021, a specialist team of conservators and curators painstakingly dismantled the sculpture to examine the condition of its mechanisms and create a plan for its preservation. This year, the swan is undergoing meticulous repairs and cleaning, and the museum anticipates that the work will be completed by the end of the year.

Cox also designed the well-known Peacock Clock for Catherine the Great, a treasure of the State Hermitage Museum’s collection in Russia. Learn more about the Silver Swan on The Bowes Museum’s website. (via The Kid Should See This)

#automata
#birds
#kinetic sculpture
#metal
#metalwork

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Design

#architecture
#bamboo
#Vietnam

A cascading bamboo lattice shelters diners at the new Keeng Seafood Restaurant in Long Thành, Vietnam, with a nod to the local ecology. Architecture studio BambuBuild designed an elegant hall with a thatched roof evocative of a ship’s prow, supported by columns reminiscent of nipa palms, a riverside plant common in south Vietnam.

The firm was tasked with designing a structure that would be both strong and built quickly. Thanks to a tensile strength comparable to steel and a compressive strength twice as high as concrete, the medium is sometimes called “iron bamboo.” Traditionally, a pole is used as a post, beam, or truss, but BambuBuild saw potential in a shape called a hyperbolic paraboloid, also known as a hypar or “saddle”—think of the shape of a Pringle chip. Not only does this produce graceful arches and curves, but it can carry a huge load, perfect for supporting a show-stopping canopy.

See more on BambuBuild’s website. (via Designboom)

#architecture
#bamboo
#Vietnam

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



#posters and prints
#sponsor

Austin-based gallery Sebastian Foster just announced its 2023 Fall Print Set, marking the 11th anniversary of the collection since it launched in 2012. The new release features 30 works by well-established illustrators, printmakers, and painters from across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan, and Europe. Half of the artists have worked with the gallery for years, while the other half are guests who joined just for this collection.

This set features 30 works all published as relatively small editions, hand-signed and numbered by the artists. Encompassing an eclectic array of mediums and themes, the collection showcases work from artists previously featured on Colossal, including Graham Franciose’s dreamlike watercolor works, Diana Sudyka’s fanciful storybook scenes, and Grant Haffner’s vibrant, flat landscapes bisected by his signature utility poles.

Now online-only, Sebastian Foster focuses on original works and prints, publishing over 1,000 editions since opening in the late 2000s. Whether you’re looking for the next piece to add to your collection or for meaningful holiday gifts, head to the gallery’s site to shop the Fall Print Set today.

Daneil Freaker

Diana Sudyka

Elena Burykina

Fabian Lavater

Matthew Gagnon

Mia Bergeron

Michael McGrath

Daniel Ellison

Susan Abbott

#posters and prints
#sponsor



Art
History

#archaeology
#mosaics
#Turkey

As the warmer months came to a close in İncesu, Keyseri, Turkey, archaeologists currently at work in a sprawling ancient complex announced that the Roman-era mosaics they uncovered—already recognized as the largest ever found in the region—just keep getting bigger.

İncesu sits atop the ancient town of Sadogora, or Sadacora, a late Roman and early Byzantine municipality, remnants of which were originally encountered in 2010. Initial excavations brought a series of beautiful mosaic floors to light, some bearing Latin and Greek inscriptions. Legal reasons prevented any further work until 2020, but when archaeologists resumed digging, it wasn’t long before they realized they were unearthing a site of epic proportions.

By the end of the 2021 season, ten rooms of what archaeologists are tentatively designating a 4th-century Roman villa of great significance, boasted more than 3,000 square feet of mosaic floors in excellent condition. This year, the excavation more than doubled its surface area, exposing 6,500 square feet of mosaics out of a total 43,000 square feet that has been excavated across the entire site.

Can Erpek, a professor of Byzantine art and archaeology at Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University, posits that the site may have been an imperial structure, perhaps belonging to rulers or administrators of the region. He says, “We are talking about a high-end residence spread over a very large area; a residence with 33 rooms, (and) we have not reached the limits of this residence. We foresee that the current residence will expand even further with our excavations that will continue next year.” (via The History Blog)

#archaeology
#mosaics
#Turkey

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Photography

#animals
#Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
#humor
#nature
#wildlife

A young greenfinch gets scolded, human legs propel a batfish forward, and a kangaroo shreds on an air guitar in this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. Created in 2015, the annual contest (previously) is an effort to empathize with the wildlife around us while calling to attention the threats they face. With thousands of entries from around the world every year, the deluge of delightful images serves as a reminder that animals and humans have plenty in common, from idiosyncratic personas and comical clumsiness to the Earth we share.

A gallery showcasing the 2023 finalists is available on the competition’s website, where there is still time to vote for the People’s Choice Award.

Photo © Danielle Goonan

Photo © Jason Moore

Photo © Dakota Vaccaro

Photo © Jacques Poulard

Photo © Wendy Kaveney

Photo © Thomas Vijayan

Photo © Otter Kwek

Photo © Adrian Slazok

Photo © Delphine Casimir

#animals
#Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
#humor
#nature
#wildlife

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#murals
#painting
#plants
#public art
#Stelios Pupet
#street art

Whether working on a wall or canvas, artist Stelios Pupet begins with a grid. What starts as uniform blocks slowly morph into varied, angular shapes as he works, adding depth and structure to his largely figurative compositions. Viewed through the subtle distortion of the grid, his subjects are often crouching amid cacti and potted plants or curled into themselves in moments of contemplation. He describes his process:

I am focusing on creating a nice image, different or contemporary and easy on the eye. Sometimes, there is a personal story behind a canvas or a painting on a wall that makes the artwork more powerful or important (to me at least)…I believe that if you give everything in the creation of an artwork, somehow a part of you is captured and in this way, feelings are being created (for) the viewer.

Following a busy few months of working on murals across Europe, Pupet is currently creating a small piece in a park near his home in Athens. Follow his progress on Instagram.

“Amongst Greenery,” oil on canvas, 120 x 120 centimeters

Detail of “Les murmures du jardin,” oil on canvas, 200 x 200 centimeters

“MR Tlaloc,” Athens. Photo by Dimitris Maniatis

“Amidst the Cacti,” Zaragoza, Spain. Photo by Marcos Cebrián

Remake of the Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres painting, “Portrait of Madamme Gaudry” (1864), acrylic and crayons on canvas , 40 x 40 centimeters

“Solitude of Contemplation,” Antonis Tritsis Metropolitan Park, Athens

Study for the canvas “They keep coming,” gouache on paper, 25 x 18 centimeters

#murals
#painting
#plants
#public art
#Stelios Pupet
#street art

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Design
Documentary

#animals
#conservation
#video

In 1990, the desert tortoise landed on the federal endangered species list following decades of decline. Expanding human populations in the western U.S. encroached on wild habitats and brought more ravens to the Mojave Desert—the large, black birds are known to scavenge for food and have a particular taste for young reptiles. Coupled with the effects of the climate crisis, these changes rapidly propelled the species toward extinction.

Conservation biologist Tim Shields has studied desert tortoises for decades and recently decided to intervene in this lopsided predator-prey relationship. In a short documentary for The New Yorker titled “Eco-Hack!,” Shields explains the innovative and non-lethal tactics his team uses for “educating” ravens and deterring them from attacking the reptiles. Green lasers, 3D-printed decoy shells, and explosive sprays all come into play in an effort to train the birds to find alternative food sources.

The strategies are more irritating than harmful to the ravens but already have had significant payoffs: more babies are now roaming the arid landscape, meaning their intervention is working to protect the slow-moving creatures that are particularly vulnerable in the first three years of life. “If we don’t want a really lonely planet that’s just us and ravens and rats and cockroaches, we have a whole ton of work to do,” he adds.

Josh Izenberg and Brett Marty produced “Eco-Hack!,” and you can find the full story behind the film in The New Yorker.

#animals
#conservation
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#activism
#books
#hair
#portraits
#sculpture
#Sonya Clark
#textiles

In a poem devoted to the singer and activist Paul Robeson, Gwendolyn Brooks writes, “We are each other’s harvest, we are each other’s business, we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” Sonya Clark draws on Brooks’ words in her mid-career retrospective at the High Museum as she wields the power of collaborative making to illuminate issues of racism, sexism, and capitalist imperatives.

Titled We Are Each Other, the exhibition encompasses 25 years of the artist’s participatory works that highlight the inextricable links between craft and community. Fiber becomes both a connective tissue and transmitter in Clark’s oeuvre, which uses materials like books, hair, found fabrics, and flags to untangle the narratives and structural inequities of American life. “How do we address and challenge our shared colonial past, and how do we hold ourselves accountable for and claim agency in what happens next in the future of our society?” she asks.

Detail of “Solidarity Book Project” (2020–present)

Included in We Are Each Other are several works created in collaboration. “The Hair Craft Project,” for example, photographs stylists’ elaborate braided designs done on Clark’s head to both celebrate their artistry and connect contemporary hairdressing with broader textile traditions. Similarly, a large-scale portrait uses more than 3,000 plastic combs to portray Madame C.J. Walker, the first woman to become a self-made millionaire in the U.S. by establishing an immensely successful hair-care business. Walker then used much of her wealth to advocate against lynching and race-based violence, and Clark’s depiction honors this impulse toward activism and unity.

Other pieces on view are “Unraveling,” a performance-based work that asks volunteers to deconstruct symbolic objects like the Confederate flag, and a portion of the ongoing “Solidarity Book Project.” Emphasizing the importance of reading and knowledge sharing, this project offers instructions for carving a raised fist, the symbol of Black liberation, from the pages of a book.

We Are Each Other is on view through February 18, 2024, in Atlanta. Dive deeper into Clark’s works by picking up the exhibition catalog and checking out her Instagram.

“The Hair Craft Project: Hairstylists with Sonya: Sonya Clark with Jamilah Williams” (2013), inkjet photograph, 28 × 28 inches. Photo by Naoko Wowsugi

“Madam C. J. Walker” (2008), combs, 122 × 87 inches

“The Hair Craft Project: Sonya with Kamala Bhagat, Dionne James Eggleston, Marsha Johnson, Chaunda King, Anita Hill Moses, Nasirah Muhammad, Jameika and Jasmine Pollard, Ingrid Riley, Ife Robinson, Natasha Superville, and Jamilah Williams” (2014), pigment prints on archival paper, eleven framed, 30 × 30 inches each

Detail of “Madam C. J. Walker” (2008), combs, 122 × 87 inches

“Solidarity Book Project” (2023), installation view. Photo by Alphonso Whitfield

#activism
#books
#hair
#portraits
#sculpture
#Sonya Clark
#textiles

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#Carlos Cabo
#ceramics
#clay
#sculpture

Elegant, richly textured garments cloak artist Carlos Cabo’s enchanting ceramic figures (previously), showcasing the endless possibilities of clay. Tall and slender, the figures sport a wide variety of styles, donning button-down tunics, dresses, neck ties, and hats. While each one is unique, they are drawn together by a synchronic gesture: mouths open wide, they sing toward the sky.

Cabo gathers his material from the countryside around his home in Salinas, Spain, then works it into column-like figures and geometric forms. He considers the texture to be “the skin of the piece,” differentiating each from its companions while also emphasizing their similarities and a sense of unity.

Find more on Cabo’s website and Instagram.

#Carlos Cabo
#ceramics
#clay
#sculpture

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Photography

#Andrew Moore
#landscapes
#New York

Sheep wander through the morning mist in Rhinebeck and storm clouds ebb over a waterway in dreamlike photographs by Andrew Moore. Known for his in-depth, long-term series that document natural places and the built environment, Moore’s work has focused on the evolution of places like Bosnia, the American South, or Cuba as they evolve over time. In his forthcoming solo exhibition Whiskey Point and Other Tales at Yancey Richardson, Moore delves into the Hudson Valley region of Upstate New York in a group of large-scale, atmospheric landscapes.

Nodding to the legacy of the Hudson River School painters, Moore hones in on the natural beauty of the region while also considering its historical significance. Whiskey Point, for example, which inspired the show’s title, is a strip of land that obtrudes into the Hudson River, formed when its surrounding soil was removed for brick production in the latter half of the 19th century. The spot is encompassed by Sojourner Truth State Park, designated in 2019 and named for the African American abolitionist and suffragette who was born nearby into slavery nearby, in 1797.

Moore examines the myriad histories and lore of the area from the perspective of an omniscient wanderer, capturing various times of day, landmarks, and weather from a range of vantage points. He emphasizes the constancy of change and the sense of anticipation spurred by a new day or a bend in the road, revealing what an exhibition statement calls “different kinds of lineages” that connect the present to the past.

Whiskey Point and Other Tales opens November 16 and continues through January 4, 2024. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

“Platte Kill Clove” (2021)

“Trap Cliff, Barrytown” (2023)

“Rain Sprites, Clinton” (2021)

“Rhinecliff Station” (2021)

“Little Vlei, Rhinebeck” (2022)

“Ferry Road” (2023)

“Empire in Fog, Rhinebeck”

“Burger Hill” (2021)

#Andrew Moore
#landscapes
#New York

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#books
#sculpture
#Tau Lewis
#textiles

A companion to Tau Lewis’s 2022 exhibition Vox Populi, Vox Dei, a monograph by the same name contextualizes and celebrates the artist’s enigmatic, post-apocalyptic vision. Lewis (previously) is known for repurposing textiles into bold works evocative of Yoruban masks and Greek and Roman theatrical traditions. The title translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of god,” a phrase the artist uses to invoke a sense of community and spirituality, two tenets of her imagined world.

Along with the totemic, wall-based works included in the Vox Populi, Vox Dei exhibition at 52 Walker, the book also features the freestanding forms shown here. Similarly constructed with patchworks and layers of textiles, the works reference the “material DNA” Lewis is drawn to, as she connects the previous uses of the fabrics themselves to the figures that inhabit her universe. Paired with writings by Ebony L. Haynes, Tiana Reid, and Yves B. Golden, the volume contains images, preliminary sketches, and groups of color swatches that offer insight into the origins and ancestries of Lewis’ salvaged future.

Grab your copy of Clarion Vol. 5: Tau Lewis: Vox Populi, Vox Dei from 52 Walker.

“Saint Mozelle” (2022)

Detail of “Saint Mozelle” (2022)

Detail of “Homonoia” (2022)

“Ivory Gate” (2022)

Detail of “Ivory Gate” (2022)

#books
#sculpture
#Tau Lewis
#textiles

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#murals
#public art
#street art
#Tbilisi Mural Fest

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.

Giorgi Kalandarishvili

“Grandma” by Sasha Korban

Thiago Mazza

Telmo & Miel

Chertova Tina

“Mokhevian” by Gera 1

#murals
#public art
#street art
#Tbilisi Mural Fest

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#collage
#humor
#paper
#Toon Joosen

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.

“Let’s take the stairs”

“Let’s make a story of our own!”

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

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

“Hold on, I’m coming …”

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

#collage
#humor
#paper
#Toon Joosen

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Documentary
Photography

#animals
#climate crisis
#landscapes
#nature
#video



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.

#animals
#climate crisis
#landscapes
#nature
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Craft

#embroidery
#flowers
#Olga Prinku
#plants

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.

#embroidery
#flowers
#Olga Prinku
#plants

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Design

#Ken Kelleher
#rugs

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)

The Cloud Rainbow Carpet

The Drip Rainbow Carpet

#Ken Kelleher
#rugs

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Craft

#paper
#portraits
#quilling
#yulia brodskaya

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

“Mother Energy,” inspired by the work of Julia Watkins and Franck Layover

Detail of “Mother Energy”

“Envisage”

Detail of “Envisage”

“Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

“Starseed”

Detail of “Starseed”

#paper
#portraits
#quilling
#yulia brodskaya

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



#sponsor

Let your art shine: Calling all creative minds working in the realm of visual art! The NOT REAL ART 2024 Grant Program is now accepting submissions. If you’re ready, so are we. Submit your work today for a chance to win an unrestricted cash award of $2,000, and more in PR and marketing support. There is no application fee.

Founded in 2019, the NOT REAL ART Grant for Artists is a biannual award designed to empower the practice of six contemporary artists, each of whom receives $2,000 and more in media exposure. To date, 36 lucky artists have won this grant!

NOT REAL ART Grant recipients get more than money. Each winner gets to share their story and promote their work with exclusive, in-depth featured interviews on the NOT REAL ART podcast and blog. What’s more, win or lose, every applicant automatically qualifies to be included in future blog stories, newsletters, and our artist marketing database.

It’s free to enter, and the deadline is January 1, 2024. 

Submit your application today at notrealart.com.

2022 NOT REAL ART Grant winner Y. Hope Osborn, “Refuge”

2021 NOT REAL ART Grant winner Natalia Villanueva Linares, “Refuge”

#sponsor



Art

#community
#Drifters Project
#installation
#oceans
#plastic
#pollution
#sculpture

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.

“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.”

“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.

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

“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

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

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

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

#community
#Drifters Project
#installation
#oceans
#plastic
#pollution
#sculpture

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#eggs
#Kate Van Vliet
#kintsugi
#sculpture

Kate Van Vliet’s Fault Lines series began with a neighborly gesture. “While sequestered at home during the pandemic with twin infants, our neighbors started giving us fresh eggs from their backyard flock,” she says. “The colors of the eggs were so beautiful, and as the shells accumulated on our kitchen counter each day, I knew I wanted to use them in my artwork.”

As Van Vliet began to reassemble the eggs, each shell catalogued a passing day. “When I became a mother, I found myself in this ritualistic madness, each day repeating the day before and hoping for a different result,” she says. “As the leftovers of those actions accumulated on my kitchen counter, I saw that my life had become an open edition of the same but different days.”

In a solo exhibition at Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Van Vliet examines her roles as mother and artist, exploring the idea of becoming an “heirloom machine,” a concept which lends itself to the title of the show. Creating small objects infused with both routine and memories, she examines the relationship between the meticulous repair of everyday objects and the historically invisible labor of women.

Van Vliet meticulously applied archival tissues and adhesives combined with mica to strengthen each piece. “Lots of research was involved in the physical repairing of the eggs,” she says, continuing:

They aren’t ceramics, but I wanted to celebrate imperfections by adapting the kintsugi method to repair the eggshells. I also researched ways that Ukrainian Pysanki eggs are conserved by museums. I combined what I learned with my sensibilities as a printmaker to make a repeatable method of repair that would be stable over time and work with the hairline fractures that occur in the eggs.

If you’re in Philadelphia, you can stop by Heirloom Machine through November 26. Van Vliet also co-founded the community printshop BYO Print, which is relocating to the Paradigm Arts Building building this winter. Visit the artist’s website and Instagram to see more of her work.

“Peck”

“Candy Everybody Wants”

“Donut (Chocolate)”

“Egg Canoes: Duck #12-15”

“Donut (Mint)”

“Roly-poly”

“The Blob”

“The Kiss (Pretzel)”

“The Tickler”

“Tripod”

#eggs
#Kate Van Vliet
#kintsugi
#sculpture

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#kinetic sculpture
#sculpture
#William Darrell

William Darrell describes his kinetic sculptures as “mechanically abstracted organisms,” animated forms that pulse, shimmy, and spin with lifelike motion. The London-based artist is inspired by the relationship between the organic and the mechanical along with the enticing, mesmerizing qualities of movement that can coax “fear or fascination” from the viewer. “There are cuttlefish that hypnotise their prey in order to catch them,” he says. “As an artist, I follow a similar method.”

Darrell 3D-prints each work to achieve the necessary level of precision. Every component needs to align perfectly to create such methodical, entrancing motions, powered by a single motor and a mix of gears, belts, magnets, cams, and elastic bands. Darrell shares:

I engage in kinaesthetic play with my prototypes, discovering new ways they can revolve and move together. I’m a self-taught engineer, and I always try to do something new that I haven’t seen before. Steadily, they get more complex over time, and sometimes something completely unexpected jumps out at me, bringing on a new wave of development.

The result is a diverse collection of sculptures that meld the form of botanicals with restless animal movements. Reactions “(vary) from viewer to viewer. For some, it’s a purely pleasurable experience, for others too stimulating and even perverse,” he shares.

Watch more of Darrell’s uncanny mechanics on Instagram.

“Optimism Bloom”

“Oneiros”

Detail of “Optimism Bloom”

“The Institute of Sex and Consumption”

“Ostara”

“Oneiros”

#kinetic sculpture
#sculpture
#William Darrell

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#color
#macro
#Thomas Blanchard
#video

A vivacious troupe of colorful paint blobs dance across a stage of oil and soap liquid in Thomas Blanchard’s latest video. Sliding around to the sounds of Chopin’s “Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 (E Flat Major),” glittering spheres roll mesmerizingly across shimmering fields of color, which Blanchard (previously) captures in high-definition, slow-motion elegance.

Watch “Colorful Liquids in Motion” above, and find more on the artist’s website and Vimeo.

#color
#macro
#Thomas Blanchard
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#birds
#Lego
#printmaking
#Roy Scholten

Roy Scholten is wrapping up a years-long printing project with dozens of playfully rendered fowl. 50 Birds is an ongoing series that uses LEGO in place of lead type to create curved beaks, long tails, and rounded bellies. With only three species—hawfinch, reed bunting, and kingfisher—remaining, The Netherlands-based artist and designer has nearly a full flock of the letterpress creatures, all nested inside 6 x 6-inch paper.

“It’s been interesting to see how the experience from earlier prints feeds back into the following ones,” he tells Colossal. “In a way, because I got better at it, the more difficult it has become. More subtle color schemes and patterns resulted in a more painterly approach to printing.”

Scholten began working with the unconventional material about a decade ago in collaboration with artist Martijn van der Blom, and the pair recently released a bi-lingual book, Print & Play, the Art of LEGO Letterpress, documenting their process and projects during the last ten years. Their practice of inking and printing with the plastic blocks is known in printmaking circles as the “Hilversum method,” named for their studios’ location in the city of Hilversum.  Included in the book’s pages are some early works from the 50 Birds collection, along with van der Blom’s architectural typography, stylized dinosaurs, landscapes, and more.

Keep an eye on Scholten’s Instagram for the final avian pieces, along with larger species like owls, falcons, and hawks, which are next on his docket. You can also purchase prints on his site.

Crested tit

Pied flycatcher

Sanderling

Skylark

Treecreeper

A spread from ‘Print & Play, the Art of LEGO Letterpress’

#birds
#Lego
#printmaking
#Roy Scholten

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art

#acrylic painting
#Calida Rawles
#painting
#water

Tufts of a pink skirt, a soaked evening gown clinging to a knee, and a few fingers and toes gently breach the water’s surface in Calida Rawles’ A Certain Oblivion. On view this month at Lehmann Maupin, the new body of work is transcendent and monumental, with canvases scaling nine feet of rippling blues and blacks. The paintings return to the artist’s interest in water memory theory and the idea that the life-giving liquid preserves moments of time.

In A Certain Oblivion, Rawles renders two of her daughters who gracefully float together and apart, their heads just above the surface. Placing the next generation in such vulnerable, precarious positions alludes to the resilience and determination needed to rise above “the riptides of contemporary American life,” a statement says. Despite facing the threat of being consumed by the current, the figures remain calm and graceful, carrying on and resting at the surface.

While exploring similar themes to earlier series, A Certain Oblivion is darker. Palettes of navy, gray, and black obscure the figures, who are already distorted by the undulating nature of water. These deep, saturated tones reflect the current political and cultural moment that seems to consistently plunge the world into darkness and despair. For Rawles, though, the paintings are hopeful. She explains:

There is always darkness before the light. I thought of that often when making the work and hope this may inspire others during these very trying times. Much of the work in this show is dark, for sure, but I do have a few pieces that are in the light. A cool blue water. I thought of those pieces as my day and the dark ones as part of my night waters. Our light cycle was definitely on the top of my mind when thinking of this show. I want to believe this is a moment in a larger path.

There’s an uncertainty and illegibility that the artist gravitates toward as she reminds us that predicting outcomes isn’t always possible. She even likens the process of painting in acrylics to that of floating, two physical acts that both require a release of control. “All of the dark colors look alike when they are wet,” she says. “You have to trust yourself and (your) ability. The experience was really fun, to put it simply. I was excited to wait for the outcome when it dried.”

A Certain Oblivion is on view from November 9 to December 16 in New York.

“Untethered, Twice Bold” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 84 x 72 inches

“Beyond the Certain Oblivion” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 108 x 84 x 3 inches

“Above Yesterday, Beyond Tomorrow” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 96 x 78 x 3 inches

“Like Other Gods With Ancient Rage” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 84 x 84 x 3 inches

“And So It Be” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 x 3 inches

Calida Rawles in her studio (2023). Photo by Marten Elder

#acrylic painting
#Calida Rawles
#painting
#water

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
History

#art history
#drawing
#Michelangelo

In 1530, Michelangelo went into hiding after receiving a death sentence from Pope Clement VII. The iconic Renaissance artist had been caught in the political strife of his patrons, the Medici family, who had just returned to Florence after being overthrown by a populist revolt in 1527. During their exile, Michelangelo worked with the short-lived republican government to help secure the city’s defense walls and so became an enemy of his powerful supporters.

It is believed he spent two months stowed away in a tiny vault stretching just 32 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, with 8-foot ceilings at their highest points and a single window to the street, before the pope rescinded the sentence. Tucked into the Medici Chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the claustrophobic room also became a canvas for the artist, who’s thought to have sketched dozens of drawings on the walls. Using carbonized wood and red chalk, the artist rendered several figurative works, including the head of the ancient Laocoön sculpture and iterations of his own masterpieces, including his Leda and the Swan painting and iterations of his David statue.

The drawings were hidden until 1975 when the then-director of the Medici Chapels, Paolo Dal Poggetto, was trying to find a new space for the museum exit. A trapdoor under a cabinet led to the room, which was filthy from housing slack coal for two decades. When the walls were finally stripped of two layers of plaster, the museum discovered the artworks.

Given its small dimensions, the space has previously been restricted to visitors for fear of damaging the drawings, although on November 15, it will open to the public for the first time. The decision comes after security renovations that will allow four visitors inside at a time, with only 100 tickets available per week through March 30, 2024. (via The History Blog)

#art history
#drawing
#Michelangelo

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Documentary
Science

#mining
#paint
#short film
#video



In southeast Ohio, toxic drainage from abandoned coal mines has devastated streams and rivers. The acidic sludge, which is filled with heavy metals, leaches into waterways, destroying ecosystems and turning what should be clear, bluish waters into murky, rust-colored runs. In Athens, home of Ohio University, a Hocking River tributary known as Sunday Creek is a prime example of mining’s harmful effects, with more than two million pounds of iron oxide pouring into the stream each year  A new documentary directed by Jason Whalen visits the area and the team vowing to clean it up.

“Toxic Art” follows an unconventional pairing of two Ohio University professors who have teamed up on a project that turns sludge from the stream into pigments for oil paint. A project of the global conservation organization Rivers are Life, the short film shares the story of artist John Sabraw and Guy Riefler, the chair of the Civil Engineering department, who have spent six years developing pigments using iron oxide they collected from the creek.

Riefler explains that conventional treatments are often cost-prohibitive, and so the pair decided that if they could create and sell a commercial product, they could fund clean-up efforts on their own. From there, they helped develop True Pigments, a collaborative project with Gamblin Artist Colors that uses proprietary technology to create vibrant pigments from the toxic material.

“We’ve been refining a process that can continuously treat acid mine drainage, restore a stream for aquatic life, and collect sustainably sourced iron pigment that can be sold offsetting operational costs,” Sabraw told Hyperallergic. “Based on our best estimates, we should be able to create jobs and produce a small profit, while eliminating a perpetual pollution source.”

While primarily comprised of volunteers manually harvesting and processing the materials, the multi-pronged project has now secured $3.5 million in funding to construct a True Pigments facility on the Appalachian site. Once that plant is running, Sabraw estimates that his team will be able to completely restore Sunday Creek, “remove over 6,000 lbs of iron… and theoretically produce 75,000 tubes of paint,” every day. Because that’s a staggering amount of material that would overwhelm the consumer market, the team plans to sell much of their future stock to industrial sources.

Watch “Toxic Art” above to see the innovative pollution-to-pigment pipeline in action, and purchase your own set of reclaimed materials from True Pigments.

#mining
#paint
#short film
#video

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



History
Photography

#black and white
#portraits
#preservation

It’s estimated that people around the world will take a whopping 1.6 trillion photographs this year. With lenses built into our digital devices, a quick snap has never been easier. In the second half of the 19th century, though, before film was even invented, taking a picture required technical skill and access to expensive equipment and supplies. Some of the earliest large- and medium-format cameras used delicate glass plates to capture black-and-white portraits and landscapes in fine detail.

In 2019, Terri Cappucci, a photographer and preservationist based in Massachusetts, stumbled upon a veritable treasure trove. A collection of 4,000 glass plates spanning the 1860s to the 1930s had been destined for the trash before Cappucci, who has experience shooting wet plates and tintypes, noticed the negatives’ high quality. She also recognized a few Massachusetts landmarks and knew she held an abundance of local history in her hands.

Cappucci set out on the long and painstaking process of preserving the slides, consulting with conservation experts and enrolling in a course that taught the fundamentals of cleaning and archiving the fragile pieces. “I would clean them individually only on the glass side; I wouldn’t touch the emulsion side,” she told PetaPixel. “Definitely don’t clean them with Windex or anything you would use to clean windows, just distilled water.” Cappucci digitized each slide using scanning guidelines provided by the National Archives, then slipped each one into an acid-free envelope for storage.

The University of Massachusetts Archives in Amherst recently acquired the collection, and Cappucci shares insights into individual photos on the website Somebody Photographed This and Facebook. You can also check out her YouTube channel.

And if you can’t get enough of the discovery of old photos, you might also enjoy exploring the Museum of Lost Memories.

#black and white
#portraits
#preservation

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!



Art
Craft

#flowers
#installation
#Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen
#paper

Enormous blooms crafted from thousands of sheets of creased, textured, and twisted paper explode in Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen’s vibrant installations. The Copenhagen-based artist (previously) draws inspiration from real blossoms like peonies or dahlias, adding fantastical, patterned embellishments to the pistils and stamens. The artist emphasizes larger-than-life sculptures, often creating painstakingly detailed displays that radiate from floor to ceiling.

If you’re in Copenhagen this winter, you can see Scott-Hansen’s Christmas installation at Illum department store. She is currently working with The Spaceless Gallery to make some of her pieces available for purchase and is collaborating with HAGD Contemporary to take the botanical theme a step further in a series of masks. You can explore more work on Instagram.

#flowers
#installation
#Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen
#paper

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. You’ll connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, read articles and newsletters ad-free, sustain our interview series, get discounts and early access to our limited-edition print releases, and much more. Join now!