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“High Spirits II.” All images courtesy of Arch Enemy Arts, shared with permission
On Canvas and Shell, Alexis Trice Paints Ethereal Scenes Gleaming with Energy
October 22, 2024
ArtNature
Grace Ebert
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For Alexis Trice, water is about moving energy and emotion. The native New Yorker (previously) paints gleaming tears that gush from an animal’s eyes or green-tinged seas with roiling waves to “release and recycle.” She adds, “I wanted to make work that could be felt without fully being seen.”
Earthy color palettes and glinting light recur in Trice’s works, along with shaggy brown dogs that “represent the ideal conduit to bridge the gap of shared emotion between wild animals and humans.” One such creature appears in “Hay Fever,” which features the canine surrounded by thick grass with broken strands of pearls in its mouth.
“Deep Sea, Deep Sea, Swallow Me”
Trice frequently returns to these naturally lustrous gems to convey the passage of time, and in her latest exhibition Dust & Brine, mollusks appear as substrates in addition to subject matter. Twenty scallop shells hold ethereal scenes in miniature, whether a diptych of a bisected blue whale or three fish swirling in a lucky trinity.
Atmospheric and ethereal, this body of work ventures further into the surreal. The artist writes about “High Spirits II,” which depicts a pair of taper candles embedded in a pink fish: “Soft flaky scales and iridescence achieved through many glazes, trial, and error. Juicy wet flesh, and flashes of candlelight peering through astigmatism eyes.”
If you’re in Philadelphia, stop by Arch Enemy Arts to see Trice’s work through October 27. Otherwise, find more on her website and Instagram.
“Fortune II”
“My Heart is a Lonesome Hunter”
“Low Tide”
“The Old Dog”
“A Fly”
“Hay Fever”
“The Sun Gets in Your Eyes”
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All images courtesy of Rival Consoles
Anthony Dickenson’s ‘Mistake’ Transforms into a Unique Animation for a Rival Consoles Music Video
July 21, 2025
AnimationArtFilmMusic
Kate Mothes
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For his latest single, “Soft Gradient Beckons,” British electronic musician Ryan Lee West, a.k.a. Rival Consoles, tapped multidisciplinary artist Anthony Dickenson to create a music video that plays with a sense of perception and reality—especially the distinction between analog and digital processes.
Dickenson employs a range of photography and film processes in his practice, focusing predominantly on nature and portraiture. For the “Soft Gradient Beckons” music video, he dove headlong into a nine-month experimental process, creating multiple, long paper scrolls with hand-painted frames in black ink. He then animated by documenting in a sequence akin to the way film is fed through a projector.
The video above features the complete music video, followed by a revealing making-of segment that delves into Dickenson’s labor-intensive process.
His installation “reflects the intricacies and dedication of the creative process,” the artist says in a statement. “The result is both a visual and emotional journey, seamlessly blending art and music into one cohesive experience.” Using cameras attached to a drone and a skateboard, he captures distinct details and patterns while also panning out to see the entire grouping arranged carefully on a warehouse floor.
The concept originated from what Dickenson calls a “mistake” that occurred when, a few years back, he was experimenting with making monoprints using ink rollers. He had a realization that little blemishes or so-called defects various textures from the roller actually lent themselves well to animation.
“Sometimes the mistakes are the bits that really reveal new techniques,” Dickenson says. “I love these little moments of imperfection. Otherwise, you know, you might as well just build in AI.” Find more on his website.
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Art
#animals
#anthropomorphic
#ceramics
#figurines
#porcelainJanuary 11, 2022Grace EbertAll images © Claire Partington, shared with permissionCiting traditional portraiture and figurative ceramics, London-based artist Claire Partington (previously) sculpts grand characters with a dose of contemporary wit: Lavishly outfitted women lose their heads to anthropomorphized octopuses, a flip flop-wearing fairy dozes alongside empty beer bottles, and sneakers and a cellphone lie next to “Sleeping Beauty.” Infused with mythological symbols and references to folklore, the delicate figurines meld history and culture across time periods and prompt questions about interpretation and narrative.Many of the pieces shown here are included in Partington’s solo exhibition En Plein Air, which is on view from February 2 to March 19 at Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle and coincides with the release of Historical Fiction, a monograph spanning ten years of her career. Until then, explore more of her subversive figures on her site and Instagram.
#animals
#anthropomorphic
#ceramics
#figurines
#porcelainDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story More
