More stories

  • in

    Tran Nguyen’s Ethereal Portraits Portray Melancholy Moments

    All images © Tran Nguyen, shared with permission

    Tran Nguyen’s Ethereal Portraits Portray Melancholy Moments

    September 12, 2024

    Art Illustration

    Jackie Andres

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    In Tran Nguyen’s portraits, spirited subjects coexist with ethereal environments. “I’ve always enjoyed themes revolving around melancholy, the female figure, and species found in nature,” she says.

    Whimsically walking alongside praying mantises, embracing a tiger in a suit, or encircled by swans, each character is presented with delicate detail, down to their flowing tendrils of hair and gossamer garments. This daintiness lends itself to the compelling air of fantasy that characterizes Nguyen’s style.

    After working on large-scale murals for some time, the Georgia-based artist mainly uses acrylic paint and colored pencils. On heavyweight watercolor paper, light washes of acrylic block in initial fields of color and precede layers of paint to create value. Colored pencils execute final details, like refining darker values.

    Though she loves working with traditional materials, Nguyen is also creating a new apparel line. Check out her website and Instagram for updates.

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    A Swarm of Blocks Flocks to Human Presence in DRIFT’s Interactive Installation

    All images courtesy of LUMA Arles, shared with permission

    A Swarm of Blocks Flocks to Human Presence in DRIFT’s Interactive Installation

    September 11, 2024

    Art Nature

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    Working as DRIFT, Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta (previously) have built their practice around excavating the intersection between nature and technology. In “Murmuring Minds,” a new installation on view at LUMA Arles, the pair utilizes the swarming patterns of birds, bees, and other social organisms to create an interactive work that responds to movement.

    Representing the human desire for cohesion, clarity, and organization, sixty compact rectangular blocks scuttle across the gallery floor. Each component is autonomous and algorithmically programmed to follow the viewer or scatter in their presence. The mechanical installation highlights an ever-changing interplay between the viewer and the collective, exploring how one informs the other.

    “Murmuring Minds” is part of DRIFT’s Living Landscape exhibition, which features a large-scale digital work that similarly responds to human motion. As viewers walk in front of the screen, a flock responds to them as predators, first coming together and then rapidly flying toward the audience The artists said in a statement:

    We developed the interactive dynamics into four types that we have observed in both nature and human society: The Leader, The Hunter, The Vortex, The Machine. The installation is an experiment and a question on how we generate choices, what our decisions are, and how these affect larger structures. How do we define leadership and control in a contemporary context?

    If you’re in Arles, you can experience the works through September 29. Otherwise, find more from DRIFT on Instagram. (via designboom)

    “Murmuring Minds” (2024). Photo © Finn Bech

    “Coded Nature” (2022). Photo © Finn Bech

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    Volcanic Ash and Lush Tropics Inspire Brian Rochefort’s Unearthly Ceramics

    “Beni River” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches. All images © Brian Rochefort, courtesy of the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles, shared with permission

    Volcanic Ash and Lush Tropics Inspire Brian Rochefort’s Unearthly Ceramics

    September 10, 2024

    Art Craft

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    When Brian Rochefort travels, he’s inclined to visit remote parts of the planet. The depths of the Amazon, the volcanic island cluster of the Galápagos, and the immensely diverse ecosystem of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater have all drawn him in and once back in his Los Angeles studio, inspired the artist’s lushly textured sculptures.

    Rochefort (previously) is known for his gloopy, chunky vessels that appear to ooze and gurgle with vivid color. A new body of work debuting at Sean Kelly, Los Angeles this month continues the artist’s interest in how abstract forms can translate the myriad textures and compositions of the natural world.

    Detail of “Wet Season” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    Staring at the Moon presents Rochefort’s visions of barrier reefs, tropical forests, and volcanic matter into fantastic works. Cloaked in crackled, drippy, and rough chunks of color, each piece emerges through multiple applications of texture followed by as many firings, and sometimes, the glazes remain thicker than the ceramic base.

    “One of the things I try to do is remove the hand. There are no brushstrokes. There are no fingerprints,” he said in a short film about the series. “It’s as if the piece came from outer space… or the depths of the ocean.”

    Staring at the Moon runs from September 14 to November 2. Explore an archive of Rochefort’s work on Instagram.

    “Wet Season” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    “The Whale” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    “Goddess” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    “Summer” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    Detail of “Goddess” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    “Belizian Swim” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    “Spray Ash” (2024), ceramic, glaze, glass fragments, 24 x 22 x 21 inches

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    Debra Broz Merges Humor and Kitsch in a Nod to Our ‘Strange World’

    Left: “Collie Pheasant” (2023). Right: “St. Bernard Pheasant” (2023). Both mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 10.5 x 8 x 3.5 inches. All images © Debra Broz, courtesy of Track 16 Gallery, shared with permission

    Debra Broz Merges Humor and Kitsch in a Nod to Our ‘Strange World’

    September 10, 2024

    Art Craft

    Kate Mothes

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    Vintage, mass-produced porcelain knick-knacks take on new life in Debra Broz’s intricate and uncanny hybrids (previously). Collies and St. Bernards with the bodies of pheasants meet rabbits with curiously long appendages and woodland creatures with human arms.

    In her solo exhibition Strange World at Track 16, Broz continues to explore the subversive and absurd through the leitmotif of midcentury kitsch. Whether merging two small sculptures or creating elaborate amalgamations, the artist finds the humor—and just a tinge of unease—in busyness, cuteness, and perplexity.

    “Weight of the World” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 34 x 18 x 18 inches

    Strange World, which incorporates dozens of sculptures and glazed platters, revolves around three maximalist assemblages made of hundreds of individual figurines Broz collected during the past decade. Clusters of adorable animals like big-eyed bunnies, ducks, and cows emerge from bases as if blossoming with energy.

    In a statement for the show, Track 16 describes the pieces as “darkly optimistic, synthesizing the confusion of limitless information.” Chaotic and idiosyncratically beautiful, Broz’s pieces tap into our contemporary social reality, balancing tension and overwhelm with moments of levity and clarity.

    Strange World continues through October 12 in Los Angeles. Find more on Broz’s website and Instagram.

    Detail of “Weight of the World”

    “Slightly Human: Cat & Skunk” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 4 x 5 x 3 inches

    “Slightly Human: Squirrels” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 5.25 x 7.5 x 4 inches

    “Galaxy Brain” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 25 x 22 x 18 inches

    Detail of “Galaxy Brain”

    “Slightly Human: Horse (The Champion)” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 8.5 x 7 x 4 inches

    “White Rabbit No. 33” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 6 x 4 x 2 inches

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    Thomas Trum’s Paint Machines Radiate Monumental Geometric Gradients

    “Looping Line” in progress. All images © Thomas Trum, shared with permission

    Thomas Trum’s Paint Machines Radiate Monumental Geometric Gradients

    September 10, 2024

    Art

    Kate Mothes

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    For Thomas Trum, the methods artists use to apply a medium to a substrate is as much a source of fascination as the finished work. Around 2008, when he was painting graffiti, he began experimenting with different techniques and tools—a readymade paintbrush or spray can only accomplish so much.

    “The thing I like most about humans is how they constantly strive to improve efficiency in everything they do,” Trum tells Colossal. “Just as farmers invent tools to make their work more efficient, I observed the same drive in the painting world, where various innovations have made life easier or work faster.”

    “Duotone Shaped Line 18” (2024) in progress

    Trum began devising his own machines that could achieve a new level of precision at a large scale. “By 2014, I shifted my focus to monochrome paintings, concentrating on creating shapes and working exclusively with lines,” he says.

    On canvases, along walls, and across floors, Trum uses a variety of handmade machines that assist in applying fields or lines of color to sprawling surfaces. Paint is laid down with the assistance of modified hand-held sprayers and elaborate motorized mechanisms that rotate to apply perfect arcs and gradients.

    The transparency of the paint reveals numerous layers and points to the meticulous preparations required for Trum to complete a piece in one attempt.

    The artist’s often monumental works require a small team that brings different strengths to each project, pushing the boundaries of what they can make. His latest project was a collaboration with Porsche titled The Art of Dreams, which transferred his vibrant geometric motifs to boat sails, a pool, and a large-scale series of canvases.

    The artist is currently working on a project incorporating video and photography to capture the element of motion in his work, which will be presented in the spring at Gerhard Hofland Gallery in Amsterdam. Find more on Trum’s website, and follow updates on Instagram.

    “Two Fan Shaped Lines in Yellow and Pink” (2023) in progress

    Installation view of ‘Porsche — The Art of Dreams’ (2024). Photo by Thomas Lohr

    Test in the studio for “Multiple Lines” (2023)

    “Loops” (2022). Photo Arturo Sanchez

    Trum painting copies of his book

    “Two Fan Shaped Lines in Yellow and Pink” (2023), HNBM

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    Vibrant Life Emanantes from Meggan Joy’s Magical Collaged Silhouettes

    “Try One’s Luck.” All images courtesy of J. Rinehart Gallery, shared with permission

    Vibrant Life Emanantes from Meggan Joy’s Magical Collaged Silhouettes

    September 9, 2024

    Art Nature Photography

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    Thousands of individual flowers and plants grown in Meggan Joy’s Seattle garden form the contours of her ethereal figures. The artist (previously) collages perfectly trimmed photographs of each specimen into silhouettes lush with color and texture.

    In her most recent body of work titled Fever Dream, Joy draws on fear, loss, and the immense potential for pain. “Wide and Wild,” for example, depicts a woman cradling a Eurasian Eagle Owl near her heart. “She’s a piece for when you find your person (whether that be a lover, friend, kids, whatever), and once you have them, you know that if they disappear in any way, you also will be gone,” the artist shares in a statement.

    “Wide and Wild”

    Others relate to bad decisions yielding positive experiences and how etermal bonds require patience and understanding. Each work, Joy shares, “whisper(s) the components of the stories that tested us and, instead of condemning our faults, reveal that those moments left us the most exciting scars.

    Fever Dream is on view through September 25 at J. Rinehart Gallery. Follow Joy’s work on Instagram.

    “Thick As Thieves”

    “Thick As Thieves”

    “Try One’s Luck”

    “Icarus”

    “Tyche”

    Detail of “Wide and Wild”

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    In the Wake of Tragedy, Thinkspace Projects Launches a Benefit Auction

    Shawn & Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery

    In the Wake of Tragedy, Thinkspace Projects Launches a Benefit Auction

    September 9, 2024

    Art

    Kate Mothes

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    In 2005, Shawn and Andrew Hosner founded Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles’s West Adams District before rapidly expanding its program and collaborating with numerous projects nationally and internationally. The gallery showcases the best in New Contemporary art—or lowbrow—a movement that emerged in the 1990s on the West Coast partly in response to what was seen as a “high-brow” conceptual turn on the East Coast.

    The New Contemporary moveent rejected what the Hosners describe as an “inaccessible garrison of ‘high culture,’” instead focusing on subjects often often overlooked in the art world like pop culture and the subcultural. The couple’s personal collection, accrued for decades, reflects a deep-seated love for the genre. Now, hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and collectibles by acclaimed artists are up for auction.

    ROA, “Mouse in a Cage,” steel, ink, and acrylic on wood

    In February, Shawn Hosner died from breast cancer. The “ultimate gallery mom,” as Andrew described her, she was a fierce champion of artists and viewed the gallery as a family. Unfortunately, her battle with the illness wiped out the couple’s savings, which also served as the gallery’s safety net. In an effort to stay afloat, Andrew has organized the auction as a fundraiser to continue Shawn’s vision and legacy for Thinkspace.

    The auction takes place in two parts over two days: September 12 launches the main auction at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, in person, at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. On September 13, a separate online-only auction launches at 10 a.m.

    If you’re in the area, you can preview the works from today through September 13. See and bid on pieces by numerous artists Colossal has featured over the years, like ROA, Kazuhito Kawai, Lisa Ericson, Banksy, En Iwamura, Brian Rochefort, and many more.

    In memory of Shawn, a portion of proceeds from the auction will benefit the Keep A Breast Foundation. Bid now on LAMA’s website.

    Lisa Ericson, “Safe Passage” (2018), acrylic on panel

    James Cauty, “Riot Shield (Dismaland)” (2015), acrylic on polycarbonite riot shield

    Pejac, “Four Bees” (2020), acrylic and oil pastel on cardboard

    Hebru Brantley, “Untitled” (2020), acrylic and pastel on canvas

    Kazuhito Kawai, “The Magic Mirror” (2022), glazed stoneware

    Taylor Lee, “Giant Happy” (2020), glazed stoneware

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More

  • in

    Cubist Figures Wade into the Shadowy Depths of Connor Addison’s Allegories

    “In the Loving Care of Animal Spirits” (2022), oil and acrylic on linen, 200 x 300 centimeters. All images © Connor Addison, shared with permission

    Cubist Figures Wade into the Shadowy Depths of Connor Addison’s Allegories

    September 6, 2024

    Art

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    With light inevitably comes darkness, a dualism Barcelona-based artist Connor Addison (previously) finds endlessly intriguing. “We so often forget to embrace the shadow as it’s presumed unloveable or is invisible,” he says.

    Addison pulls at what he finds “in the space between our joy, passion, conscious thought and our fear…what lies in the shadows of our mind.” He often begins a painting with an inquiry or thought that turns into an allegory. “Brothers II,” for example, came from the following questions: “What is a sibling relationship? How do play and manipulation function between siblings?”

    “Brothers II” (2024), 260 x 161 centimeters

    “Visualisation can be so spontaneous,” he adds. “The whole painting just emerges while brushing my teeth for example.”

    Working in muted palettes of earth tones, Addison renders cubist figures with pointed flesh and geometric limbs. Stripping away clothing and distinctive facial features appeals to universal feelings and emotions, like unconditional love, anguish, and curiosity. He adds:

    I like the idea that someone 2,000 years in the future or past would still find a work meaningful and intelligible, perhaps even on an alien planet! Allegory is a powerful thing. Its popularity died as religion fell out of vogue, and we became more literate, but I love a story captured in image. It can say so much more than the word.

    Addison is preparing for his next solo show with Aktion Art in 2026. Follow his work on Instagram.

    “How Long Must This Silence Echo” (2021), oil on linen, 140 x 89 centimeters

    “Mother, Mother” (2021), oil on linen, 150 x 150 centimeters

    “The Conversation” (2023), oil on Linen, 260 x 183 centimeters

    “Becoming Myself Without Any End” (2024), 263 x 142 centimeters

    “Something From Nothing” (2023), oil and watercolor on linen, 400 x 200 centimeters

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

    Hide ads on website and newsletters

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 10% off in the Colossal Shop

    Members-only newsletter

    1% for art supplies in classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/Month

    $75/Year

    Explore Membership Options More