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Masks and Make-Believe: Children Traverse ‘Paper Stories’ in José Luis Ceña’s Paintings
26 November 2024, 10:00
“Little Red Riding Hood” (2024), oil on linen, 71 x 71 inches. All images courtesy of José Luis Ceña, shared with permission
Masks and Make-Believe: Children Traverse ‘Paper Stories’ in José Luis Ceña’s Paintings
November 26, 2024
Art
Kate Mothes
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Elaborate, imaginary worlds open up around the youthful characters in José Luis Ceña’s oil paintings. Brushy, splattered, and sometimes fuzzy around the edges, his protagonists don homemade costumes and traipse through forts made from sheets and boxes.
“I believe that addressing the topic of children more deeply in my paintings came about as a result of having my two children,” the artist tells Colossal. “Living with children makes you realize issues you thought were forgotten.”
“Pig Mask” (2024), oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
Ceña focuses on play to illuminate the contrast between the innocence of youth and what he describes as “the decay of the world we are leaving behind.”
In his most recent series, Paper Stories, kids wear masks and traverse a make-believe, cardboard world. Made of quotidian materials, the scenes transform into fantastical realms filled with animals, dinosaurs, and exciting mysteries.
The psychology of costumes and concealment take on a metaphorical role in Ceña’s paintings, reflecting how people conform to the actualities of adulthood and society. “We wear (these masks) every day, trying to project an image of ourselves that, in most cases, doesn’t align with the reality we live,” the artist says. “This is especially evident in our use of social media.”
Vibrant landscapes are often devoid of depth, as if cut from paper and layered to form a stage-like set. These flattened scenes “suggest that these worlds are destined to dissolve, to fold in on themselves,” Ceña says, adding that “solitude is a silent protagonist.”
The work shown here was recently on view with Galerie LeRoyer, and you can explore more of Ceña’s work on Instagram.
“Cardboardzoic” (2024), oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
“Oasis” (2024), Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
“The Bird” (2024), oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
“Treasure Box” (2024), oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
“The Bird II” (2024), oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
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Fantastical Totems Emerge from Clay in Yu Maeda’s Vibrant Sculptures
25 November 2024, 21:35
All images courtesy of Yu Maeda, shared with permission
Fantastical Totems Emerge from Clay in Yu Maeda’s Vibrant Sculptures
November 25, 2024
Art
Kate Mothes
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“I enjoy the freedom of shaping clay directly with my hands… creating forms that express spontaneity,” says Yu Maeda. Based near Tokyo, the artist began experimenting with ceramics after a career focused on painting when he started transforming animals and imaginary beings into vibrant, lighthearted sculptures.
Maeda is influenced by the bold lines and graphic iconography of pop art, blending abstract forms and traditional Japanese imagery into eclectic works. Skulls, birds, and other creatures suggest a sacred or spiritual dimension.
The artist’s totem-like pieces merge ideas relating to ecosystems, nature’s cycles, and geometry, including timeless motifs like botanicals, insects, and the sun. As if recently unearthed with their bright pigments intact, his sculptures nod to ancient cultures, our reverence for nature, and our dependence on other animals and the environment to not only survive but thrive.
Discover more work, including the artist’s paintings, on Instagram.
Photo by Yuya Saito
Photo by Yuya Saito
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The Colossal Gift Guide is Here
22 November 2024, 19:34
The Colossal Gift Guide is Here
November 22, 2024
ArtBooksColossalCraft
Jackie Andres
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The season of giving has somehow officially arrived, and we’ve got you covered.
The Colossal Gift Guide features a curated selection of gifts for all the unique individuals in your life. From dozens of art books and quirky puzzles to snack-shaped candles and a slew of crafting kits, there’s something perfect for everyone, from beloved grandkids to weird uncles and that co-worker whose name is definitely Shelly. No, Sarah.
Grab a cup of tea and get cozy, because holiday shopping is about to get way more fun! ✨
For the Earth Explorer
We all know someone who has the adventure bug, dreaming of wandering the world while connecting with nature. Perhaps they’d enjoy Field Notes to record those mid-hike epiphanies, mini botanical puzzles to take along for the journey, or books celebrating the fleeting beauty of land art.
For the Art Book Lover
Give that artistic bibliophile in your life the ability to appreciate art in their own home. You can never go wrong with a great art book, and with our wide range from contemporary painting and activism to Keith Haring and Thandiwe Muriu, this selection is a solid place to start.
For the Budding Artist
For those just beginning to explore their creative side, one of the most important things they can receive is encouragement. Whether that be in the form of beginner-friendly projects, one-of-a-kind crayons, or inspiring books, there’s something here to kindle your young one’s artistic spark.
For the Master Strategist
Chances are, you know someone that thrives on strategic thinking, competition, and finding solutions. Our collection of meticulously-designed puzzles, themed playing cards, and game night essentials are great for those looking for a fun (and aesthetically pleasing) challenge.
For the Homebody
Cozy corners aren’t complete without the glow of a warm candle, a whiff of calming incense, and charming matchboxes to light them. As it cools down, these picks are perfect for those who love celebrating the joys of staying in.
For the Stationery Geek
Do you have someone in your life who gets over-enthusiastic about finding the perfect pen, excited about paper weight, and obsessive over workspace accessories? I do (it’s me). Our hand-picked stationery must-haves are perfect for daily organizers or office supply fanatics.
Don’t forget: Colossal Members always receive 15% off in the shop, and from now until the holiday season is over, we’re offering free shipping on all U.S. orders over $150.
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Idiosyncratic Ceramic Sculptures by Janny Baek Evoke Nature and Desire
22 November 2024, 10:00
“Flower Power” (2024). All images courtesy of Janny Baek, shared with permission
Idiosyncratic Ceramic Sculptures by Janny Baek Evoke Nature and Desire
November 22, 2024
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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“I think of my pieces as life forms that are in the process of transforming in ways that may be both wonderful and strange,” says artist Janny Baek, whose otherworldly ceramics (previously) merge vibrant color, eclectic motifs, and botanical details.
“I’ve been incorporating blooming flowers and puffy clouds into my work to think about our intimate and complicated relationship to the natural world,” the artist tells Colossal. “Changes in shape and color imply tendencies, possibilities, desire. Familiar forms, like the open vessel, plant forms, and heads, are a way for me to connect to the lineage of making and hand-building with clay.”
“Olive” (2024), colored porcelain, 16 x 14 x 11 inches
Baek explores the relationship between nature, science fiction, and fantasy in her sculptures, which are often around a foot tall and wide but sometimes reach up to 20 inches high. Some sprout coral-like appendages or appear to stand on four legs.
The artist has focused on colored porcelain using the nerikomi technique, in which multiple pigmented clays combine to create a marbling or patterned effect. Baek recently began working with rougher, sandy stoneware, which affords more freedom to scale up in size and complexity.
“I love to have the freedom to incorporate different materials and ways of making when it fits the work,” Baek says. “Even if I shift materials or techniques, I’m always drawing from the main foundational ideas that drive my work.”
“Walking Cloudbloom” is included in the Korean International Ceramics Biennale exhibit at the Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Design in South Korea. She is also working toward a three-person show at ArtYard in Frenchtown, New Jersey, scheduled to open in February. Find more on Baek’s website and Instagram.
“Walking Cloudbloom” (2024)
Alternate view of “Flower Power”
“Blended Party” (2024)
Detail of “Blended Party”
From the ‘Flowering Vessel’ series (2024)
“Sweater-wearing Beast” (2023)
“Cloudbloom with Small Clouds” (2024)
Detail of “Cloudbloom with Small Clouds”
Work in progress in the studio
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Through Monumental Installations of Soap and Stones, Jesse Krimes Interrogates the Prison System
21 November 2024, 20:27
Apokaluptein:16389067″ (2010–2013), cotton sheets, ink, hair gel, graphite, and gouache, 15 x 40 feet. All images courtesy of Jesse Krimes, Jack Shainman Gallery, and The Met, shared with permission
Through Monumental Installations of Soap and Stones, Jesse Krimes Interrogates the Prison System
November 21, 2024
ArtSocial Issues
Grace Ebert
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Around 2009, Jesse Krimes was sent to solitary confinement while awaiting trial for a drug charge. He had recently graduated from Millersville University of Pennsylvania with an art degree and spent his first year inside Fairton Federal Correctional Institution making. “The one thing they could not take away or control was my ability to create,” he says.
Like many incarcerated artists, Krimes had to forgo the luxuries of a pristine canvas and set of paints. Instead, he had to be resourceful and utilize the few materials available to him. He began transferring mugshots and small photos printed in The New York Times onto wet remnants of soap bars. He then tucked the blurred, inverse portraits into cut-out decks of playing cards glued together with toothpaste, which created a kind of protective casing that allowed him to smuggle the works out of the facility.
Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards
The 292 works became “Purgatory,” which considers how we view criminality and references the unwinnable game of living in a carceral society. Having transferred both photos of people sentenced to prison and celebrities like Naomi Campbell and David Letterman, Krimes points to the ways popularized images can exacerbate power imbalances.
“Purgatory” is currently on view at The Met in Jesse Krimes: Corrections, one of two New York exhibitions of the artist’s work.
Exploring the role of photography in the criminal justice system, Corrections brings together several of Krimes’ large-scale works, including “Apokaluptein: 16389067.” The 40-foot patchwork mural similarly features imagery taken from newspapers that the artist transferred to 39 prison-issue bedsheets using hair gel. Inverted photographic renderings piece together advertisements, snapshots of global strife, and scenes of life from 2010 to 2013, all overlaid with Krimes’ own drawings.
The root of apocalypse, apokaluptein is a Greek word translating to “uncover” and “revelation.” Paired with Krimes’ Bureau of Prisons ID number, the title references mass destruction and the mediated view of the world from inside the justice system.
Detail of “Apokaluptein:16389067” (2010–2013), cotton sheets, ink, hair gel, graphite, and gouache, 15 x 40 feet
Following his release, Krimes co-founded the Center for Art and Advocacy, which supports artists directly impacted by the justice system, and continues to collaborate with people who are incarcerated, often seeking help in sourcing materials for his work.
“Naxos,” for example, suspends 9,000 pebbles from prison yards in a vivid installation as a parallel to “Apokaluptein: 16389067” at The Met. And at Jack Shainman Gallery, where Krimes is represented, the artist’s new body of work repurposes clothing gathered from currently and formerly incarcerated people into sweeping tapestries.
Cells features three abstract works of transferred art historical imagery overlaid with sprawling, network-like embroideries. The webbed pattern is based on microscopic images of cancerous cells, which the artist excised to leave only the healthy tissue intact. By removing these malignancies, he creates an intricate metaphor for the ways the justice system extracts people from society while exploring new pathways toward care and redemption.
Part of Krimes’ intent for his practice is to pay homage to those inside. “It is an absolute honor to have works that were created in such an austere and traumatic environment on display,” he said about Corrections. “To show these works highlights much more than the work of an individual artist, namely the collective value, creativity, and dignity of the millions of people currently behind prison walls.”
Cells is on view through December 21 at Jack Shainman Gallery, while Jesse Krimes: Corrections runs through July 13, 2025, at The Met. Find more from Krimes on his website.
“Unicorn” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, and image transfer, 109 x 105 x 2 3/4 inches
Detail of “Unicorn” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, and image transfer, 109 x 105 x 2 3/4 inches
Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards
Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards
Detail of “Naxos,” installation view of ‘Jesse Krimes: Corrections’
Detail of “Naxos,” installation view of ‘Jesse Krimes: Corrections’
“Stag” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, image transfer, acrylic paint, 82 x 77 x 2 3/4 inches
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From Single Balls of Clay, Paul S. Briggs ‘Hand-Turns’ Leafy Vessels
21 November 2024, 17:30
“Oscillation” (2017). All images courtesy of Paul S. Briggs, shared with permission
From Single Balls of Clay, Paul S. Briggs ‘Hand-Turns’ Leafy Vessels
November 21, 2024
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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Curling leaves and pinched patterns cloak the bold vessels of artist Paul S. Briggs. Using a slab-building technique, he creates chunky sculptures that nod to nature, mindfulness, and the malleability of his chosen medium.
Briggs approaches his process as a kind of meditation, pinch-forming each piece from a single ball of clay. When sharing his work on social media, he even uses the hashtag #noadditionorsubtraction to illustrate how the form emerges from the precise quantity he begins with.
“Calyx Krater” (2021). Photo by Joe Painter
“It is difficult to see from the finished vessels how the pieces emerge from one piece of clay,” Briggs tells Colossal. “I’m at a stage in the process where to call them pinch-pots doesn’t quite capture the evolution of the form, and so I’ve been using the terminology ‘hand-turned.’”
The artist composes each piece through a kind of two-pronged method: the initial step of building with slabs helps him to think through ideas and “philosophize concretely,” while pinching quiets his mind.
As a teacher at The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Briggs is interested in how a range of topics—educational theory and policy, art education, theology, and art—coalesce in both the studio process and the finished work. “One of the main tools I ask students to bring to my workshops is patience,” he says. “You cannot rush these pieces; one must slow down. It is a very assertive but tender process, especially when handling six to 12 pounds of clay.”
“Windflower Vase” (2022)
Being psychologically present in the process is central to Briggs’s approach, “which is why I have talked about the work as being a mindful, meditative technique,” he adds. Undulating leaf forms, intimate divots, and rippling edges repeat in infinite circles around each vessel, evocative of a mesmerizing, three-dimensional zoetrope.
“Very recently, I’ve been making pieces with a balance of slow, intentional pinches and very loose, intuitive marks,” Briggs says. These works are still emerging, and he’s interested in the potential of combining different approaches in one form.
Among several other group shows, Briggs will show a few vessels in an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Art School at Old Church in Demarest, New Jersey, which runs December 6 to 8. He’s also preparing for his next solo exhibition at Lucy Lacoste Gallery in Concord, Massachusetts, slated for July. Until then, explore more on the artist’s website.
“Wildflower” (2021). Photo by Joe Painter
“Whorl” (2024)
“Calyx Bowl” (2021). Photo by Joe Painter
“Windflower Vase” (2022)
“Calyx Krater” (2021)
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Concentric Forms Escape the Confines of the Ceramic Vessel in Matthew Chambers’s Sculptures
20 November 2024, 19:34
All images courtesy of Matthew Chambers, shared with permission
Concentric Forms Escape the Confines of the Ceramic Vessel in Matthew Chambers’s Sculptures
November 20, 2024
Art
Grace Ebert
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It’s been almost exactly a decade since we first featured the concentric, ceramic vessels of Matthew Chambers on Colossal, and in that time, we’ve come to find his sculptures no less stupefying.
From his studio in St. Lawrence on the Isle of Wight, Chambers continues to push the boundaries of the medium. The artist is known for nesting meticulously scaled forms inside slightly larger pieces, all of which are thrown on a wheel. Hypnotic and seemingly endless, the dynamic works appear like vast portals that descend into relatively small vessels.
For his most recent pieces though, Chambers has switched his focus from inner to outer, as the aligned forms shift in position to swell outward and upward. Each sculpture is an opportunity to explore a particular pattern, he adds, and now, that process involves extrapolating motifs and the limits of the spherical shapes.
After 18 months of back-to-back exhibitions, Chambers is now slowing down and returning to his studio to experiment and try new methods. His works will be on view with Cavaliero Finn at Collect Art Fair in February 2025, and until then, find more of his sculptures on his website and Instagram.
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Hollie Chastain Lands a Playful Series of Collaged UFOs
20 November 2024, 13:20
All images courtesy of Hollie Chastain, shared with permission
Hollie Chastain Lands a Playful Series of Collaged UFOs
November 20, 2024
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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From paper, thread, and gouache, Chattanooga-based artist Hollie Chastain (previously) combines ephemera and found materials into vibrant collages. Strips of paper are cut, woven, and stitched into playful, abstract compositions.
The artist’s recent extraterrestrial-inspired series emerged somewhat by accident. “I was playing around with scraps and some abstract surface design, and it ended up vaguely UFO-shaped, so I ran with it,” the artist tells Colossal.
“Green Valley”
Chastain’s playful series uses a limited palette of five colors, in addition to vintage printed matter and a thin maple veneer for visual warmth. “Creating such a big collection with limited materials and colors is both challenging and extremely satisfying,” Chastain says. “I am not overwhelmed with options, yet have to stretch myself to make them each unique.”
Some of the pieces of more intentionally UFO-shaped than others, and Chastain titles each one after the name of a global city where UFO activity has been reported. “I blame David Duchovny,” she says.
Chastain is currently working toward a solo exhibition in late 2025 at Townsend Atelier in Chattanooga. And if you’re in Colorado, you can see her work—including several of the UFOs—in Moons Out, Goons Out at Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride through November 30. Find more on her website and Instagram.
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Aurelia Butler

More stories

Masks and Make-Believe: Children Traverse ‘Paper Stories’ in José Luis Ceña’s Paintings

Fantastical Totems Emerge from Clay in Yu Maeda’s Vibrant Sculptures

The Colossal Gift Guide is Here

Idiosyncratic Ceramic Sculptures by Janny Baek Evoke Nature and Desire

From Single Balls of Clay, Paul S. Briggs ‘Hand-Turns’ Leafy Vessels

Concentric Forms Escape the Confines of the Ceramic Vessel in Matthew Chambers’s Sculptures

Hollie Chastain Lands a Playful Series of Collaged UFOs

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