Aurelia Butler

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    Butterflies and Moths Flutter Through J.C. Fontanive’s Automated Flipbooks

    
    Art
    #butterflies
    #flipbook
    #moths
    #sculpture
    #videoDecember 13, 2021Grace Ebert[embedded content]Illustrations of the elegant atlas moth and paper kite and orange-barred sulphur butterflies fly through a new trio of analog animations by J.C. Fontanive. The Cleveland-born artist created a sleek flipbook machine while he was a student at the Royal College of Art back in 2004 and has since crafted myriad designs featuring birds and insects that fly around the small, metallic frame. His most recent works bring the 2D Lepidoptera to life as they burst into a flurry of quick movements, and the individual paper cards emit a subtle whirring, similar to that of fluttering wings. “Flipping pages make these handmade sculptures live in real sound and space. Creatures flit and flicker by to awaken the poetry of movement and inspire through nature and invention,” Fontanive says in a statement.You can see the trio in action on Vimeo and shop available sculptures on the Flipbook Machine site. Follow the artist’s projects on Instagram.[embedded content]
    #butterflies
    #flipbook
    #moths
    #sculpture
    #videoDo 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

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    Absurdly Flexible Chicks Lunge, Twist, and Stretch into Perfect Yoga Poses

    
    Art
    #birds
    #chickens
    #humor
    #painting
    #yogaDecember 10, 2021Grace EbertAll images © Lucia Heffernan, shared with permissionCalm, flexible, and undeniably adorable, Lucia Heffernan’s brood of chicks would likely be the star students of any yoga class. The fluffy creatures curl into backends, contort into triangles, and stretch their feathered little bodies into warriors and dancers in perfect alignment. Heffernan is showing the lunging and twisting characters through December 15 at CODA Gallery in Palm Desert, California, and even though all originals are sold, you can still shop prints on Etsy and see the entire troupe on Instagram. You also might enjoy Bruno Pontiroli’s backache-inducing wildlife.
    #birds
    #chickens
    #humor
    #painting
    #yogaDo 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

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    In ‘Boogey Men,’ Monumental New Works by Hugh Hayden Reflect on American Culture and Politics

    
    Art
    #cars
    #copper
    #furniture
    #sculpture
    #skeleton
    #trees
    #woodDecember 9, 2021Grace EbertAl images courtesy of ICA Miami, by Zachary Balber, shared with permissionAn exhibition now on view at ICA Miami samples the recurring themes and motifs that are central to artist Hugh Hayden’s body of work: twisting flames spout from a wooden Adirondack chair and spindly twigs envelop a massive skeleton carved from bald Cyprus trees, two works that evoke the Dallas native’s barbed furniture and embedded branch designs. In a suspended installation comprised of metallic instruments and pots, faces mimicking traditional African masks emerge from copper cookware similar to the cast iron skillets he presented last year.The metaphorical new pieces comprise Boogey Men, Hayden’s solo show that responds to myriad social dynamics, cultural issues, and an increasingly tense political environment through imposing, anthropomorphic forms and more subtle works. At the center of the exhibition space is a hammered stainless steel car disguised by a sheet painted in white. Both cartoonish and sinister in its reference to hooded Klansmen, the titular sculpture is an effective indictment of police brutality. Hayden gives attention to the origins of facets of American culture in the pieces that surround that central work, alluding to jazz and culinary traditions.Boogey Men is on view in Miami through April 17, 2022, before it travels to the Blaffer Art Museum for a stay from June 11 to August 21. You can find more of Hayden’s work and view the process behind many of the pieces shown here on his Instagram.
    #cars
    #copper
    #furniture
    #sculpture
    #skeleton
    #trees
    #woodDo 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

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    Colossal’s Favorite Books of 2021

    
    Art
    Craft
    Photography
    #booksDecember 8, 2021ColossalBefore we (eagerly) say goodbye to 2021, we’re taking a look back at the year, starting with the books we covered on Colossal. Throughout the past 12 months, we published dozens of articles centered on new artist monographs and tomes surveying broader topics that range from art and design to science and history. We’ve gathered our top 10 below, although you can browse nearly every title we mentioned on the site on Bookshop.Nature’s Palette: A Color Reference System from the Natural WorldNature’s Palette: A Color Reference System from the Natural World pairs 110 color swatches from the 19th-century catalog Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours with more than 800 illustrations of the animals, plants, and minerals detailed in the descriptions. The comprehensive visual compendium ranges from large renderings of red coral to full-page charts spanning fine-grained marble to smoky quartz.Available from BookshopHilma AF Klint: The Complete Catalogue Raisonné: Volumes I-VIIThroughout her lifetime, the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint created more than 1,600 pieces, an impressive output collected in Hilma AF Klint: The Complete Catalogue Raisonné: Volumes I-VII. The seven-volume series is organized both chronologically and by theme and shares a breadth of her colorful, spiritually-minded body of work.Volumes I—IV are available on Bookshop and the remaining three are available for pre-orderAfrican Artists: From 1882 to NowOne of the most expansive volumes of its kind, African Artists: From 1882 to Now compiles a broad sampling of works from more than 300 modern and contemporary artists born or living on the continent. Within its 350-plus pages, the massive text spans a range of mediums and aesthetics, from Mary Sibande’s sprawling postcolonial installations and Wangechi Mutu’s fantastical watercolor collages to the cotton-embroidered photographs by Joana Choumali.Available from PhaidonBird: Exploring the Winged WorldBird: Exploring the Winged World is an extensive celebration of feathered creatures across thousands of years of art, science, and popular culture. The stunning, 352-page volume compiles works from hundreds of artists, illustrators, photographers, and designers who choose ostriches, flamingos, and other avians as their central motifs.Available from PhaidonPaperists: Infinite Possibilities in Paper Art Spanning 256 pages, Paperists: Infinite Possibilities in Paper Art explores the unexpected ways the medium is used today, sharing a range of collages, quilled portraits, and intricately cut landscapes from 24 artists and studios around the globe.Available from BookshopThirty-Six Views of Mount FujiAn XXL edition from Taschen is an homage to renowned Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and his iconic woodblock print series, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Compiling the artist’s original 36 artworks and the ten pieces he created following the success of the initial collection, the tome celebrates the lauded artist and his fascination with Japan’s highest mountain.Available from TaschenBanksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t SorryBanksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry introduces the life and work of the anonymous street artist to some of the youngest readers. The 48-page book is cleverly written as a plainspoken autobiography and references Dismaland, his “Better Out Than In” residency in New York, and signature rats.Available from PhaidonFrida Kahlo. The Complete PaintingsAn enormous book explores the life and work of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954). Spanning 624 pages and weighing nearly 12 pounds, Frida Kahlo. The Complete Paintings compiles all 152 of her works paired with diary pages, letters, drawings, an illustrated biography, and hundreds of photos that glimpse moments from Kahlo’s life with her husband and muralist Diego Rivera and of the Casa Azul, her home in Mexico CityAvailable from TaschenAmazôniaPhotographer Sebastião Salgado spent six years immersed in the Brazilian Amazon as he documented the world’s largest tropical rainforest in black-and-white. From wide, aerial shots framing the vegetation populating the landscape to sincere portraits of Indigenous peoples living throughout the region, Salgado’s images are a revealing and intimate study of the area and are compiled in Amazônia.Available from TaschenTwo Worlds: Above and Below the SeaFrom the coral-cloaked Kimbe Bay of Papua New Guinea to the icebergs of Antarctica’s Danco Island, the bisected photographs in David Doubilet’s book Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea unveil the diverse ecosystems on either side of the water’s surface. The 128-page volume features 70 images from Doubilet’s 50-year career spent traveling the globe and pioneering the field of underwater photography.Available from Phaidon
    #booksDo 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

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    Paper & Glue: A New Documentary Follows JR Through Some of His Most Iconic Projects

    
    Art
    Documentary
    Photography
    #film
    #public art
    #videoDecember 8, 2021Grace Ebert[embedded content]A new feature-length documentary goes behind the scenes with French artist JR to capture some of his most significant projects to date, including his poignant photographic work of a child peering over the U.S./Mexico border wall and pair of installations at a maximum-security prison in Tehachapi, California. Paper & Glue follows the renowned artist through the evolution of his practice from early graffiti days to his current undertakings—his anamorphic work at Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi earlier this year and his illusory transformation of the Louvre courtyard in 2019 are both evidence of his growth—that are increasingly massive in scope and impact and often shine a light on humanitarian issues.“The film is the culmination of years of my work and includes an archive of photography and videos that span back to my adolescence. At the time of many of these recordings, I had no intention or awareness they could be used in this way,” JR says. “I hope this film further uplifts the essentiality of art and the potential it holds to reshape even our most ingrained beliefs.“Paper & Glue is currently in theaters around the U.S. and premieres on December 10 on MSNBC.
    #film
    #public art
    #videoDo 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

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    Parallel Fields of Color Align in Daniel Mullen’s Precise Mathematical Paintings

    
    Art
    #abstract
    #acrylic
    #color
    #geometric
    #paintingDecember 7, 2021Grace Ebert“Future Monuments 10.” All images © Daniel Mullen, shared with permissionWhat are the visual impacts of converging planes of color? This question is central to Scottish artist Daniel Mullen’s most recent series of paintings, which displays stacks of thin, rectangular sheets in exacting, abstract structures. “I am looking more at Rothko’s body of work and studying the vibrations of color and the almost alchemic effect that his work has on the sense,” the Rotterdam-based artist tells Colossal.Comprised of meticulous angles and lines on linen, the acrylic paintings are studies of precision, geometry, and perception, allowing each element to collide in a mathematically aligned composition. Mullen’s process involves measuring and taping the individual planes before laying the slight, translucent marks. “In this way, the work is built up slowly over time, incorporating irregularities, brush strokes, and bleeding paint into a work that breathes, floats, and expands through the energy of color,” he says, explaining further:The forms might seem to reference glass panels or other architectural configurations but that is only the scaffolding for the viewer to locate themselves within. Beyond that initial shape is an attempt to move towards a perception of ekstasis; or the vibrant energy of the universe, imaginary and unmapped. One that questions the symbols of power and place in today’s fast-paced, heavily digitized environments.The pieces shown here follow Mullen’s collaborative synesthesia series that translates non-visual senses to the canvas—he and artist Lucy Cordes Engelman will be working more on this concept during a residency in upstate New York early next year. You can follow updates to that body of work and explore more of his recent paintings on Instagram.“Future Monuments 16”“Synesthesia 85”“Future Monuments 21”“Synesthesia 64”“Future Monuments 37”“Future Monuments 43”
    #abstract
    #acrylic
    #color
    #geometric
    #paintingDo 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

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    Illuminated Dinosaurs Stalk Paris’s Jardin des Plantes in a Spectacular Journey Through Time

    
    Art
    #dinosaurs
    #immersive
    #lightDecember 6, 2021Grace EbertAll images © China Light Festival B.V.& Sichuan Tianyu Culture Communication Co., Ltd, shared with permissionTrilobites, luminous flying raptors, and a T-Rex towering 27 meters above the ground are just a few of the otherworldly creatures currently haunting the grounds of the Jardin des Plantes. The massive organisms are the subjects of a fantastic exhibition now on view at the Paris venue that takes viewers on a spectacular journey of development and biodiversity through the ages.Populated by hand-painted silk sculptures crafted by the Sichuan-based company China Lights, Evolution on a Path to Enlightenment opens about 3,700 million years ago with the Precambrian era’s marine creatures. The walkable, outdoor show then ventures into the early terrestrial environment of the Paleozoic period, greets the dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous ages—this segment includes fanciful renditions of well-recognized creatures like the stegosaurs and velociraptor, all of which are based on research from paleontologists from the National Museum of National History—before closing with the birds and mammals that remain today.Visit the botanical garden before January 30, 2022, to explore life 600 million years ago or take a virtual tour in the video below.
    #dinosaurs
    #immersive
    #lightDo 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

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    Cut from Found Feathers, Minuscule Silhouettes Become Intricate Symbolic Works

    
    Art
    #birds
    #feathersDecember 3, 2021Grace Ebert“Gull Flight” All images © Chris Maynard, shared with permissionEquipped with surgical knives and scissors, artist Chris Maynard (previously) carefully slices exquisite silhouettes of birds, people, and tiny stars from individual feathers. He cuts the naturally shed materials, which come from private aviaries and zoos, into metaphorical scenes of change and transformation: figures hatch from eggs, a flock of seagulls flies into a perfectly round arc, and still developing chicks nestle into the barbs. “Feathers are symbols of our aspirations,” the artist tells Colossal. “Like a lot of us, I want to fly but I can’t, so I use feathers to try to capture an essence of flight.”To see how Maynard extracts such intricate shapes, head to his Instagram where he shares more about his process and a variety of recent works.“Journey”“Acorn Woodpecker”Top: “Worm Food.” Bottom left: “Entwine.” Bottom right: “Goodbye”“Undulation Reflection”“Another Creation Story”“Embryo III Flight Training”
    #birds
    #feathersDo 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