Aurelia Butler

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    Wild Scavengers and Mythological Wonder Converge in Hera’s Dreamy Mixed-Media Works

    
    Art

    #acrylic
    #animals
    #charcoal
    #mixed media
    #spray paint

    October 28, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    “Taking a Break From Dancing to Their Tunes,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 35.4 x 23.6 inches. All images © Hera, courtesy of Corey Helford Gallery, shared with permission
    In a poetic new series of works on canvas, German-Pakistani artist Jasmin Siddiqui, aka Hera, nods to her background in street art with sweeping, spray-painted marks, chaotic drips and splatters, and snippets of text. The gestural pieces are rooted in narrative and feature wide-eyed characters who wear headdresses of long-nosed rats, wolves, and strange, hairless creatures. In each imaginative rendering, Hera positions the possibility and wonder of adolescence alongside wild animals often deemed nuisances to human society, with “I’m fine really” displayed next to a child whose finger is snapped in a mousetrap and the title of another work, “Love Her But Leave Her Wild,” accompanying a contorted figure.
    “My affiliation is always with those who create beauty in the darkest of places. Because the gutter feels closer to my creative home than the artist studio. I come from graffiti culture,” says Hera, who’s also one-half of the street art duo Herakut (previously).  “I used to be the vulture, the raccoon, the street rat, that rummaged through leftover paint buckets left on the curbs of home renovations, treasuring other people’s trash.”
    The mixed-media pieces shown here are part of Hera’s solo show Here We Go Again, which runs November 6 through December 11 at Corey Helford Gallery. She currently has a limited-edition print of a fox-clad figure available through myFINBEC, and you can find more of her small- and large-scale works on Instagram.

    “You Live and Learn,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 35.4 x 23.6 inches
    “Smart Rats Have a Thousand Lives,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 39.4 x 19.7 inches
    Left: “Seen It All and Still Have Hope,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 39.4 x 19.7 inches. Right: “An Ode to You,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 47.2 x 15.75 inches
    “I Had This Guy,’ acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 27.6 x 27.6 inches
    “Love Her but Leave Her Wild,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 35.4 x 23.6 inches
    “Poetry Written in Fairy Language,” acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal on canvas, 27.6 x 19.7 inches

    #acrylic
    #animals
    #charcoal
    #mixed media
    #spray paint

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    Colorful Patterns of Stained Glass Nestle Within Repurposed Sea Defense Timber

    
    Art
    Craft

    #glass
    #light
    #sculpture
    #stained glass
    #wood

    October 27, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Louise Durham, shared with permission
    Based in the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea, England, artist Louise Durham creates towering wooden sculptures of reclaimed sea defense timber and vibrant stained glass. She embeds stripes and circles in a full spectrum of color within the totem-style works, which when illuminated, cast kaleidoscopic shadows on their surroundings. “It is all about the light,” she says. “That’s the magic of glass and the magic of all living things.”
    In a note to Colossal, Durham explains that she utilizes traditional leaded light techniques, along with fusing and slumping—these involve connecting two pieces together and melting the material in a mold, respectively—to create bisected circles and asymmetric stripes. Shen then arranges the translucent elements in gradients and rainbow-like columns and leaves the rugged edges and knots of the repurposed wood visible. “Even having all the colors of glass laid out in front of me on my cutting table is enough to make me feel good, and I think that’s why the work is so popular. Color makes us feel good,” she shares. “I try not to interfere too much on an intellectual level. The work is definitely not from the head and totally and utterly from my heart.”
    You can find more of Durham’s brilliant sculptures on her site and Instagram. (via Women’s Art)

    #glass
    #light
    #sculpture
    #stained glass
    #wood

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    Shattered Porcelain Fragments Are Elegantly Bonded in Kintsugi Sculptures by Yeesookyung

    
    Art

    #kintsugi
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

    October 26, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    “Translated Vase” (2018), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 102 × 77 × 77 centimeters. All images by Yang Ian, courtesy of Massimo De Carlo, shared with permission
    Seoul-based artist Yeesookyung (previously) fuses Korean and Japanese craft traditions in her elegant, gilded sculptures. Blending ornately patterned vessels with deities and animals, the delicate assemblages meld shards of discarded ceramic into new forms with bulbous sides, halved figures, and drips of metallic epoxy. Utilizing fragments from previous works references the Korean tradition of discarding porcelain with small irregularities, while the visibly repaired crevices draw on Kintsugi techniques, the Japanese art of highlighting the beauty of broken vessels with thick, gold mendings.
    Part of Yee’s ongoing Translated Vase series that has amassed hundreds of works since it began in 2002, the celadon pieces shown here are included in the artist’s solo exhibition titled I am not the only one but many, which is on view through November 21 at Massimo De Carlo in London. In a statement about her latest additions, she describes her fractured sculptures:
    To me, a piece of broken ceramic finds another piece, and they come to rely on one another. The usage of gold in the cracks between them is related to the Korean language, for which the pronunciation of the word ‘gold’ and ‘crack’ sounds the same as ‘Geum.’ Indeed, the shapes of the vases present entirely organic forms which exist out of an innate and sensorial élan.
    For more of Yee’s exquisite assemblages, visit her site and Instagram.

    “Translated vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 70 × 54 × 55 centimeters
    “Translated vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 22 × 22 × 20 centimeters
    “Translated Vase” (2018), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 102 × 77 × 77 centimeters
    “Translated Vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 21 × 16.5 × 19 centimeters
    Top left: “Translated Vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 23 × 21 × 24 centimeters. Top right: “Translated Vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 18 × 20 × 21 centimeters. Bottom left: “Translated Vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 18 × 21 × 18 centimeters. Bottom right: “Translated Vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 134 × 26 × 30 centimeters
    “Translated vase” (2020), ceramic shards, epoxy, and 24K gold leaf, 41 × 27 × 30 centimeters

    #kintsugi
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

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    Hundreds of Ceramic Marine Creatures Radiate in Gradients to Show the Effects of Coral Bleaching

    
    Art

    #ceramics
    #climate crisis
    #coral
    #installation
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

    October 26, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    Detail of “Revolve” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 168 x 335 x 35 centimeters. All images © Courtney Mattison, shared with permission
    Two new site-specific pieces by Courtney Mattison (previously) position ceramic sculptures of corals, sponges, and anemones in a swirling cluster of ocean diversity. Titled “Revolve” and “Our Changing Seas VII,” the wall reliefs are the latest additions to the Los Angeles-based artist’s body of work, which advocates for ecological preservation by highlighting the beauty and fragile nature of marine invertebrates.
    In both installations, Mattison contrasts the vibrant, plump tentacles of healthy creatures with others sculpted in white porcelain to convey the devastating effects of the climate crisis, including widespread bleaching. Her recurring subject matter is becoming increasingly urgent, considering recent reports that estimate that 14 percent of the world’s coral population has been lost in the last decade alone.
    Each of the lifeforms is hand-built and pocked with minuscule grooves and textured elements—she shares this meticulous process on Instagram—and once complete, the individual sculptures are assembled in sweeping compositions that radiate outward in shifting gradients. “Water connects us all, from the lush banks of Lawsons Fork Creek to the icy glaciers of the Arctic and glittering reefs of Southeast Asia. Life on Earth is dependent on healthy oceans,” she shares about “Revolve.” “The swirling design of this work is inspired by these connections and patterns, with revolving forms repeated in nature through hurricanes, seashells, ocean waves, and galaxies.”
    Mattison’s solo exhibition Turn the Tide is on view at Highfield Hall & Gardens in Massachusetts through October 31 before it travels to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where it will be through May 1, 2022. You explore a larger archive of the artist’s marine works on Behance and her site.

    Detail of “Our Changing Seas VII” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 213 x 350 x 40 centimeters
    Detail of “Revolve” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 168 x 335 x 35 centimeters
    “Our Changing Seas VII” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 213 x 350 x 40 centimeters
    Detail of “Revolve” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 168 x 335 x 35 centimeters
    Detail of “Our Changing Seas VII” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 213 x 350 x 40 centimeters
    “Revolve” (2021), glazed stoneware and porcelain, 168 x 335 x 35 centimeters

    #ceramics
    #climate crisis
    #coral
    #installation
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

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    Putt Around the Playable Artworks of ‘Par Excellence Redux: The Back 9,’ Now Open at Elmhurst Art Museum

    
    Art
    Colossal

    #exhibition
    #games
    #golf

    October 21, 2021
    Colossal

    All images courtesy of Elmhurst Art Museum, shared with permission
    The Back 9 of Par Excellence Redux, an artist-designed miniature golf course, is now open at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Curated by Colossal’s founder and editor-in-chief Christopher Jobson as part of an open call, the exhibition of playable artworks pays homage to the incredibly popular Par Excellence, which opened in 1988 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
    The Back 9, which runs through January 2, 2022, includes artists Wesley Baker, KT Duffy, Eve Fineman, Joshua Kirsch, Annalee Koehn, Vincent Lotesto, Joshua Lowe, Jim Merz, David Quednau, Donna Piacenza, and Liam Wilson & Anna Gershon. This round features a wide array of designs like a mirrored room in which the green spreads out into infinity, a community garden in waiting, and Koehn’s fortune-telling piece first shown 33 years ago in the initial exhibition.
    Chicago sculptor Michael O’Brien conceived of the original Par Excellence, which opened to lines down the block and subsequently sold out daily. It was recognized nationally in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune, among others, and went on tour throughout Illinois before returning to Chicago as a rebranded commercial project called ArtGolf, which was located at 1800 N. Clybourn in Lincoln Park on the site that’s now occupied by Goose Island Brewery.
    Book a tee time to play the second half of the course, and remember that Colossal Members get 25% off.

    #exhibition
    #games
    #golf

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    Poignant New Works by Pejac Confront the Urgency of Global Crises in Disquieting Detail

    
    Art

    #acrylic
    #activism
    #capitalism
    #climate crisis
    #oil painting
    #painting
    #spray paint

    October 20, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    “Counterweight” (2021), oil, acrylic, and spray paint on paper mounted on a wooden stretcher, 190 x 135 x 4.3 centimeters. All images © Pejac, shared with permission
    Spanish street artist Pejac (previously) addresses the concept of “returning to normal” in a discerning new series that focuses on the urgency of the issues affecting the world today. Centered on the increasingly disastrous effects of the climate crisis and the social issues that dominate the news cycle, the artist speaks to the myriad global crises in his largest exhibition to date, which opens on October 30 in a former train factory in Berlin. Titled APNEA, the solo show features 45 of his newest works in myriad mediums and themes, including chaotic scenes in acrylic, oil, and spray paints, delicate honeycomb on cardboard, and large-scale sculptures and installations that occupy the industrial space.
    Pejac created many of the pieces on view since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an ongoing concern that also formed the basis for his 2020 trio of interventions paying tribute to health care workers. The new series includes a disquieting depiction of the White House overcome by a violent riot, with canisters releasing billowing smoke and an unaware figure golfing in the foreground, in addition to a cyclone-like drain on a paint palette. Other pieces depict a surreal earthen map of the U.S. with state lines cracked in the dirt and a rendering of Rodin’s “The Thinker” precariously balanced on scaffolding. “During a time of lockdown, painting within the four walls of my studio felt like a liberation and a lifeline. APNEA represents this contradiction,” the artist says.
    To coincide with the show’s opening, Pejac is releasing “The Boss” (shown below) as limited-edition prints and postcards available through a lottery system, and proceeds will be donated to Sea-Watch, a German NGO that has helped thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The artist also teamed up with the organization for an installation depicting a child wearing a life jacket atop Neo-Gothic Holy Cross Church in Berlin, a heartwrenching visual that draws attention to the refugee crisis. You can find out more about the release and see additional works on Instagram.

    “Drain I” (2021), oil on artist’s palette, 50 x 40 x .4 centimeters
    “Flying Ashes II” (2021), pyrography and colored pencil on wood, 189.5 x 121.8 x 3.8 centimeters
    “Urban Albatros” (2019), oil, acrylic, and spray paint on paper mounted on a wooden stretcher, 190 x 135 x 4.3 centimeters
    “Geography Lesson II” (2020), oil and spray paint on paper mounted on a wooden stretcher, 190 x 135 x 4.3 centimeters
    “Landless Stranded” (2021)
    “Animal Kingdom” (2021), oil, acrylic, and spray paint on paper mounted on a wooden stretcher, 190 x 135 x 4.3 centimeters
    Detail of “Sweet World” (2021), acrylic on honeycomb cardboard, 145 x 200 centimeters
    “The Boss” (2021)
    Detail of “The Boss” (2021)
    “Social Distancing” (2021), oil and acrylic on viroc, 125 x 200 x 1.2 centimeters
    Detail of “Social Distancing” (2021), oil and acrylic on viroc, 125 x 200 x 1.2 centimeters
    Detail of “Social Distancing” (2021), oil and acrylic on viroc, 125 x 200 x 1.2 centimeters
    

    #acrylic
    #activism
    #capitalism
    #climate crisis
    #oil painting
    #painting
    #spray paint

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    Innumerable Dots Cloak the Energetic Dancers in Betty Acquah’s Pointillistic Paintings

    
    Art

    #acrylic
    #painting
    #pointillism

    October 20, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    “Child at Heart I,” acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40. All images © Betty Acquah, courtesy of Kuaba Gallery, shared with permission
    Movement, motion, and emotion permeate the joyful, pointillistic paintings by Ghanaian artist Betty Acquah. Rendering dancing children, costumed troupes, and their surroundings simultaneously, Acquah conveys celebratory moments by cloaking her scenes with countless dots of acrylic. “The background echoes the movement of figures and therefore create(s) a pulsating surface that brings the composition alive,” she tells Colossal. “By extending dabs of color in the subject matter into the background and vice-versa, an illusion of movement is created.”
    Each richly layered piece blurs the figures’ defining features, casting them as anonymous, everyday people. “Women are the unsung heroines of the Ghanaian Republic,” says a statement from Kuaba Gallery, which represents the artist. “The images she depicts tell of ordinary women working courageously towards a greater Ghana.”
    Born near the Atlantic Ocean, Acquah is currently exploring beachscapes, aerial, abstract compositions, and the connection between younger women and their socioeconomic statuses. You can find more of her recent works at Kuaba Gallery. (via Women’s Art)

    “Dance Fever,” acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60
    “Child at Heart II,” acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40
    “Exquisite,” acrylic on canvas, 35 x 83.5
    “Banner of Victory,” acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50
    “Carefree Days,” acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40

    #acrylic
    #painting
    #pointillism

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    Anatomy and History Collide in Borosilicate Glass Sculptures by Kit Paulson

    
    Art
    History
    Science

    #anatomy
    #glass
    #sculpture

    October 19, 2021
    Christopher Jobson

    Lungs, 2020. Flame-worked borosilicate glass. All photos © Kit Paulson, shared with permission
    In a lovely clash of anatomy and antiquity, artist Kit Paulson (previously) forms impossibly fragile objects entirely from glass. By referencing historical artworks through lace patterns, or traversing the structures of blood veins and bones found in the human body, she externalizes the internal and reveals hidden visceral structures all around us. She pushes the idea further still by creating wearable sculptures like masks and gloves.
    Paulson works primarily with slender tubes of borosilicate glass heated with a torch through a method called flameworking. “Even with its sterility and stability, glass must be manipulated by hand, relying on very the physical, muscle memory of the hands which is invisibly powered by blood and bone,” she shares with Colossal.
    The artist just arrived at Bild-Werk Frauenau in Germany, an international forum for glass and visual arts where she’ll teach for the next 6 months. You can explore more of her work on Instagram and see dozens of her small glass objects available on Etsy.

    #anatomy
    #glass
    #sculpture

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