Aurelia Butler

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    A Monumental 20-Story Wildflower Blooms Above Jersey City in a New Mural by Artist Mona Caron

    
    Art

    #flowers
    #mural
    #public art
    #street art

    August 11, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Mona Caron, shared with permission
    A single Joe Pye weed with barbed leaves and a blossoming head looms over Jersey City in a staggering new mural by Mona Caron. Set against a black backdrop, the hardy botanical—which is actually a wildflower from the eutrochium genus that’s native to the region—is the latest from the San Francisco-based artist, who’s known for her multi-story murals of plants and weeds that soar above city skylines. Commissioned as part of the Jersey City Mural Arts Program, the exquisitely rendered flower is a celebration of resilience as it “rises with the sun, facing off the skyline across the Hudson,” Caron writes on Instagram. “A vision of nature winning, of plants being the ones towering over us for a change, putting us back in our place. May we learn. May they come back.”

    #flowers
    #mural
    #public art
    #street art

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    A Collection of Wax Sculptures by Artist Urs Fischer Is Burning in the Bourse de Commerce in Paris

    
    Art

    #candles
    #chairs
    #installation
    #sculpture
    #wax

    August 10, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images courtesy of Bourse de Commerce, shared with permission
    A diverse collection of life-size candles occupies the renovated rotunda of Bourse de Commerce in Paris, where it will spend the fall and winter slowly melting into pools of wax. The realistic sculptures are part of Untitled (2011), a redesigned installation by Swiss artist Urs Fischer (previously)—see some of the original works on Artsy—and were lit on the first day of the exhibition. Now partially melted, the ephemeral works are a “monument to impermanence, transformation, the passage of time, metamorphosis, and creative destruction,” a statement says.
    At the center of the installation is an exacting replica of Giambologna’s marble “The Abduction of the Sabine Women” (1579-1582), with an effigy of Fischer’s friend and fellow artist Rudolf Stingel nearby. The figurative works are surrounded by seven chairs, four of which are modeled after seats from Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia that are part of the collection at Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac. Paired with an airline bench, rolling office chair, and mass-produced garden seat, the eclectic array speaks to the ongoing effects of colonization and globalization.
    Untitled (2011) will burn daily through December 31, 2021, or until the wicks disintegrate. (via Ignant)

    #candles
    #chairs
    #installation
    #sculpture
    #wax

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    Textured Patchworks of Sequins, Plastic Beads, and Oil Paint Comprise Trevon Latin’s Dazzling Portraits

    
    Art

    #collage
    #fabric
    #painting
    #portraits
    #sculpture
    #textiles

    August 10, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    “Untitled” (2021), oil on canvas, fabric stretched on panel, plastic beads, and barrettes, 50 1/4 x 58 1/2 x 4 inches. All images by Guillaume Ziccarelli, courtesy of the artist and Perrotin, shared with permission
    Through a patchwork of glitzy sequins and humble cottons, New York-based artist Trevon Latin renders a fantastical world fit for an equally nuanced ensemble of characters. His mixed-media portraits and stuffed sculptures, which uniquely contrast color, texture, and medium in striking collaged pieces, draw their founding characteristics from queer nightlife, virtual reality, and mythology.
    Having completed an MFA in painting and printmaking at Yale in 2020, Latin expands on his classical training by utilizing various found materials, including swatches of patterned fabric, multi-color beads, plastic barrettes, and sequins. His portraits center on spliced, abstracted figures stretched on a round frame or couples mid-embrace, with lush, rolling fields occupying the foreground. These green expanses evoke the landscapes of southeastern Texas, which the Houston-born artist and performer knows well, and offer a contrast to the otherwise ostentatious subjects.
    The plush sculptures highlight the more mythical qualities of Latin’s practice, portraying shimmering hybrid characters elevated on pedestals. His 2021 work “I Break Too Easily” is similarly fantastical, featuring an aqua 3D-printed mask with long beaded tendrils hanging from its mouth. Whether depicted on canvas or as a fully-formed figure, each of the works is a flamboyant and elaborate embodiment of Shaturqua Relentless, a non-binary character the artist has performed in recent years. The resulting works reveal an inherent intimacy and idiosyncrasy, marking an entry point into an evolving narrative.
    All of the pieces shown here are part of Trinket Eater, Latin’s first solo exhibition at Perrotin’s New York gallery. It’s on view through August 13. (via Hyperallergic)

    Detail of “I Break Too Easily” (2021), 3D printed PLA mask, beads, barrettes, 52 x 36 x 36 inches
    Left: “Perched” (2021), fabric, earrings, sequins, wood, 81 x 23 x 23 inches. Right: “Lil’ boi blu” (2021), fabric, glass, sequins, wood, 87 1/2 x 34 x 18 inches
    Detail of “Untitled” (2021), oil on canvas, fabric stretched on panel, plastic beads, and barrettes, 50 1/4 x 58 1/2 x 4 inches
    “Untitled” (2021), oil on canvas and fabric stretched on panel, 83 x 51 x 10 inches
    Left: “Untitled” (2021), oil on canvas and fabric stretched on panel, 39 x 42 x 3 1/2 inches. Right: “Untitled” (2021),oil on canvas and fabric stretched on panel, 53 x 36 1/4 x 11 inches
    Detail of “Lil’ boi blu” (2021), fabric, glass, sequins, wood, 87 1/2 x 34 x 18 inches
    “I Break Too Easily” (2021), 3D printed PLA mask, beads, barrettes, 52 x 36 x 36 inches

    #collage
    #fabric
    #painting
    #portraits
    #sculpture
    #textiles

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  • 163 Shares159 Views

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    Lights and Painted Blocks of Color Intersect in a Perspective-Bending Installation by Luftwerk

    
    Art

    #color
    #installation
    #LED lights
    #light
    #site-specific

    August 9, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Luftwerk, shared with permission
    A deceptively trippy installation by Chicago-based duo Luftwerk (previously) immerses viewers in a distorted environment of color and sound. Relying entirely on physical properties for its illusions, Open Square connects two spaces that are painted with clean, angled blocks of color in cool and warm tones. Prismatic LED lights flash across the rooms, skewing their boundaries and creating perpetually changing settings that appear to emerge and fade over time.
    The abstract installation is part of Factory Installed 2021, a group exhibition at Mattress Factory on view now through November 14. One of five projects, Luftwerk’s Open Square transforms the historic building into a kaleidoscopic experience that’s “designed to mesmerize and shed the outside world, holding limitless possibilities for exploration,” a statement says. “Developed throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, the exhibition reflects on the habitat that defines our everyday experience.”
    Artists Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero are behind Luftwerk, and you can explore more of their site-specific installations on their site and Instagram.

    #color
    #installation
    #LED lights
    #light
    #site-specific

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  • 150 Shares129 Views

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    Watercolor Illustrations by Steeven Salvat Cloak Natural Specimens with Elaborate Metallic Motifs

    
    Art
    Illustration

    #beetles
    #butterflies
    #drawing
    #insects
    #watercolor

    August 6, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Steeven Salvat, shared with permission
    History, science, and nature converge in the watercolor and ink drawings of French artist Steeven Salvat (previously). Whether encasing beetles in ornate armor, rotational gears, and antique dials or rendering vast entanglements of flora and fauna, Salvat’s works exquisitely apply a fanciful veil to wildlife and insects. Each piece, which is the result of hundreds of hours of painstaking linework, stems from biological studies and 18th-century engravings, two themes the artist returns to as a way to allude to the precious qualities of the natural world.
    Salvat’s Nymphalidae series will be on view from August 14 to September 12 at Haven Gallery in Northport, New York. Find a multitude of videos detailing his process on Instagram, and shop limited-edition prints and originals on his site.

    #beetles
    #butterflies
    #drawing
    #insects
    #watercolor

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  • 200 Shares189 Views

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    Vines and Flowers Intertwine with an Imposing Skeleton in an Elegant Graphite Drawing by Guno Park

    
    Art

    #drawing
    #graphite
    #momento mori
    #plants
    #skeleton

    August 6, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    Detail of “Nature of Things,”  graphite/pencil on paper, 85 x 51.5 inches. All images © Guno Park, shared with permission
    Brooklyn-based artist Guno Park evokes the tradition of memento mori with an exquisite new drawing highlighting the precarious line between life and death. Titled “Nature of Things,” the meticulously crosshatched piece rendered in graphite stands at a striking 85 inches, portraying the oversized human figure with botanicals winding around its spinal column and through its chest. “Putting the skeleton together with vine, leaves, and flowers represents for me the power of nature and its inevitability of continuum. I find comfort in nature,” the artist says.
    Park shares that although skulls and bones are common subject matter, he relegated most to his sketchbook until magnifying the concept a few months into the pandemic. “This drawing has been a journey —as many drawings are—that started a little more than a year ago…I think our whole world was reminded of how close death can be, and I had a constant reminder of it on the news and media,” he says.
    In addition to his studio practice, Park teaches drawing at The New York Academy of Art, ArtCenter, and New York Film Academy, and you can see more of his figurative drawings on Instagram.

    #drawing
    #graphite
    #momento mori
    #plants
    #skeleton

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    Kengo Kuma Hangs Glimmering Sheets of Metallic Chain Inside Gaudí’s Casa Batlló

    
    Art
    Design

    #chains
    #installation

    August 5, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images courtesy of Jordi Anguera, shared with permission
    Renowned architect Kengo Kuma (previously) amplifies the already magical nature of Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló in Barcelona with layers of shimmering curtains. Lining a staircase that stretches from the coal bunkers in the basement up eight flights, the immersive installation suspends 164,000 meters of Kriskadecor’s aluminum chain, positioning the lighter shades on the upper floors and black on the lowest level to emulate the gradient in the Casa Batlló courtyard. The billowing drapes reflect light in kaleidoscopic patterns around the museum and stand in contrast to the otherwise colorfully whimsical architecture, which Kuma describes:
    We have imagined this space dressed in aluminum link curtains, which with their meticulous materiality catch the light, as if they were fishing nets, and show it to us in all its forms: brightness, silhouettes, shadows… this way, by omitting the use of any other materials, and erasing the presence of this blind box and its staircase using these chains, we are able to speak of light and light only.
    Because of the material, the ceiling of Casa Batlló was outfitted with special acoustic panels to muffle any noise produced by the chains clanking together. The photos shown here were taken by Jordi Anguera, and you can find more of his shots and stay up-to-date with Kuma’s designs on Instagram.

    #chains
    #installation

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    Lifelike Installations in Gray by Artist Hans Op de Beeck Highlight Narratives of Change

    
    Art

    #installation
    #sculpture

    August 3, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    Detail of “The Boatman” (2020), polyester, steel, wood, MDF, epoxy, glass fiber, polyamide, synthetic gypsum, coating, reed, glass, PA, rubber, and bamboo, 180 x 400 x 400 centimeters. Photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio. All images courtesy of Galleria Continua
    In The Boatman and Other Stories, Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck (previously) reflects on the fleeting stages of life through an evocative series of vignettes in uniform gray. The vast exhibition, which is on view through January 6, 2022, at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Italy, features imagined subjects amidst their typical environments: A shirtless man steers his small rowing boat carrying a dog, chicken, and baskets of food through lily pads, a Brazilian dancer with feathered headdress rests on a tufted chair, and two hand-holding teenagers silently sit on a rocky cliff. Although the lifelike figures have vastly different identities and backgrounds, a universal theme of transition and impending change runs through each narrative.
    Alongside the larger scenes, Op de Beeck presents still lifes comprised of disparate and anachronistic items, like the coral and candle-laden “Vanitas Table” and the oversized skull, fruit, and bottles tableau in “Vanitas XL.” Most of his works are entirely monochromatic, although minuscule cherry blossoms in “Wunderkammer (12)” disrupt the strict color palette with small, pink petals. Despite portraying seemingly banal moments, the artist’s sculptures and installations are imbued with a sense of wonder and mystery, serving as an entry point into the unknown histories behind the pieces.
    In addition to The Boatman and Other Stories, Op de Beeck’s life-sized carousel “Danse Macabre” will sit in front of the Saint Walburga Church in Bruges until October 24 as part of the Bruges Triennial 2021. See more of his works spanning installation, sculpture, and watercolor portraits on his site and Instagram. (via ArtNet)

    “Dancer” (2021)
    “The Cliff”
    “Dog” (2019)
    “The Boatman” (2020), polyester, steel, wood, MDF, epoxy, glass fiber, polyamide, synthetic gypsum, coating, reed, glass, PA, rubber, and bamboo, 180 x 400 x 400 centimeters
    Detail of “Wunderkammer (12)” (2020), wood, glass, steel, polyamide, coating, and mixed media, 216.5 x 120 x 41 centimeters
    Left: “Wunderkammer (12)” (2020), wood, glass, steel, polyamide, coating, and mixed media, 216.5 x 120 x 41 centimeters. Right:  “Vanitas Table (the coral piece)” (2021), polyester, plaster, polyamide, metal, PU, wood, and coating
    “Vanitas XL” (2021), polyester, polyurethane, metal, polyamide, and coating, 290 x 250 x 250 centimeter. Photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

    #installation
    #sculpture

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