Aurelia Butler

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    Recycled Scraps and Discarded Objects Are Fashioned Into an Eccentric Menagerie of Metal Animals

    
    Art

    #animals
    #metal
    #recycling
    #sculpture

    October 27, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Barbara Franc, shared with permisison
    London-based artist Barbara Franc (previously) upcycles materials that otherwise would be tossed into the recycling bin to create a quirky menagerie of metal creatures. Composed with scraps and copper wire, the lively sculptures generally are indicative of movement: owls lift a talon mid-waddle, two cats peer over their shoulders with surprised expressions, and a squirrel appears ready to scurry off.
    The diversity of Franc’s creatures mimic the breadth of materials utilized. She often begins by creating a wire-netting form before attaching the found objects—which include a combination of windscreen wipers, dog leads, keys, cupboard handles, cutlery, biscuit tins, old spanners, metal clips, costume jewelry, and clock and watch pieces—that she sources from yard sales, thrift shops, builder’s dumpsters, and along the roadside as she walks. When attached to the body, logo-printed scraps form a bushy tail and chess pieces create ruffled chest feathers.
    Franc notes that she creates to celebrate other species rather than out of sentimentality. “It is more about a very positive feeling of respect for the huge diversity of life on our wonderful planet and the knowledge that Life itself will always be there. Animals just symbolize that for me in an uncomplicated and direct approach as there is no human element to confuse the issue,” she says.
    Purchase one of Franc’s animalistic sculptures from her shop, and follow her latest recycled pieces on Instagram.

    #animals
    #metal
    #recycling
    #sculpture

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    Granite and Quartz Stones Carved to Appear Like Fabric and Clay by José Manuel Castro López

    
    Art

    #carving
    #rocks
    #stone carving
    #stone sculptures

    October 26, 2020
    Christopher Jobson

    All photos © José Manuel Castro López.
    Spanish artist José Manuel Castro López (previously) transforms nondescript chunks of granite and quartz into squished and dough-like objects, as if each object morphed from solid to liquid and back again in the sculptor’s capable hands. López seems to delight in convincing the viewer that he works with stone as if it were clay. Lately, he’s begun to introduce additional objects that seem to stitch, clamp, or stretch the stones in various ways. While the pieces are obviously not as complex as a Bernini or Michelangelo, they do function as unusual and often humorous studies of various stone carving techniques. You can explore a steady stream of work old and new on his Facebook timeline. (via My Modern Met)

    #carving
    #rocks
    #stone carving
    #stone sculptures

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    Artists Explore Self-Expression Through Bizarre and Whimsical Masks at Denver’s Vicki Myhren Gallery

    
    Art
    Design
    History

    #COVID-19
    #masks
    #sculpture

    October 26, 2020
    Christopher Jobson

    Felicia Murray, “Our Dying Reefs,” felted COVID mask, 2020. All photos shared with permission.
    There is perhaps no symbol more representative of contemporary life than the humble face mask. A simple health device crucial to saving millions of lives around the world from a deadly COVID-19 pandemic spread by invisible airborne pathogens, and yet an object that’s been quixotically politicized at the callous expense of humanity for the gain of an elite few. A new exhibition at the University of Denver’s Vicki Myhren Gallery approaches the lighter side of face coverings: the ancient tradition of masks as self-expression.
    Arranged on mannequins lining the gallery space, over 40 artists present interpretations of protective face wear in MASK, currently on view by appointment through December 1, 2020. The collection of whimsical, grotesque, quirky, and beautiful masks are medically non-functional but guaranteed to provoke a reaction through their novel construction. Several designs mimic natural filtration systems like foliage or a coral reef, while others use repurposed objects like zippers or pipes to create wholly unusual face sculptures.
    “Through this project, we hope to call attention to the significance and signification of masking as an issue of public health and demonstration of civic responsibility,” the gallery shares in a statement. “As the selected artists show, masking is also a mode of outward self-expression and opportunity for creativity. In turns utilitarian and fantastical, the wearable artworks shown demonstrate how makers and thinkers are engaging with the pandemic and applying their skills and individual styles to a newly important medium.”
    As part of the exhibition, Vicki Myhren Gallery has partnered with Denver’s RedLine Contemporary Art Center to fabricate free masks for distribution for those in need. (via Hyperallergic)

    Scottie Burgess, “Mask for Our Unseen Smiles” (2020)
    Serge Clottey, “Mask for Our Times” (2020) (photo by Nii Odzenma)
    Elizabeth Morisette, “Beak” (2020)
    Liz Sexton, Porcupinefish, 2020.
    Freyja Sewell, “Food” from Key Worker Series (2020)
    Matt Harris, “Hope” (2020); Cristina Rodo, “Covidus,” wet and needle-felted wool, 2020. Photo courtesy Emma Hunt.
    Kate Marling, “Classical Sculpture Mask” (2020)

    #COVID-19
    #masks
    #sculpture

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    Multi-Story Murals Showcase Domesticity through Elegant Ceramic Tableware

    
    Art

    #ceramics
    #murals
    #pottery
    #public art
    #street art
    #tableware

    October 23, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    Oviedo, Spain. All images © Manolo Mesa, shared with permission
    Spanish street artist Manolo Mesa merges public and private spheres through large-scale murals that highlight simple domestic objects. The multiple-story artworks depict traditional dining scenes, from an elegant porcelain tea set to a lone jug with swirling flourishes to another vessel resting on a saucer.
    To complete a recent tableau in Oviedo, Spain, for Parees Fest, Mesa explored the history of an abandoned pottery factory in San Claudio. Event organizers gathered tableware from local residents, a collection that informed the shapes and exterior motifs of his work. “I was able to see all the evolution of this earthenware in the houses of Oviedo. I found postwar pieces, which were inherited and preserved with great affection by collectors. We saw (the) tableware of a lifetime from the middle of the century,” he writes on Instagram. Showcasing a delicate collection of vessels, the resulting mural explores an otherwise hidden facet of local history.
    Find Mesa on Instagram to view some works-in-progress and follow his ceramic-centric projects.

    #ceramics
    #murals
    #pottery
    #public art
    #street art
    #tableware

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    Textural Sculptures by Artist Jessica Drenk Use Junk Mail, Book Pages, and Q-Tips to Explore Materiality

    
    Art

    #books
    #installation
    #paper
    #pencils
    #sculpure
    #wood

    October 22, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Dendrite” (2019), Q-tips and plaster. All images © Jessica Drenk, courtesy of Galleri Urbane, shared with permission
    Montana-born artist Jessica Drenk (previously) employs simple materials, like shopping flyers and standard No. 2 pencils, to create organic sculptures that are chaotic and arresting explorations of the substances themselves. Bundled Q-tips spread across a site-specific installation like the roots of a tree, a carved section of plywood reveals concentric patterns, and strips of junk mail are plastered together in long waves.
    While Drenk’s latest series, titled Transmutations, is diverse and ranges from wall pieces to cavernous sculptures, each artwork explores materiality and how disparate shapes and textures combine to create forms that are new both physically and conceptually. The artist explains in a statement:
    In treating everyday objects as raw material to sculpt, I practice a form of conceptual alchemy: through physically manipulating these objects their meanings become transmuted. Each piece is a direct response to material—a subversion of the meanings associated with it, and a reference to the life cycle of objects through time.
    If you’re in Dallas, Transmutations is on view at Galleri Urbane through October 31. Otherwise, follow Drenk’s textural works on Artsy, and watch an interview with the artist at her studio below.

    “Contour 3” (2020), carved plywood, 47 x 38 x 3 inches
    “Implement 68” (2020), pencils, 22 x 18 x 17 inches
    “Cerebral Mapping” (2020), books and wax, 132 x 80 inches
    “Compression 3” (2020), books, wax on wood panel, and wood frame, 44 x 38 x 2 inches
    “Dendrite” (2019), Q-tips and plaster
    Top: “Aggregate 3” (2020), junk mail, 28 x 130 x 2.25 inches. Bottom: “Aggregate 2” (2020), junk mail and plaster, 20 x 78 x 2.5 inches
    Left: “Circulation 18” (2020), books and wax, 31 x 29 x 1.5 inches. Right: “Circulation 19” (2020), junk mail and cardboard, 36 x 36 x 1.5 inches

    

    #books
    #installation
    #paper
    #pencils
    #sculpure
    #wood

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    Oversized Spiders by Mister Finch Transform Vintage Textiles into Fairytale Sculptures

    
    Art
    Craft

    #sculpture
    #spiders
    #textiles

    October 22, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Mister Finch, shared with permission
    Leeds-based artist Mister Finch (previously) thrifts scraps of brocades and cottons to shape into fantastical creatures that are both whimsical and slightly unnerving. His recent pieces include a series of oversized spiders that the artist photographs suspended from the ceiling or scaling his workshop wall. “The past few years my work has become more sculpture-based with my creatures pretty much all stood up and attached to bases.” Finch writes. “I love the way this looks and enables me to dress and humanize them, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.”
    Although the ongoing pandemic has stifled the artist’s foraging of fabrics and other materials in recent months, Finch notes that he’s been pulling textiles from his home stash and occasionally visiting fairs and markets. He’s also been scaling down his sculptures so that they’re easier to handle without assistance.
    Finch published two books filled with his fairytale-style sculptures and settings in recent years—and currently is working on a third—which you can purchase in his shop along with cards and totes. Dive further into his eccentric projects on Instagram.

    #sculpture
    #spiders
    #textiles

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    Overflowing with Flora and Fauna, Collaged Paper Installations Comment on Earth’s Dwindling Biodiversity

    
    Art

    #animals
    #found photographs
    #installation
    #nature
    #paper
    #plants

    October 21, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Intimate Immensity” (2016). Photograph by Trevor Good. All images © Clare Börsch, shared with permission
    Sprawling across paint-chipped walls and tiny alcoves, the collaged installations of artist Clare Börsch mimic overgrown jungles and whimsical forest scenes. Layers of flora, fauna, and the occasional gemstone or human figure comprise the amorphous paper artworks as they transform spaces into fantastical ecosystems.
    In a note to Colossal, Börsch shares that she began her artistic practice as a way to translate her dreams, which are often lucid and informed by memories and a strong tie to nature, into physical objects that others could immerse themselves in. “Growing up in Brazil, I had the ocean, rivers, and jungles that always existed in stark contrast to the industrial cities (I lived in Sao Paulo). So my earliest and most formative memories are of lush, humming tropical ecosystems —and the encroaching industrial landscapes of Brazil’s cities,” she says.
    The Berlin-based American artist sources her many of the vintage photographs from open source archives, including the Biodiversity Heritage Library (previously), Pixabay, and Unsplash. Some of the botanical elements she draws or photographs herself before cutting around the organic elements and assembling them in new, sometimes bizarre, compositions.

    Jungle installation commissioned by Book A Street Artist Berlin for Riem Arcaden in Munich. Photograph by the artist
    Despite the vibrancy and lively qualities of the three-dimensional collages, Börsch uses her artworks to reflect on the ongoing climate crisis and destruction of biodiversity, commentary that’s laced with themes of decay and death. She explains:
    This came into focus for me when I made a series of collages and then later realized that many of the species in the vintage illustrations had already gone extinct. Humanity has wiped out 68% of all our planet’s biodiversity since 1970, so working with vintage illustrations can be very heartbreaking as much of the diversity in these gorgeous old naturalist prints has been wiped out by human activity.
    Since then, Börsch has been collaborating with scientist Louisa Durkin, of the Nordic Academy of Biodiversity and Systematics Studies, to identify ways the artworks can spark awareness and dialogue about environmental issues. “I often say that I do not want my art to be a funerary dirge for everything we could have saved,” she says.
    In recent months, Börsch has been working on a commissioned series that will culminate in a forthcoming book, titled Why Do Tigers Have Whiskers? And Other Cool Things About Animals, which is scheduled for release by Thames & Hudson in May 2021. Follow the artist on Instagram to see her latest projects, including an immersive installation commenting on regenerative approaches to tackling problems of biodiversity, which she plans to unveil in early November. (thnx, Elsie!)

    “Intimate Immensity” (2016)
    “Intimate Immensity” (2016)
    Jungle installation commissioned by Book A Street Artist Berlin for Riem Arcaden in Munich
    Photograph by Kolja Raschke
    “Intimate Immensity” (2016). Photograph by Trevor Good
    Photograph by Kolja Raschke
    Photograph by Kolja Raschke

    #animals
    #found photographs
    #installation
    #nature
    #paper
    #plants

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    Bright Floral Knitting Wraps an Iconic Stratocaster Guitar in a Psychedelic Layer of Color

    
    Art
    Craft
    Music

    #flowers
    #guitars
    #knitting

    October 20, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Flower Power” (2020), knitted wool and Fender Stratocaster, 106.7 x 12.7 x 38.1 centimeters. All images courtesy of The Big Art Auction, shared with permission
    A new piece by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (previously) envelops one of Fender’s Stratocaster guitars in a vibrant sheath of wool. Titled “Flower Power,” loosely knit petals cover the entirety of the instrument, wrapping the body, neck, and head in a kaleidoscopic bouquet. The fibrous webbing evokes the aesthetic of the 1960s when Fender’s model secured its legendary status.
    Along with a diverse series of artist-customized Strats, “Flower Power” will be auctioned on Nov. 4 through The Big Art Auction, a collaborative event hosted by The Big Issue Group and Creative Giants. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to The Big Issue, a United Kingdom-based organization that creates economic opportunities for folks who are marginalized and in need. To follow Vasconcelos’s knitted interventions, head to Instagram.

    “Flower Power” (2020), knitted wool and Fender Stratocaster, 106.7 x 12.7 x 38.1 centimeters
    “Flower Power” (2020), knitted wool and Fender Stratocaster, 106.7 x 12.7 x 38.1 centimeters

    #flowers
    #guitars
    #knitting

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