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      Flora and Fauna Converge as Fantastic Hybrid Creatures in Jon Ching’s Oil Paintings

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      Art

      #animals
      #nature
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #plants

      June 7, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Mother Mycelium.” All images © Jon Ching, shared with permission
      Artist Jon Ching strikes a balance between texture and color in his meticulously detailed oil paintings that make fantastic creatures—owls with plumes of mushrooms and fuzzy molds, seahorses sprouting leafy twigs, and fish with striped tulip fins—appear natural in their environments. This vague distinction between the realistic and surreal saturates Ching’s body of work, which imagines a magical ecosystem that visualizes the symbiotic relationships between flora and fauna. “I am inspired by the worldview of many Indigenous cultures that revere the natural world and see god in every aspect of our living world,” he tells Colossal. “I believe that perspective is key to their sustainable societies and one that must be reawakened in our colonized societies.”
      While he dreams up the hybrid forms, the Los Angeles-based artist still roots each piece in the existing world. He has a keen sense for finding the enchanting and unusual in his own experiences, whether from watching David Attenborough documentaries or spending his childhood in Kaneohe, Hawaii. “My more surreal creatures, where the line between flora and fauna are blurred, is in part my attempt at depicting some of this unseen magic,” he writes. “By placing them in a realistic setting among species we’re familiar with, I’m envisioning them into the real world. Maybe if we look close enough or long enough, we’ll catch a glimpse of them and my work won’t seem surreal anymore.”
      You can see Ching’s paintings at Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles starting August 14 and find prints, stickers, and postcards in his shop. Check out his Instagram for glimpses into his process and the real-life animals and plants that shape his works. (via Iain Claridge)

      “Sheila Ann”
      “Razzle Dazzle”
      “Sprite”
      “Aquaria”
      “Homestead”
      “Nectar”
      “Chasing Summer”
      “Puhpowee”

      #animals
      #nature
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #plants

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      Abstract Clusters of Feathers Ruffle Across Vibrant New Murals by Adele Renault

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      Art

      #birds
      #feathers
      #murals
      #painting
      #public art
      #street art

      June 4, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Artscape, Sweden. All images © Adele Renault, shared with permission
      Belgian artist Adele Renault (previously) has an unparalleled ability to turn an urban nuisance into an extraordinarily beautiful creature. Her oversized pigeons grace walls in cities around the world, creating public artworks that celebrate her favored subjects in the exact locations they’re often overlooked and disregarded.
      A few years ago, Renault began what she calls “wandering in the macro world,” a venture that shifted her focus to the individual feathers she’s always found most alluring. “The texture is more dazzling and intriguing than showing the whole thing,” she says. “The feathers have become my own language in a way. I now create them without photo reference, more like a meditative practice that creates textures and softness as a result.” Her murals have since strayed from portraying full birds to focusing instead on clusters of plumes and the individual barbs that sprout in layers and tufts.
      Although Renault is dedicated to realistic forms, her more recent artworks play with color, injecting bright rainbow hues where she previously focused on naturally occurring blues and purples. The vibrant feathers radiate with an oily, iridescent sheen and appear to ruffle on the wall, a trompe-l’œil effect she achieves by meticulously coating either oil or spray paint to create depth and shadow.
      A few of Renault’s smaller works on canvas are on view at Moberg Gallery in Des Moines through the end of June, and she’s currently preparing for a solo show in Belgium that’ll feature her Plantasia series, which similarly extracts minuscule details from leaves. You can find out more about her practice in Gutter Paradise, which was published late last year, and follow her on Instagram to stay up-to-date with her latest projects.

      New Brighton, UK (2021)
      Northwest Walls, Werchter (2019). Photo by Dan Verbruggen-Ausilio
      “Gutter Paradise 11” (2019)
      Right: Silverlake (2019). Photo by Asato Iida
      Urban Art Fair Paris. Photo by Alex Geoffrey
      London, Maryland. Photo by Marian Medic

      La Brea, Los Angeles (2021)

      #birds
      #feathers
      #murals
      #painting
      #public art
      #street art

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      More Than 750 Creatures Inhabit an Extraordinarily Eclectic Menagerie as Part of ‘The Glass Ark’

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      Art

      #animals
      #birds
      #glass
      #sculpture

      June 4, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images courtesy of Le Stanze Del Vetro
      Land and sea creatures alike overrun a new exhibition at Le Stanze Del Vetro in Venice. Titled The Glass Ark, the eclectic bestiary—among the more than 750 animals on view are elephants, hippos, cats, giraffes, polar bears, parrots, and poodles adorned with bows—is the expansive collection of art historian and former Louvre president Pierre Rosenberg.
      For thirty years, Rosenberg gathered the lustrous sculptures during regular trips to Venice, a region with a long history of innovative techniques and a hub for glassblowing since the 13th Century. Charming and playfully expressive, the Murano glass pieces diverge from similar collections produced in other media. “They never display fierce poses, which are typical of more traditional animalier sculptures,” a statement says, “and above all, they are never conceived as a toy.” 
      In addition to Rosenberg’s collection, The Glass Ark also features pieces from artists working today, including Cristiano Bianchin, Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda, Franck Ehrler, Massimo Nordio, Isabelle Poilprez, Maria Grazia Rosin, and Giorgio Vigna. It runs both in-person and virtually through August 1. (via designboom)

      #animals
      #birds
      #glass
      #sculpture

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      Sentrock Captures the Sights of Chicago’s Pilsen Neighborhood in a New Series About Mental Health

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      Art
      Illustration

      #birds
      #Chicago
      #health

      June 3, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Sentrock, shared with permission
      In honor of Mental Health Month this May, Chicago artist Joseph Perez, who works as Sentrock, created an illustrated series celebrating the people and scenes around his studio in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. “I started doing it just for myself, to take an hour or two and share my thoughts or reflections for that day or the day prior,” he tells Colossal.
      Lively, expressive, and deeply empathetic, the resulting illustrations draw on Sentrock’s background as a graffiti artist and his connection to those around him. They tell a story about the neighborhood that’s historically been rich with Latinx culture and portray the sights and experiences shared by the community through a distinctly personal lens. The artist explains:
      I started allowing myself to reflect on the past, present, the current situations I found myself in. I allowed myself to reflect on my everyday life, whether boring, exciting, or just my imagination of the moment. I started to capture the people outside my studio, whether friends or strangers. My purpose for this was to initiate a connection with the people around me, the community.
      Sentrock began with reference photos of friends, family, and community members before reinterpreting them in bright, vivid renditions of his signature bird character. Usually depicted as a beaked mask, the recurring image is Sentrock’s analogy “to humanity: a person who is able to find or escape to their freedom by placing them in a different reality.” In the new works, the character travels from person to person, sometimes worn by kids skateboarding down 18th Street and others by the artist himself, like in the moving portrait of him and his mother.
      Head to Instagram to see the full series and original images, and if you’re in Chicago, keep an eye out for the designs, which Sentrock plans to wheat paste around the city.

      Portrait of the artist with his mother

      Self-portrait

      #birds
      #Chicago
      #health

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      Sci-Fi-Esque ‘Portals’ on the Streets of Vilnius and Lublin Connect Passersby in Real-Time

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      Art
      Design

      #cameras
      #installation
      #public art

      June 3, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Vilnius. All images © Portal, shared with permission
      Prior to hopping on the train for their morning commutes, Vilnius residents can greet pals passing through a main square in Lublin, Poland, despite being 376 miles apart. Thanks to “Portal,” a sleek pair of screens installed in the city centers, passersby have the opportunity to wave hello and socialize with their counterparts just as if they were standing in front of each other on the street. Dubbed “a visual bridge,” the futuristic installation resembles large, round orbs embedded with screens and cameras that transmit views of the two locations in real-time.
      “Portal” is the culmination of five years of research and design, and the project to expand to cities around the world, with two more eye-like devices coming to Reyjavik and London soon.

      Lublin
      Vilnius
      Lublin
      Lublin
      Lublin
      Lublin

      #cameras
      #installation
      #public art

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      Learn the Shadow Puppetry of Japan’s Edo Period with Hiroshige’s Delightful Woodblock Prints

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      Art
      History

      #shadows
      #ukiyo-e
      #woodblock prints

      June 2, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Master the playful art of shadow puppetry with a little help from Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). The prolific ukiyo-e artist, who is best known for his poetic woodblock prints of the Tōkaidō and views of Edo, also created an instructive series of omocha-e, or toy pictures intended for kids, that demonstrates how to twist your hands into a snail or rabbit or grasp a mat to mimic a bird perched on a branch. Appearing behind a translucent shoji screen, the clever figures range in difficulty from simple animals to sparring warriors and are complete with prop suggestions, written instructions for making the creatures move— “open your fingers within your sleeve to move the owl’s wings” or “draw up your knee for the fox’s back”—and guides for full-body contortions.
      Prints of the eight-figure chart shown above, which Hiroshige released in 1842, are available from Flashbak, and you can explore a massive archive containing thousands of his works on The Minneapolis Institute of Art’s site. (via Present & Correct)

      #shadows
      #ukiyo-e
      #woodblock prints

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      Gradients and Everyday Objects Reinterpret the Day’s Events by Concealing the Cover of The New York Times

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      Art

      #COVID-19
      #newspapers
      #painting
      #sun

      June 2, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “DAFT PUNK,” Monday, February 22, 2021. All images © Sho Shibuya, shared with permission
      Last summer, Sho Shibuya began a visual archive of the day’s sunrise by painting vibrant gradients in their likeness over the cover of The New York Times. The smooth, colorful transitions literally masked the daily headlines, offering a reprieve from the news and establishing a morning ritual that the Brooklyn-based artist, who’s also behind the design studio Placeholder, continues today.
      Alongside those subtle sunrises, though, Shibuya also has started interpreting some of the day’s events through mixed-media works that similarly block out the articles. Two bandaids adhere to a peach cover, for example, marking widespread COVID-19 vaccinations. Bands of silver and gold splice another piece, which is also overlaid with a shattered mirror that reflects on Daft Punk breaking up after 28 years. No matter how heavy the topic, each of the pieces, Shibuya says, is intended as a visual aid that inspires hope and optimism. “I want to create peace through my work sharing my sympathy and emotion,” he tells Colossal, explaining:
      I believed simple color and shape have power to influence emotions, and emotions influence actions. It is important to get the facts and understand the news, but I think my work is meant to make people feel the impact of the world beyond just facts and figures. It is similar to the way The New York Times printed all 100,000 names of the people who died from COVID; art can be a more impactful way of communicating the significance of the news.
      Shibuya’s newspapers are on view through January 23, 2022, as part of E/MOTION, a group show at MoMu in Antwerp, and you can keep up with his daily practice on Instagram.

      “CALIFORNIA,” Wednesday, September 9, 2020
      Left: “EVERGREEN,” Monday, March 29, 2021. Right: “SUPER BLOOD MOON,” Wednesday, May 26, 2021
      Friday, May 7, 2021
      “MARIJUANA,” Wednesday, March 31, 2021
      “MARS,” Thursday, February 18, 2021
      Friday, February 12, 2021
      “BIDEN BEATS TRUMP,” Sunday, November 8, 2020

      #COVID-19
      #newspapers
      #painting
      #sun

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      Thread Infused with Scent Embellishes Embroidered and Woven Textiles to Stimulate Memories

      by

      
      Art

      #embroidery
      #fiber art
      #scents
      #textiles
      #weaving

      June 1, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Jasmine I” embroidery on silk organza with jasmine-scented yarn dyed with hibiscus, beetroot, indigo, and turmeric, 36 x  54 inches. All images © Pallavi Padukone, shared with permission
      Scent, memory, and emotion are inextricably bound together in the human brain, making it possible that a single sniff evokes feelings of delight, comfort, and calm associated with an experience. Pallavi Padukone uses this inherent connection in Reminiscent, a series of six fiber-based works infused with naturally derived fragrances, all of which the textile artist and designer equates with her hometown of Bangalore, India.
      Part aromatherapy and part nostalgic stimulus, the fiber pieces hang from the ceiling as delicate, sheer curtains that are accessible from all sides. Padukone weaves and embroiders using thread that’s covered in a wax-and-resin substance she developed through trial-and-error. “The testing phase for the coated yarn involved sampling weave structures and embroidery techniques that were best suited for the yarn. I kept a record of swatches as a test of their durability and how long the scent and color last when exposed to heat and light,” she says.

      “Sandalwood,” handset and machine embroidered sandalwood scented yarn dyed with cutch and beetroot over layered organza silk dyed with cutch, rojo quebracho, walnut, madder, and iron, 13.5 x 15 inches
      Infused with clove, vetiver, jasmine, citronella, sandalwood, or rose, the cotton yarns also are hand-dyed naturally, pulling out the golden color of turmeric and rusty tones from cutch and beets to pair with a corresponding aroma. “It’s ironic that I happened to choose scent during a time when wearing masks is the new normal,” Padukone tells Colossal. “While the beauty of olfactory art is that it has to be experienced in person, I use textiles, patterning, and color as a way to visually represent my depiction of the fragrance’s personality.” A yellow and green patchwork, for example, emits the grassy, lemon-like aroma of citronella, while sweet, musky sandalwood is paired with thick, abstract coils of yarn on sepia-toned silk.
      Although the scents are embedded in many of the works, tiny accessible pockets cover the undyed organza in “Jasmine II,” ensuring Padukone can replace the flower buds. She’s currently exploring other methods that allow replenishment considering most fragrances last between one and three months. The transience of sent, though, is part of its appeal. She explains:
      I find beauty in impermanence and how each textile’s color, structure, fragrance changes over time. In this collection, I have incorporated handspun recycled sari silk and cotton for my weaves and embroider on organza silk. I am drawn to the sheerness of the fabric, the way it interacts with light to visually evoke the ephemeral experience of fragrance.
      Padukone lives and works in New York, and you can see more of Reminiscent and other textile-based projects on her site and Instagram.

      “Citronella I,” handwoven pre-dyed cotton and citronella scented yarn dyed with turmeric, indigo, and chili, 16 x 40 inches
      “Sandalwood,” handset and machine embroidered sandalwood scented yarn dyed with cutch and beetroot over layered organza silk dyed with cutch, rojo quebracho, walnut, madder and iron, 13.5 x 15 inches
      Photo by Olivia Koval
      Photo by Olivia Koval
      “Jasmine I” embroidery on silk organza with jasmine-scented yarn dyed with hibiscus,  beetroot, indigo, and turmeric, 36 x  54 inches.
      “Jasmine II,” un-dyed silk organza, jasmine buds, 41 x 44 inches

      #embroidery
      #fiber art
      #scents
      #textiles
      #weaving

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