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Aggression and struggles for power abound in the vivid paintings of Ángela Ferrari.
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“Aurora” (2025), oil on linen, 190 x 363 centimeters. All images courtesy of Povos, shared with permission
Ángela Ferrari’s Dramatic Paintings Tease Out a Passionate Play for Power
November 25, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Aggression and struggles for power abound in the vivid paintings of Ángela Ferrari. The Argentinian artist is keen to explore the limits and consequences of control through scenes rife with antagonism: dogs nip at each other, horses buck and bare their teeth, and birds lie lifeless. Evoking hunting paintings and masculine displays of pride for a kill, Ferrari’s works consider the relationship between predator and prey.
In her most recent body of work, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, the artist extends her proclivity for teasing out the tension between life and death. There are tiny works with looser brushstrokes that zero in on singular moments of tension, while a spate of large pieces magnify several tussles with vivid details.
“Aurora IX” (2024), oil on linen, 60 x 80 centimeters
Paintings like “Aurora” stretch nearly 12 feet wide and present a diverse group of fowl with various dispositions, all against a stunning mottled sky. Some creatures appear on the verge of an inevitable battle, while others have already succumbed or go about their lives seemingly unaffected.
Sharing a partial title with the 2024 painting “Aurora IX,” this expansive piece similarly brings together themes of decay and vitality through flowers and vibrant feathers falling to the earth after being plucked. Sensual fabrics and grand spaces complement Ferrari’s rich color palette in several works and cement her self-described “grotesque-passionate baroque” style.
Whereas earlier paintings are set indoors, the pieces in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? are fully in the wild. This exhibition—which shares a title with the 1969 Sydney Pollack film—brings violence and suffering front and center, a stark contrast to its presence in the background or underfoot in historical genre paintings of hunts. In doing so, Ferrari highlights a ruthless nature in which vying for domination always begets drama. Rather than dismiss such displays of hostility as inevitable, she prompts an urgent investigation into what caused such a commotion in the first place.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? is on view through December 14 at Povos in Chicago. Find more of Ferrari’s work on Instagram.
“They shoot horses, don’t they? II” (2025), oil on linen, 450 x 155 centimeters
“Dog” (2025), oil on linen, 15 x 20 centimeters
“Horse diptych no. 1 (1)” (2025), oil on linen, 15 x 20 centimeters
“Vértigo III” (2024), oil on linen, 143 x 102 centimeters
“Horse diptych no. 2. (2)” (2025), oil on linen, 15 x 20 centimeters
“Vértigo” (2024), oil on linen, 140 x 120 centimeters
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Sebastian Foster’s Fall Print Set is the perfect spot to shop for the next piece to add to your collection or meaningful holiday gifts.
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Jeremy Miranda, “February.” All images courtesy of Sebestian Foster, shared with permission
Sebastian Foster Releases 20 New Prints for the Holidays
November 24, 2025
ArtSponsor
Sebastian Foster
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Sebastian Foster is thrilled to present its 2025 Fall Print Set, marking the 13th anniversary of the collection since publishing the first set in 2012. The new release features 20 works by well-established illustrators, printmakers, and painters from around the world.
The prints in this set have all been published as relatively small editions, hand-signed, and numbered by the artists. Encompassing an eclectic array of mediums and themes, the collection showcases work from artists previously featured on Colossal, including Jeremy Miranda’s dreamy oil paintings, Kenny Harris’s delicately rendered moka pots, and Grant Haffner’s trippy landscapes in bold color palettes.
Daniel Freaker, “Abode of Promise”
Based in Austin but operating solely online, Sebastian Foster shifted focus from a traditional brick-and-mortar gallery handling original work to working with artists to make their paintings into limited print editions, publishing more than 1,000 editions since opening in the late 2000s.
Whether you’re looking for the next piece to add to your collection or for meaningful holiday gifts, head to the gallery’s site to shop the 2025 Fall Print Set today.
Grant Haffner, “Goodnight”
Michael McGrath, “Bird Repellent”
Hiroki Kawanabe, “Night Drive”
Graham Franciose, “Well Shit”
Mia Bergeron, “Constellation”
Kenny Harris, “Moka With Lemons”
Matte Stephens, “New York”
Susan Abbott, “Blue House in Summer”
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“Noche obsidiana” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet, and beeswax on handmade cotton surface. Images © Omar Mendoza, shared with permission
Omar Mendoza’s Natural Pigment Paintings Radiate the Power of Ancestral Knowledge
September 26, 2025
Art
Jackie Andres
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Since ancient times, artists and craftsmen have drawn upon natural pigments for creative use. Extracting dyes from organic sources is an art in and of itself, deeply rooted in various cultures across the historical Mesoamerican region. Although many traditional practices—like pigment harvesting—have been threatened by external factors such as colonialism, artists continue to keep these processes alive today.
Mexico City-based artist Omar Mendoza taps into the persistence of ancestral knowledge for his newest series of paintings in Serpiente Solar 〰 Noche Obsidiana, or Solar Serpent 〰 Obsidian Night, at Povos. Conjuring hues from native plants, tree bark, and flowers collected from his father’s hometown, supplemented with pigments sourced from local markets, the existence of Mendoza’s works are themselves a symbolic form of resistance.
Detail of “Lluvia florida”
Visually, the artist’s compositions evoke cosmic power and sacred rhythm. As Mendoza reaches toward the sanctity of time-honored cultural wisdom, he connects both celestial and earthly forces, depicting multitudes of intuition and insight through motifs such as stars, planetary objects, snakes, eagles, vines, and more.
Victoria Rivers’ curatorial text shares:
Omar Mendoza creates these works from a cosmovision in which everything is alive and in relationship: water, stone, plants, fire, night. In that web of sacred correspondences, painting becomes an act of reciprocity with the earth and its cycles.
Symmetry flows through several of Mendoza’s paintings, calling to the mirroring of two worlds. Nonetheless, tactile washes of pink, blue, violet, and yellow atop hand-prepared canvases sumptuously intertwine, presenting a transcendent sense of harmony across Mendoza’s series of works, calling once more to the cyclical energy that courses through them.
Serpiente Solar 〰 Noche Obsidiana opens on October 4 in Chicago. In the meantime, you can find more from Mendoza on Instagram.
“Espejo obsidiana” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal and blue wood on handmade cotton surface
Detail of “Camino a casa”
Detail of “Invocación”
“Lluvia florida” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet and beeswax on handmade cotton surface
“Serpiente de jade” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, kina and turmeric on handmade cotton surface
“Eclipse” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, kina, turmeric and obsidian on handmade cotton surface
“Cantares” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet, alder and beeswax on handmade cotton surface
“Cielo roto” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet and beeswax on handmade cotton surface
Detail of “Eclipse”
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Misato Sano, “なるほど！ / Oh, I see!” (2025), camphor wood and oil paint
‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues
September 22, 2025
ArtPartner
Joy Machine
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“Play between humans and pets, as well as simply spending time peaceably hanging out together, brings joy to all the participants. Surely that is one important meaning of companion species.” –Donna Haraway, ‘Companion Species Manifesto‘
Companions is a group exhibition celebrating our closest animal friends and colleagues. Featuring works across media by Lola Dupre, Debra Broz, Roberto Benavidez, Misato Sano, William Mophos, and Nicolas V. Sanchez, this show revels in the ways we share our lives with non-human species.
Debra Broz, “Horse Boxer” and “Boxer Horse” (2025), secondhand ceramic figurines and mixed media
Each artist translates their furry and feathered subjects in a distinctively human way: Dupre and Broz distort any realistic likeness in favor of surreal, exaggerated amalgamations, while Benavidez translates a small kitten into the celebratory form of a piñata. Sano similarly gouges small pieces of camphor wood to carve a range of expressive pups, which she then paints in oils.
Although their renderings take a more realistic approach, Sanchez and Mophos utilize substrates embedded within human life, the former gravitating toward the blank pages of a sketchbook and the latter scouring the streets of São Paulo for architectural remnants that become small jagged canvases.
In this way, these artists present companionship as a bridge between nature and culture. They see their companions as being both of their own making–in that any relationship is influenced and created by both parties– and as independent beings with big personalities all their own.
Companions opens on September 27, 2025. RSVP to our opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Roberto Benavidez, “Medieval Kitten” (2025), paper, paperboard, wire, glue, crepe paper, fallen cat whiskers, 5.5 x 6 x 3 inches
Lola Dupre, “Geordi” (2025), paper collage, 12 x 16 inches
William Mophos, “Tom Tom” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragments in an acrylic frame with cement board backing, 16.6 x 21 x 7.5 centimeters
Nicolas V. Sanchez, “Mariana with lambs” (2018), color ballpoint pen on paper, 5.5 x 10.5 inches
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“LoFi Girl” (2024). All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission
Stéphanie Kilgast’s Book ‘Utopia’ Chronicles Ten Years of Vibrant, Post-Apocalyptic Sculptures
September 22, 2025
ArtBooksNature
Kate Mothes
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In Stéphanie Kilgast’s vibrant yet poignant pieces, a speculative future without humans gives rise to unusual relationships. “In my artwork, humanity is absent, leaving behind its legacy of objects, buildings, and trash,” the artist says. She continues:
Flora and fauna are taking over. Animals, mushrooms, lichens, plants, and corals are inhabiting every nook and cranny, thus creating new habitats. This symbiosis between the object and the growing environment reflects the balance and respect that humanity has lost, and that I symbolically recreate in my work by expressing hope, joy, and the beauty of nature in an explosion of color.
Kilgast’s lighthearted, vivd, post-apocalytpic sculptures often include objects we tend to find discarded along the side of the road, like aluminum cans or glass bottles. Uncanny habitats also emerge around outmoded items like VHS tapes, portable CD players, or alarm clocks, which people rarely have a need for anymore thanks to smartphones or streaming services.
“Cycle” (2025)
The artist has also recently announced a new book, Utopia, which chronicles the last ten years of her work. The volume brings together a decade of sculptures, paintings, and sketchbook pages, complemented by essays and a complete catalogue of her pieces.
Utopia will print if at least 150 pre-orders are made by October 3. Dibs your copy today via Dashbook. Orders are anticipated to ship in December. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Front view of “Plastic Play” (2022)
“Alice Following the White Rabbit” (2023)
“Chemical Candy Dragonfly” (2024)
“Snapshot” (2024)
“Moving Pictures” (2024)
“Copper” (2024)
Rear view of “Plastic Play” (2022)
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All images courtesy of ShouXin, shared with permission
Expressive Kitties Emerge from Energetic Graphite Lines in Drawings by ShouXin
September 18, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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From simple yet deft strokes of graphite, ShouXin summons cats that jump, roll, crash, and express their curiosity. Detailed eyes, mouths, and noses complement the artist’s gestural use of pencil for the rest of the felines’ bodies, conveying energy, sounds, and plenty of cattitude through the fundamental use of line.
Prints and occasionally originals are available for purchase in ShouXin’s online shop, and you can follow updates on Instagram.
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“Flying Lesson (Dusk).” All photos by Matt Wenc. Images courtesy of the artist and Vertical Gallery, shared with permission
Surreal Narratives Unfurl Between Animals in Laura Catherwood’s Dreamy Paintings
September 15, 2025
ArtIllustrationNature
Kate Mothes
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Curious foxes, sleepy fawns, and daring mice are just a few of the woodland creatures that populate Laura Catherwood’s dreamy drawings and paintings. Working primarily in graphite and oil, she situates recognizable animals into unexpected and fantastical situations in illustrations that “explore the inner emotional landscape while simultaneously soothing the viewer,” she says.
It often takes a moment to comprehend the scope of each of Catherwood’s scenarios. A pair of spotted frogs in “Rue,” for example, is not what it seems at first, as two heads emerge from one body, and their long tongues are both pierced with a fishing hook. And in “Inexhaustible,” a toad with an unusual, bowl-like back full of water provides a tiny oasis for a troupe of flying fish.
“Inexhaustible”
Catherwood is interested in the power of illustration to channel feelings, questions, and experiences that may be challenging or revolve around grief. Her scenarios are surreal and even a little cryptic, yet we’re invited to witness intimate, affecting, and enigmatic narratives that prompt curiosity and wonder.
A couple of these works are currently on view alongside Jerome Tiunayan and Joseph Renda Jr. in The Scenic Route at at Vertical Gallery, which runs through September 27 in Chicago.
Catherwood is also currently working on a series of nine small murals as part of a public outreach project about invasive species, plus a small body of work related to species found in Upstate New York, where she’s soon moving. And she’s also preparing for two solo exhibitions next year. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Rue”
“Stirring”
“Listen”
“Flying Lesson (Dawn)”
“The Bridge”
“Hard to Find”
“Everything Happens for the First Time”
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