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    On Canvas and Shell, Alexis Trice Paints Ethereal Scenes Gleaming with Energy

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    “High Spirits II.” All images courtesy of Arch Enemy Arts, shared with permission

    On Canvas and Shell, Alexis Trice Paints Ethereal Scenes Gleaming with Energy

    October 22, 2024

    ArtNature

    Grace Ebert

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    For Alexis Trice, water is about moving energy and emotion. The native New Yorker (previously) paints gleaming tears that gush from an animal’s eyes or green-tinged seas with roiling waves to “release and recycle.” She adds, “I wanted to make work that could be felt without fully being seen.”

    Earthy color palettes and glinting light recur in Trice’s works, along with shaggy brown dogs that “represent the ideal conduit to bridge the gap of shared emotion between wild animals and humans.” One such creature appears in “Hay Fever,” which features the canine surrounded by thick grass with broken strands of pearls in its mouth.

    “Deep Sea, Deep Sea, Swallow Me”

    Trice frequently returns to these naturally lustrous gems to convey the passage of time, and in her latest exhibition Dust & Brine, mollusks appear as substrates in addition to subject matter. Twenty scallop shells hold ethereal scenes in miniature, whether a diptych of a bisected blue whale or three fish swirling in a lucky trinity.

    Atmospheric and ethereal, this body of work ventures further into the surreal. The artist writes about “High Spirits II,” which depicts a pair of taper candles embedded in a pink fish: “Soft flaky scales and iridescence achieved through many glazes, trial, and error. Juicy wet flesh, and flashes of candlelight peering through astigmatism eyes.”

    If you’re in Philadelphia, stop by Arch Enemy Arts to see Trice’s work through October 27. Otherwise, find more on her website and Instagram.

    “Fortune II”

    “My Heart is a Lonesome Hunter”

    “Low Tide”

    “The Old Dog”

    “A Fly”

    “Hay Fever”

    “The Sun Gets in Your Eyes”

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      in Art

      From Reviled to Revered, an Enormous Pigeon Perches Atop the High Line

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      “Dinosaur.” All photos by Timothy Schneck, courtesy of the High Line, shared with permission

      From Reviled to Revered, an Enormous Pigeon Perches Atop the High Line

      October 21, 2024

      ArtNature

      Grace Ebert

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      The latest sculpture to grace New York City’s High Line is a monumental tribute to an unlikely creature.

      Perched above 10th Avenue, a hyper-realistic pigeon stops to rest in the outdoor pavilion. The work of artist Iván Argote (previously), the hand-painted, aluminum bird is titled “Dinosaur” and looms 21 feet in the air, rivaling the enormous proportions of some of its ancestors.

      Argote is known for questioning the role of monuments and statues, particularly as they relate to colonial histories and power imbalances. For this work, he upends the human-animal relationship and notions of migration and value as the common street bird is vaulted into a glorified figure, peering down on pedestrians and drivers. The artist says in a statement:

      The name “Dinosaur” makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today… the name also serves as a reference to the dinosaur’s extinction. Like them, one day we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on—as pigeons do—in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds.

      Despite their ubiquity throughout North American cities, pigeons aren’t native to the continent. The birds were initially brought from Europe as a barnyard animal and food source, but as they escaped into the wild, they grew into the scavenging flocks they are today. No longer domesticated and not quite wild, pigeons occupy a unique position.

      Argote’s work is a cheeky nod to the birds and suggests they’re more deserving of appreciation than some of the figures we’ve collectively honored in the past. Standing tall and confident atop a concrete plinth, the sculpture also serves as a reminder that “everyone is an immigrant,” a statement says. “Even the pigeon, a New York fixture, initially migrated here and made the city their home, like millions of other ‘native’ New Yorkers.”

      “Dinosaur” will be on view through spring. Find more from Argote on Instagram.

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    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Hiné Mizushima Felts Whimsical Sea Creatures Adorned with Beads and Crocheted Detail

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      Detail of “Ancient Diorama Ammonite.” All images © Hiné Mizushima, shared with permission

      Hiné Mizushima Felts Whimsical Sea Creatures Adorned with Beads and Crocheted Detail

      September 13, 2024

      Art Craft Nature

      Grace Ebert

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      Nested in one of Hiné Mizushima’s wooden dioramas is an ancient marine menagerie. Vibrant blue felt lines the walls of the plush environment, which houses a pair of ammonites along with tall seagrass and small bits of coral reef.

      From her Vancouver studio, Mizushima stitches whimsical renditions of underwater creatures. Her soft, fiber sculptures take a playful approach to natural life, sometimes perching an octopus atop a human heart or finding a moray eel slithering out of an artery. Often depicted in pastel colors and adorned with beads and crocheted details, the creatures are friendly and even glitzy interpretations of their real-life counterparts.

      The works shown here will be on view in Mizushima’s solo show Creatures and Curiosities on view from September 14 to October 22 at Boris Zakkaten in Tokyo. Find more on Instagram.

      “Ancient Diorama Ammonite”

      “Heart Moray Eel”

      Detail of “Heart Moray Eel”

      “Ancient Diorama Squids”

      Detail of “Ancient Diorama Squids”

      “Heart Ocotpus”

      “Heart Squid”

      Detail of “Heart Squid”

      “Bugs 1”

      “Bugs 2”

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    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Debra Broz Merges Humor and Kitsch in a Nod to Our ‘Strange World’

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      Left: “Collie Pheasant” (2023). Right: “St. Bernard Pheasant” (2023). Both mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 10.5 x 8 x 3.5 inches. All images © Debra Broz, courtesy of Track 16 Gallery, shared with permission

      Debra Broz Merges Humor and Kitsch in a Nod to Our ‘Strange World’

      September 10, 2024

      Art Craft

      Kate Mothes

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      Vintage, mass-produced porcelain knick-knacks take on new life in Debra Broz’s intricate and uncanny hybrids (previously). Collies and St. Bernards with the bodies of pheasants meet rabbits with curiously long appendages and woodland creatures with human arms.

      In her solo exhibition Strange World at Track 16, Broz continues to explore the subversive and absurd through the leitmotif of midcentury kitsch. Whether merging two small sculptures or creating elaborate amalgamations, the artist finds the humor—and just a tinge of unease—in busyness, cuteness, and perplexity.

      “Weight of the World” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 34 x 18 x 18 inches

      Strange World, which incorporates dozens of sculptures and glazed platters, revolves around three maximalist assemblages made of hundreds of individual figurines Broz collected during the past decade. Clusters of adorable animals like big-eyed bunnies, ducks, and cows emerge from bases as if blossoming with energy.

      In a statement for the show, Track 16 describes the pieces as “darkly optimistic, synthesizing the confusion of limitless information.” Chaotic and idiosyncratically beautiful, Broz’s pieces tap into our contemporary social reality, balancing tension and overwhelm with moments of levity and clarity.

      Strange World continues through October 12 in Los Angeles. Find more on Broz’s website and Instagram.

      Detail of “Weight of the World”

      “Slightly Human: Cat & Skunk” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 4 x 5 x 3 inches

      “Slightly Human: Squirrels” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 5.25 x 7.5 x 4 inches

      “Galaxy Brain” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 25 x 22 x 18 inches

      Detail of “Galaxy Brain”

      “Slightly Human: Horse (The Champion)” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 8.5 x 7 x 4 inches

      “White Rabbit No. 33” (2024), mixed media on secondhand ceramics, 6 x 4 x 2 inches

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