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      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

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      “Spectrum. An Afterthought” (1975–2014), synthetic fabric, neon lamps, colored filters, steel, aluminum, plywood, and plastic,
      40 x 105.6 x 53.9 meters. Photo by Antanas Lukšėnas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

      February 10, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      From immersive fabric installations and sculptures to photography, landscape design, and architecture, the work of Aleksandra Kasuba (1923-2019) merges myriad ideas about how we experience the world around us. The intersection of technology and nature enchanted the late Lithuanian artist, and she often experimented with a variety of materials and the effects of light, hue, and tension to explore relationships between ourselves and notions of shelter and place.

      The first major exhibition of her work in Europe, Imagining the Future at Carré d’Art—Musée d’Art Contemporain, explores the incredible breadth of Kasuba’s artistry.

      “Shell Dwellers III” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Born to an aristocratic family, Kasuba enrolled in art school in 1941, focusing primarily on sculpture and textiles. She married artist Vytautas Kašuba, with whom she fled Lithuania in 1944 in the wake of the Nazi occupation of the country. They landed in a displaced-persons camp in Germany where they stayed until making their way to New York in 1947, and her experience as a refugee and an immigrant significantly affected her work.

      In the U.S., Kasuba found employment in crafts and design and began laying the foundations for her future artistic practice, which merged applied and functional arts with abstraction. Her interdisciplinary practice took shape in earnest the 1950s and 1960s and was deeply influenced by tenets of modernism and the era of space exploration, which cast humanity’s existence on Earth in a new light.

      Mid-20th century scholarship on vernacular architecture also inspired Kasuba, and she was moved by a visit to Bernard Rudofsky’s 1964 exhibition Architecture Without Architects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He took a broader view of global architecture than the field typically covered and emphasized the ingenuity and beauty of structures built by Indigenous cultures.

      Rudofsky suggested that modernism—particularly modern architecture—had lost touch with the real needs of society, and he urged viewers to pay attention to artistic, idiosyncratic, culturally rich local styles free from elitist design rules.

      “Rock Hill House” (2002). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Kasuba’s artistic practice blended with daily life in her own living spaces, too, from her New York City home in the 1970s to Rock Hill House, a sculptural dwelling in the New Mexico desert she completed between 2001 and 2005.

      The convergence of sculpture and environmental design also fascinated the artist, spurring unique material combinations in large-scale public interventions and spatial installations. Concerned with how we move through places and are affected by our surroundings, she was also commissioned to create numerous public wall installations using materials like brick, marble, and granite.

      Kasuba explored the relationships between transparency, color, and light in works like “Spectrum,” privileging organic shapes and an immersive passageway made from stretched nylon. Her Space Shelters series, composed of fabric in curving forms without ninety-degree angles, exemplifies her desire to harmonize nature, people, and technology.

      Imagining the Future continues through March 23 in Nîmes, France. Learn more on the museum’s website.

      “Dreaming III” (1963), white marble, 103 x 91 centimeters. Photo Antanas Luksenas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Live-In Environment, 43W90, NYC” (1971–1972). From the digital archive of Aleksandra Kasuba. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Rock Hill House” (2005). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Shell Dwellers VI” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

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    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

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      Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York. All images courtesy of the artists, foundations, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, shared with permission

      Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

      February 6, 2025

      ArtDesignHistory

      Kate Mothes

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      Whether a self-taught artisan or a contemporary art titan, one can make artwork just about anywhere. As the saying goes, the only limit is your imagination. And when art and life intersect, sometimes the distinction between the two disappears.

      As the National Trust for Historic Preservation can tell you, homes and studios from rural Kansas to the hubbub of Manhattan have been the locus of eclectic, quirky, and innovative ideas that illustrate how creativity and daily existence are one and the same.

      Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California

      Last month, the NTHP announced the addition of 19 new property members to its Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program. Comprising locations that range from houses and workspaces to quarries and hand-assembled fantasylands, the new spaces bring the total number of network participants to 61 across the U.S.

      Colossal readers might be familiar with one of last month’s additions, the Kosciusko, Mississippi, home of L.V. Hull (1942–2008), which was included in the National Register of Historic Places last summer. The designation was the first to honor the residence of an African American woman visual artist, and it was also the first time a home art environment by any African American was on the list.

      Women feature prominently in this year’s announcement, including Pope’s Museum in Ochlocknee, Georgia, which is distinguished as the oldest surviving artist-built environment by a woman in the U.S. A self-taught maker, Laura Pope Forester (1873–1953) created elaborate exterior installations, including murals and other works that pay tribute to women’s achievements, military veterans, and literary figures. The crochet-like white facade is composed of sewing machine parts.

      Additional places include the homes of groundbreaking women artists Louise Bourgeois and Carolee Schneemann, along with remarkable creations like Grandma Prisbey’s Bottle Village in Simi Valley, California, and Mary Nohl’s unique environment in Fox Point, Wisconsin.

      Plan your visits on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios website.

      Pope’s Museum, Ochlocknee, Georgia

      Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation, New York City

      Spiral House Park, Saugerties, New York

      “Enchanted Garden” and entrance to the “Troglodyte Cavern” at Valley of the Moon, Tucson, Arizona

      Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin

      Interior of the Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin

      Dog Mountain, Home of Stephen Huneck Gallery, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

      Interior of Reuben Hale House, West Palm Beach, Florida

      Interior of Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York

      Interior view of Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California

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    • 150 Shares199 Views

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      Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity

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      “Neo Jomon: Green Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 35 3/8 x 30 1/4 x 28 3/4 inches. Photos by Grace Dodds. All images courtesy of the artist and Ross + Kramer, Gallery, New York, shared with permission

      Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity

      February 6, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      In Japanese philosophy, the concept of Ma emphasizes the relationships between time and space and how moments, intervals, and distance provide the basis for how we experience the world around us. Derived from the word Ma, or “間,” which translates to “pause” or “gap,” the idea of negative space is viewed as a fundamental element of art and architecture.

      For En Iwamura, who lives and works near Kyoto, working from the perspective of Ma forms a significant tenet of his sculpture practice (previously). He examines scale, the sense of one’s surroundings, and comfort in proximity to others. “People constantly read and measure different Ma between themselves, and finding the proper or comfortable Ma between people or places can provide a specific relationship at a given moment,” the artist says in a statement.

      “Neo Jomon: Black/White Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 38 1/4 x 34 5/8 x 29 1/2 inches

      In Mask, Iwamura’s solo exhibition at Ross+Kramer Gallery, he delves into the cultural, conceptual, and symbolic significance of the titular objects. Drawing on childhood memories of visiting the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, where he saw masks from around the world, the artist evokes the sense of mystery he felt upon viewing the works and curiosity about their origins.

      Masks have been used for centuries in cultures all around the globe, predominantly associated with religious ceremonies, funerary customs, festivals, dramatic performances, and other rituals of social importance. We don masks to protect us from inclement weather or to provide a layer of safety in certain sports or recreational activities. In 2020, the mask took on a new significance in the global effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

      Iwamura’s playful, gentle, sometimes wistful ceramic sculptures reference the historical nature of masks while reflecting their role in our contemporary world. “A driving force behind this collection of work is a reconnection to child-like senses of curiosity, wonderment, and creativity,” says an exhibition statement.

      In this exhibition, Iwamura presents numerous sculptures from his ongoing Neo Jomon series, drawing on details characterizing earthenware of the ancient Jōmon culture, which existed in what is modern-day Japan from around 14,000 to 300 B.C.E. The name literally means “cord-marking” after a style of pottery scholars attribute to the period.

      “Neo Jomon: Mask and Eyes” (2024), glazed ceramic, 31 7/8 x 31 7/8 x 28 inches

      Soft forms complement vibrant hues and a variety of textures in Iwamura’s sculptures, which range in size from a little over a foot tall to more than five feet. “To achieve these intricate surfaces, the artist allows his hand-built forms to air dry slightly before drawing various tools across the surface of the clay,” the gallery says. The textures recall rake-like patterns of Buddhist Zen gardens and cord-marking, a technique of pressing a twisted cord into wet clay.

      “While serving as a meditation on parenthood, this series is also an encouragement to reunite with one’s inner child,” the gallery says. Mask continues through March 26 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Neo Jomon: Red Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 46 x 46 1/2 x 31 1/8 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 20 1/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Pink Mask (Beret)” (2024), glazed ceramic, 36 x 40 x 7 1/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 16 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Black Mask (Crack)” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 31 x 31 x 9 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 15 x 9 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Blue Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 23 x 36 x 14 5/8 inches

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    • 200 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny

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      Remedios Varo, “Tejido espacio-tiempo (Weaving of Space and Time)” (1954), oil on Masonite, 32 1/2 x 28 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid. All images courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, shared with permission

      From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny

      February 4, 2025

      ArtHistoryPhotographySocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      In a 1906 essay, psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch coined the term “uncanny,” or unheimlich, meaning “unhomely” or “not home-like” in German. He defined the psychological phenomenon as the experience of something new or unknown that might initially be interpreted negatively.

      Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud popularized the word with the publication of his book The Uncanny in 1919, which elaborated on the idea as not just the sensation of the unknown but also something capable of bringing out other hidden or repressed elements. He even went so far as to describe the uncanny as frightening.

      Mary Ellen Mark, “Tashara and Tanesha Reese, Twins Days Festival, Twinsburg, Ohio” (1998; printed later), gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Image © Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation

      During the 20th century, the Surrealists often turned to the concept to build a sense of mystery or tension in their works. Meret Oppenheim, for instance, famously created a teacup lined with fur, simply titled “Object” (1936), widely regarded as an iconic example of the movement.

      Oppenheim is one of more than two dozen artists whose work will appear in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ forthcoming exhibition, Uncanny, featuring recent acquisitions and rarely shown pieces in NMWA’s collection, plus special loans.

      More than 60 works by renowned figures of modern art history like Louise Bourgeois, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington will be shown alongside the likes of contemporary artists like Shahzia Sikander, Laurie Simmons, and Gillian Wearing. The large-scale presentation is the first to approach the concept through a feminist lens, organizing works around themes of safety and surreal imaginings.

      The show also plumbs the phenomenon of the “uncanny valley,” a term coined by robotics engineer Masahiro Mori in 1970 to describe the apprehension or discomfort one feels when confronted with something that is almost human but not quite, like video game characters that appear realistic yet still somehow seem “off.”

      Laurie Simmons, “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), Cibachrome print, 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches. © 2019 Laurie Simmons

      In Laurie Simmons’ “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), a female ventriloquist dummy sits in the center of a circle of six male dummy dolls, whose gazes are trained on her as she looked out into the distance. Tapping into a medium that has been used in the horror genre to instill a sense of creepiness or dread, Simmons’ central character is dramatically spotlit, her smile belying the reality that she is unsettlingly hemmed in.

      Along the theme of safety, or specifically unsafe spaces, Fabiola Jean-Louis’s elaborately staged photographs tell two stories at once. The artist portrays “seemingly innocuous portraits of close acquaintances wearing elaborate period costumes typical of upper-class European women, while disturbing images of racial and sexual violence are hidden within the background or details of a dress, reminding the viewer of the lineage of violence,” says an exhibition statement.

      Many works in the show address physical trauma or the body’s relationship to the unknown. Frida Orupabo’s photographic collages, for example, portray Black figures that evoke colonial histories, critiquing historical violence and injustices through a process of fragmenting, distorting, and multiplying body parts.

      Orupabo’s compositions echo the surrealist collaborative practice of cadavre exquis, or exquisite corpse, in which participants add to elements others have drawn without being able to see their work, producing intuitive and peculiar drawings.

      Frida Orupabo, “Two Heads (detail)” (2022), framed collage with paper pins, 58 1/4 x 41 1/2 inches. © Frida Orupabo, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nordenhake Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City

      “The enigmatic, darkly humorous and psychologically tense artworks in Uncanny give form to women artists’ powerful expressions of existential unease,” said NMWA Associate Curator Orin Zahra, who organized the exhibition. She continues:

      Rather than comfort and soothe, these ghostly and fantastical figures haunt the unconscious. Instead of picturesque images, artists offer disquieting spaces that unsettle the viewer. In focusing on the ambiguity between reality and fiction, artists explore increasingly blurred lines between the artificial and eerily human.

      Uncanny opens February 28 and continues through August 10 in Washington, D.C., highlighting painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper, and video made between 1954 and 2022. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.

      Fabiola Jean-Louis, “They’ll Say We Enjoyed It” from the series ‘Rewriting History’ (2017), archival pigment print, 33 x 26 inches. © Fabiola Jean-Louis, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Myrtis

      Gillian Wearing, “Sleeping Mask (for Parkett, no. 70)” (2004), wax reinforced with polymer resin, paint, 8 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Gillian Wearing/Artists Rights Society, New York/DACS, London

      Julie Roberts, “Sigmund Freud Study” (1998), oil on acrylic ground on cotton duck, 84 x 72 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Julie Roberts/DACS, London

      Gillian Wearing, “Me as Mona Lisa” (2020), chromogenic print, 24 1/4 x 19 1/8 inches. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy of the artist, Maureen Paley, London, and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles

      Leonora Carrington, “The Ship of Cranes” (2010), bronze, 26 x 14 x 42 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

      Remedios Varo, “Fenómeno de ingravidez (Phenomenon of Weightlessness)” (1963), oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches. © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid

      Polly Morgan, “Receiver” (2009), taxidermy quail chicks and Bakelite telephone handset, 9 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Polly Morgan

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    • 138 Shares189 Views

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      Elemental Shifts and Enigmatic Narratives Anchor Rupy C. Tut’s Mystical Paintings

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      “A River of Dreams” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 62 x 42 1/4 x 2 inches framed. Photos by Phillip Maisel. All images courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

      Elemental Shifts and Enigmatic Narratives Anchor Rupy C. Tut’s Mystical Paintings

      February 3, 2025

      ArtClimateSocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      Verdant scenery inhabited by vibrant wildlife and graceful feminine figures center in the work of Rupy C. Tut, whose paintings (previously) draw upon her Sikh ancestry and experiences emigrating from India as a young girl. “As an environmentalist and Indian-American woman, she never takes place for granted,” says a statement from Jessica Silverman Gallery, which represents the artist.

      Tut’s ethereal works tread the boundaries between abstraction, portraiture, pattern, and traditional Indian painting. Her compositions introduce narratives—often captivatingly mysterious—that highlight enigmatic mystical, elemental, and spiritual phenomena.

      “Bursting with Clouds” (2024) handmade pigments on linen, 41 1/2 x 61 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed

      The artist’s subjects typically exist front-and-center, like in “A River of Dreams,” in which a figure sits in a stream and observes a lily while dark clouds move in above. Motifs of darkening skies and dramatic change continue in recent works like “Bursting with Clouds” and “The First Rain.”

      Oscillating between idyllic paradises, anxieties around climate disasters, and gender constraints, Tut focuses on female figures, turning the tables on a genre that typically focuses on male achievements. “I question traditional roles and labels while preserving traditional practices,” she says.

      Tut was a 2024 recipient of the Joan Mitchel Foundation Fellowship, and her work is on view in the group exhibition About Place at San Francisco’s de Young through the end of November. You can explore more on her website and Instagram.

      “A Place Dear to Me” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed

      “The First Rain” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed

      “Riding my Thunder” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 inches framed

      “Where Dreams Flow” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 42 1/8 x 82 x 2 inches framed

      “Bowing to the Cosmos” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 3/8 x 41 5/8 x 2 inches framed

      “Archipelago” (2024), handmade pigments on linen; diptych, 61 1/2 x 83 x 2 1/4 inches overall, framed

      “Escaping the Heat” (2024), handmade pigments on hemp paper, 13 3/4 x 18 3/8 x 1 1/2 inches framed

      “A Natural Thought” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 81 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 inches framed

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    • 150 Shares179 Views

      in Art

      Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’

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      “Ceromine Bois Caiman” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 52 x 82 inches. All images © Myrlande Constant, courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort, New York, shared with permission

      Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’

      January 28, 2025

      ArtHistorySocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      When Myrlande Constant (previously) was a teenager, she worked alongside her mother in a commercial wedding dress factory in Port-au-Prince. There, she learned the tambour embroidery technique, which utilizes a hook to create chain stitches with beads and sequins on fabric.

      “By foregrounding her specialized skills honed in the fashion industry, Constant’s approach to drapo has broken gender barriers and elevated the overlooked creative labor of Haitian female factory workers to the realm of fine art,” says a statement from Fort Gansevoort, which will present the artist’s work next month in a solo exhibition titled The Spiritual World of Haiti.

      “Marasah-Cai Leh-Créole-Marasah-Guinin-Marasah-bois” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 74 x 55.25 inches

      Drapo, or drapo Vodou, typically describes a style of embroidered flag embellished with beads or sequins, but the term can also be applied to a wide range of art forms like painting, clothing, assemblages, and sculptures. Constant’s pieces, which she has been renowned for since the 1990s, highlight a variety of materials, colors, textures, and all-over compositions brimming with ritual activity and symbols.

      Haitian Vodou, an African diasporic religion that developed between the 16th and 19th centuries, merged Western and Central African traditions with Roman Catholicism. Its divine creator, Bondye, is inaccessible to humans, so spirits known as lwa‘s serve as intermediaries that can be invoked during ceremonies by possessing individuals, enabling communication with Bondye and transmission of advice, admonishment, or healing.

      “Though she considers her art-making to be rooted in spirituality, Constant does not create her works for the purpose of display in Vodou temples, preferring instead to exhibit them in museums and galleries internationally,” a statement says.

      For Constant, art-making is a statement of resistance within the context of Haiti’s extreme political and economic instability. The nation’s current unrest was spurred by protests against high fuel prices in 2018 and a demand that then-president Jovenel Moïse resign. He refused to step down but was assassinated in 2021, further escalating tensions. A federation of gangs continues to clash with the government, spawning more protests, violence, and perpetuating an evolving humanitarian crisis.

      Detail of “Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi”

      “Marinette Bois Chèche” is the earliest work that will be on view in the exhibition and depicts the martyrdom of Vodou lwa Marinette. According to folklore, Vodou lwa Marinette was burned alive for fighting against slavery and participating in a paradigm-shifting Bwa Kayiman ceremony in 1791, which spawned the 12-year Haitian Revolution.

      The insurrection, an uprising of enslaved people against French colonial rule, is unique in history because it led to the founding of a state ruled by former captives and non-white people and free from slavery—although it still permitted forced labor. Constant’s title translates to something like “Marinette of the dry wood,” evoking the ceremony that typically takes place around a bonfire and calling upon a momentous period in Haiti’s history.

      The artist’s drapo are densely beaded and often much larger than their traditional counterparts. The most recent work on view in the exhibition, “Devosyon Makaya” spans ten feet wide and took around three years to create. Constant describes her process as “painting with beads,” transforming fabric and findings into elaborate narratives evoking time-honored Haitian customs.

      The Spiritual World of Haiti opens on February 27 and continues through April 26 in New York City.

      “Au nom de 29 points cimetiere par pou voir Baron Samedi” (date unknown), beads and sequins on fabric, 58 x 70 inches

      “Marinette Bois Chéche” (1994), beads and sequins on fabric, 33 x 37 inches

      “Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
      maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde” (date unknown), beads, sequins, and tassels on fabric, 76.5 x 96 inches

      Detail of “Par pou voir torit les saints torit les morts torit armes ou purgatoir bó manman ak bo papa
      maternel et paternal en non digr cela mizerricorde”

      Detail of “Ceromine Bois Caiman”

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    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      A Provocative Photography Exhibition Invites You to Experience ‘Chromotherapia’

      by

      Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, “Toiiletpaper.” Image courtesy of ‘Toiletpaper.’

      A Provocative Photography Exhibition Invites You to Experience ‘Chromotherapia’

      January 28, 2025

      ArtBooksPhotography

      Kate Mothes

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      In the world of photography, the color image has long held an inferior reputation to black-and-white, which connoisseurs historically deemed to be more dignified. Today, vibrant images are embraced in a wide range of fields, from fine art and fashion to advertising and journalism.

      Championing the potential of the medium, artist Maurizio Cattelan and French Academy in Rome—Villa Medici director Sam Stourdzé curated Chromotherapia: The Feel-Good Color Photography.

      Martin Parr, “Common Sense.” Image © Magnum Photos

      Color therapy, though deemed a pseudoscience, has its roots in color theory, which focuses on interactions between hues and how they affect our moods and emotions.

      Cattelan and Stourdzé emphasize ebullient hyperreality, humor, and the absurd through works like Juno Calypso’s “Chicken Dogs,” in which an anonymous figure lies face-down next to a can of hot dogs, or Walter Candoha’s expressive pets. And in “Toiletpaper,” by Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, who co-founded a magazine of the same name in 2010, a man sits on a tan couch, wearing a matching suit, covered in spaghetti.

      In total, twenty artists explore a range of approaches in the exhibition, from portraits of people and animals to food and uncanny tableaux. “Many have freed themselves from the documentary function of the photographic medium to explore the common roots of the image and the imaginary, flirting with pop art, surrealism, bling, kitsch, and the baroque,” says a statement.

      Chromotherapia opens February 28 and continues through June 9 in Rome, and an accompanying catalogue published by Damiani is slated for release in March in the U.K. and May in the U.S. Pre-order your copy in the Colossal Shop.

      Cover of ‘Chromotherapia’ (2025). Featured image by Walter Chandoha, “New Jersey” (1962). Image ©️ Walter Chandoha Archive

      Juno Calypso, “Chicken Dogs” (2015), archival pigment print. Image © Courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting

      William Wegman, “Ski Patrol” (2017). Image courtesy of Galerie George-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois

      The back cover of Damiani’s catalogue for the exhibition ‘Chromotherapia: The Feel-Good Color Photography,’ featuring a photo by Walter Chandoha

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      in Art

      In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

      by

      All images courtesy of Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra, shared with permission

      In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

      January 15, 2025

      ArtHistoryScience

      Kate Mothes

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      For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife—also called Duat, among other names—was a mystical realm overseen by the god Osiris, who personified rebirth and life after death. But entry to Duat was anything but guaranteed; when a person died, their spirit traveled across vast, challenging terrain and deposited them at the Hall of Final Judgment, where their heart was weighed against a feather from Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth.

      In preparation for the afterlife, royals, dignitaries, and the wealthy elite constructed great tombs. The most elaborate among them were painted with ornamental murals that shared one’s accomplishments, packed with artwork and riches to demonstrate each individual’s status and accompany them to Duat.

      Expansive ancient necropolises complemented large cities, where society’s upper crust commissioned tombs, temples, and pyramids. For the capital of Memphis, the final resting place was typically Saqqara, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest monuments, some of which date back to the First Dynasty around 5,000 years ago.

      Scholars continue to unfurl millennia-old mysteries as archaeological excavations carry on in Saqqara. And sometimes, as researchers from the Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) recently found out, marvelous and unexpected discoveries still emerge from the sand.

      During the 2024 season, as the team excavated near a mastaba—a large-scale, rectangular, flat-roofed tomb—they discovered a number of smaller burials, including a “kiln” tomb. Also known as “oven” tombs, these burials are “made of raw bricks that are characterized by their vaulted ceiling,” says a statement from MAFS. “They are built several meters below the ground, and the only way to access them is through the burial shaft, always placed to the north of the entrance.”

      Typically, kiln tombs are “fairly simple mud brick monuments, sometimes with limestone walls, and even less often decorations,” MAFS says. Today, they are also often empty as a result of looting throughout the centuries. But instead of a basic, unadorned room, the team found vibrant wall paintings commemorating a doctor who died around 4,000 years ago.

      Archaeologists uncovered a stone tablet bearing the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, near the entrance. A stele is a stone slab featuring text, imagery, or both, and in ancient Egypt, a false door stele represented a portal for the deceased’s spirit pass through into the afterlife. As researchers explored farther, the physician’s name was represented in other locations, confirming it to be his tomb.

      As reported in Live Science, Tetinebefou was known as a “dean of the palace physicians,” with inscriptions referring to him also as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet,” who was associated with protection from scorpion stings. He was also prescribed the titles of “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” both of which are unusual designations in ancient Egypt. It’s unclear which pharaoh he may have served, but MAFS’s lead Egyptologist Philippe Collombert suggests Tetinebefou may have worked under Pepi II, who reigned between approximately 2246 and 2152 B.C.E.

      Inside the tomb, relief carvings of urns, furniture, hieroglyphs, and garments are complemented by colorful patterns and richly textured ceiling. At some point in the past, the doctor’s tomb had indeed been looted, and only tiny fragments of objects remained. The decorations, however, mark an exceptional discovery.

      A documentary slated for 2026, directed by Frédéric Wilner, will take a deeper dive into the details of this excavation. In the meantime, explore more on the MAFS website.

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