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      In ‘Eyes as Big as Plates,’ Sculptural Garments Camouflage Subjects in Natural Environments

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      Art
      Photography

      #books
      #camouflage
      #landscapes
      #nature
      #portraits

      February 11, 2022
      Grace Ebert

      Eyes as Big as Plates # Andrea (Outer Hebrides 2019)
      Hailing from fifteen countries, the individuals participating in Eyes as Big as Plates have backgrounds as varied as their surroundings: there are zoologists, academics, and librarians; fishermen, wild boar hunters, and Sami reindeer herders; and opera singers, kantele players, and artists. They’re tethered by the ongoing project, which dresses each figure in sculptural wearables made of organic materials that allow them to blend in with the surrounding landscape.
      Launched in 2011 by Norwegian-Finnish artist duo Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen (previously), Eyes as Big as Plates hinges on the idea that it’s essential to explore how humans exist within nature. The portraits center on lone figures partially camouflaged with their backdrops or outfitted with imaginative garments constructed with objects found nearby. Boubou (shown below), for example, is a Senegalese fisherman who wears a mesh shawl of sea creatures, while North Tolsta-based photographer Andrea (above) is almost entirely masked by spindly branches and peat near her home. Every portrait comes after a conversation with the subject and a collaborative effort to find the proper location and attire.
      The duo has now compiled dozens of photos in a forthcoming book that marks the 10th anniversary of the project. A follow-up to their sold-out first volume, Eyes as Big as Plates 2 is comprised of 52 new portraits, conversations with those featured, and field notes from their travels. “While transcribing the interviews for each of the collaborators here, we got to experience what many of them often say is the most exciting part: ‘ … just being there, looking at a familiar landscape like you’ve never looked at it before. Letting the surroundings wash over you,’” they write.
      Eyes as Big as Plates 2 is currently available for pre-order on the project’s site. Some of the series is on view through June at the landmarked entry at 200 5th Avenue in New York and will be up this May at London’s Barbican and at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto in September.

      Eyes as Big as Plates # Boubou (Tasmania 2019)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Liv (Norway 2017)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Momodou Toucouleur (Senegal 2019)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Mr Oh (South Korea 2017)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Niels (Faroe Islands 2015)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Scotty (Tasmania 2019)
      Eyes as Big as Plates # Sinikka (Norway 2019)

      #books
      #camouflage
      #landscapes
      #nature
      #portraits

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      Oil Paintings by Paco Pomet Brighten Vintage Scenes with Satirical Elements in Color

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      Art
      #humor
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #satire
      #social commentary
      #surrealFebruary 10, 2022Grace Ebert“A Prequel” (2021), oil on canvas, 100 x 150 centimeters. All images © Paco PometSucceeding his series of paintings titled Beginnings, Paco Pomet’s Endings applies a similarly satirical veil to his provocative and outlandish scenarios: a cleaved camper reveals red steak marbled with fat, businessmen shake hands through an elongated finger trap, and a woman walks a hand-standing friend on a leash. The Spanish artist (previously) is known for his keen sense of wit and humor and distinct visual commentary on contemporary issues like capitalism, the degradation of the environment, and moments in American history that have global impacts. He shares in an interview:I am very interested in current affairs, but in order to fully understand today’s world, it is necessary to look back and examine historical events. The past is full of hints that can unveil the present, so in some ways, we could paraphrase that statement which says that there’s nothing new under the sun. I have always thought that subjects and themes remain the same over centuries, and that human pursuits, aspirations, and chimeras are cyclical. Nowadays, we might have different tools and ways of approaching those issues, but the important questions remain the same, even though the way they show up changes throughout the years.Often working with anachronistic scenes and symbols, Pomet depicts children of a past era sparring with glowing lightsabers in “A Prequel” and a vintage car blurring into a trail of greens and yellows in “Trip.” Each oil painting is rendered largely in neutral tones with bright, colorful elements supplying the artist’s signature dose of irony.You can explore an archive of Pomet’s surreal works and follow his latest compositions on Instagram.“Prime” (2021), oil on canvas, 38 x 46 centimeters“Rearguard” (2021), oil on canvas, 38 x 46 centimeters“The Restrainers” (2021), oil on canvas, 60 x 73 centimeters“The Last Executive Committee Meeting” (2021), oil on canvas, 130 x 150 centimeters“Amblers” (2021), oil on canvas, 73 x 60 centimeters“Apart” (2021), oil on canvas, 130 x 170 centimeters“Trip” (2021), oil on canvas, 100 x 150 centimeters“Dissident” (2021), oil on canvas, 130 x 170 centimeters
      #humor
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #satire
      #social commentary
      #surrealDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More

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      Ritualistic ‘Moon Drawings’ by Yuge Zhou Etch Patterns in Snow and Sand

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      Art
      #drawing
      #landscapes
      #performance
      #sand
      #snow
      #videoFebruary 10, 2022Grace EbertJanuary 2021. All images © Yuge Zhou, shared with permission“In traditional Chinese culture, the moon is a carrier of human emotions,” writes artist Yuge Zhou. “The full moon symbolizes family reunion.” This belief grounds Zhou’s meditative series of landscape drawings that etch wide, circular patterns in the beach along Lake Michigan and in snowy parking lots near her apartment.The Chicago-based artist postponed a visit with her family in Beijing back in 2020 and has since channeled her longing to return into her ritualistic performances. Filming aerially at dawn, Zhou traces the patterns left by the moon with her suitcase and allows the glow of nearby light poles to illuminate the concentric markings. Stills from the videos appear more like dreamy renderings than footage, an aesthetic choice that corresponds with their allegorical roots in the Han dynasty legend, “The lake reflecting the divine moon,” about the universality of longing.Having created five works in summer and winter, Zhou likens the pieces to “mantras suspended in a time of waiting.” Until she’s able to return to China, she plans to add more drawings to her collection and continue “bringing the moon down to me on the earth.” For more of the artist’s multi-media works, visit her site and Vimeo.February 2022January 2020July 2020February 2022August 2021
      #drawing
      #landscapes
      #performance
      #sand
      #snow
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      Folds in Recurring Patterns Form the Tessellated Origami Sculptures by Goran Konjevod

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      Art
      Craft
      #copper
      #metal
      #origami
      #paper
      #sculptureFebruary 8, 2022Grace EbertAll images © Goran Konjevod, shared with permissionWhether folding flat, square tessellations or rounded forms that billow from a central point, origami artist  Goran Konjevod (previously) focuses on the tension inherent in a single sheet of material. His sculptures draw on his background in mathematics and computer science and configure precise geometries, fanned pleats, and small woven pieces that appear to be individual strips threaded together rather than a series of carefully aligned creases. Each form is a meticulous blend of texture, pattern, and dimension that’s translated into elegant, abstract constructions through repetitive folds.In recent months, Konjevod has shifted to working with paper infused with encaustic paint, although he’s also created an array of knotted creatures, twisted ropes, and small vessels out of thin sheets of copper, other metals, and mesh. You can find hundreds of his sculptures on his site, and take a peek into his process on Instagram.
      #copper
      #metal
      #origami
      #paper
      #sculptureDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More

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      Colorful Pods and Rings Made from Recycled Paper Dangle from Yuko Nishikawa’s Whimsical Mobiles

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      Art
      #installation
      #paperFebruary 8, 2022Grace EbertAll images © Yuko Nishikawa, shared with permissionIn Yuko Nishikawa’s dappled fields of color, dozens of small pods and curved rings in pale blues, greens, and pastel hues hang in dreamlike suspensions. The Brooklyn-based artist (previously) is known for her delicate mobiles made with recycled paper that she hand-dyes and shapes into wide, sloping bowls or flat hoops. Once dried, she attaches the individual pieces to thin metal armature and hangs the fanciful composition from the ceiling.Nishikawa’s most recent mobiles augment the paper works with clear glass lenses that catch and refract the light, adding another dimension of color to the whimsical displays. “Looking up, clusters of mobiles against the black painted ceiling was like looking up the stars,” she writes of her recent solo exhibition at Kishka Gallery & Library.At the moment, Nishikawa is involved in multiple projects, including a display at Main Window Dumbo opening in March and an installation at The Brooklyn Home Company this spring. In addition to her paper pieces, she also creates ceramic works, which will be on view at Friends Artspace in Washington, D.C., through summer. She has dozens of new mobiles available in her shop, and you can keep up with her multi-faceted practice on Instagram.
      #installation
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      Minimal Strokes Applied with a Broom Form Jose Lerma’s Tactile Portraits

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      Art
      #abstract
      #impasto
      #painting
      #portraitsFebruary 7, 2022Grace EbertAll images © Jose Lerma, shared with permissionTo create his thick, abstract portraits, Chicago-based artist Jose Lerma trades his brush for hefty, commercial brooms that follow the lines of preliminary sketches. “The process of these paintings is laborious. I make my own paint and fabricate my supports. The material is heavy and unwieldy,” he tells Colossal. “It is done in one shot because it dries very fast, so there is a minimal margin for mistakes.”Lerma’s impasto works shown here have evolved from his original series of Paint Portraits, which revealed the general outline of a figure without any distinctive details. Wide swaths trace the length of the subject’s hair or neck, leaving ridges around the perimeter and a solid gob of pigment at the end of each stroke. His forward-facing portraits tend to split the figure in half by using complementary shades of the same color to mirror each side of a face.With a background in social sciences, history, and law, much of Lerma’s earlier pieces revolved around translating research into absurd, childlike installations and more immersive projects. “In recent works, maybe due to returning to my home in Puerto Rico and a much more relaxed non-academic setting, I have eliminated my reliance on history and research and now concentrate on just making portraits,” he shares. “It’s an approachable, tactile, and disarming aesthetic, but the absurdity remains perhaps in the excessive materiality.”Now, Lerma “works in reverse” and begins with a specific image that he reduces to the most minimal markings. “It’s a large work painted in the manner of a small work, and I think that has the psychological effect of making the viewer feel small, more like a child,” he says.Living and working between Puerto Rico and Chicago, where he teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lerma currently has paintings on view in a number of shows: he’s at Yusto/Giner in Málaga through March 24 and part of the traveling LatinXAmerican exhibition. In April, he’ll be showing with Nino Mier Gallery at Expo Chicago and in May at Galeria Diablo Rosso in Panama. Until then, see more of his works on Instagram.
      #abstract
      #impasto
      #painting
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      Loops and Coils in Bright Gradients Grow from Claire Lindner’s Ceramic Sculptures

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      Art
      Craft
      #ceramics
      #gradients
      #sculpturesFebruary 6, 2022Anna MarksAll images © Claire Lindner, shared with permissionVine-like colorful coils of material overlap in Claire Lindner’s latest sculpture collection, which blurs the line between organic and human-made forms. Each piece has a vibrancy and motion designed to push the possibilities of the medium. “My ideas are guided by the evocation of the living,” she tells Colossal. “I try through movement and color to combine images of vegetation, the animal or the mineral world, the body as if everything was made of the same substance.”Lindner plays on oppositions when designing her ceramics to “create a visual confusion that triggers our imagination.” She creates tensions between aesthetics and textures, including soft and hard, light and heavy, and attractive and repulsive.Each piece is made from glazed stoneware, and before the artist starts working on a new sculpture, she envisions the “movements, flow, and colors” that make up its base and core. But as she works, she lets the material inform her choices. “Once in the making, I let myself be guided by the specificity of clay,” she explains. “I have to be attentive to its tensions, folds, and plasticity in order to make a form that will ‘flow’ and tell an interesting story.”Lindner attended the Ecoles des Arts Décoratifs Strasbourg and developed an interest in clay from studying its organic and malleable characteristics. She compares her process to metamorphosis: how after time, one form changes into another. “Unlike glass, metal, wood, or 3D printing, working with clay felt like a prolongation of the body. It can be apprehended safely. It is soft and malleable,” she says. “It also has the ability in its process to keep all of the imprints of its manipulation, just like skin you can see the stretch marks, feel the tension, and play with the limits.”In spring, Lindner will exhibit her work in a solo show at Maab Gallery in Milan and a group show at the MOCO La Panacée Museum in Montpellier. She is currently working on larger-scale pieces, which you can follow on her website or Instagram. (via Ceramics Now)
      #ceramics
      #gradients
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      Intricate Beaded Motifs Add Colorful Dimension to Jan Huling’s Animal Sculptures

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      Art
      #animals
      #beads
      #sculptureFebruary 4, 2022Grace Ebert“Hero” (2019), 27 x 22 x 8 inches. All images © Jan Huling, shared with permissionA former product designer turned bead artist, Jan Huling begins each sculpture with a blank form in the shape of a miniature horse, giant praying mantis, and eager monkey perched on a box. She then glues small glass pieces in meandering lines, concentric circles, and other elaborately constructed motifs. “I don’t sketch out designs beforehand,” she tells Colossal. “Rather I let my designs grow organically and let the work itself inspire me.”Each embellishment is a study of color, texture, and form, with some patterns structuring facial features like the radiant eyes of the nine-foot “Das Bug” and others adding hypnotic ornaments like the intersecting patches that span the length of the tail in “KoKo.” Although Huling doesn’t translate any specific motifs, she shares that she’s drawn to traditions of Mexican and Indian artists, in addition to the works of Nick Cave (previously) and Tim Burton.Huling, who’s based in Jersey City Heights, will have sculptures on view at Art Market San Francisco this April through Duane Reed Gallery, and her billowing dress titled “The Gown” is headed to the Museum of Beadwork this summer. Explore a collection of her intricate creations on her site and Instagram. (via Women’s Art)“Hero” (2019), 27 x 22 x 8 inchesDetail of “Das Bug” (2015), 61 x 69 x 110 inches“Das Bug” (2015), 61 x 69 x 110 inchesDetail of “Das Bug” (2015), 61 x 69 x 110 inches“KoKo” (2011), 48 x 15 x 24 inchesDetail of “KoKo” (2011), 48 x 15 x 24 inches
      #animals
      #beads
      #sculptureDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More