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Rooms and Buildings Have a Life of Their Own in Eamon Monaghan’s Uncanny Dioramas
by Aurelia Butler 19 February 2025, 13:47
“Road Refrigerator” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 33 x 63 x 15 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles, shared with permission
Rooms and Buildings Have a Life of Their Own in Eamon Monaghan’s Uncanny Dioramas
February 19, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Framed by steel I-beams, aluminum cladding, or floor boards, Eamon Monaghan’s chaotic dioramas appear ready to burst from their own confines. Made from everyday materials like cardboard, tinfoil, wire, and epoxy clay, his sculptures capture harried moments of disarray seemingly frozen in time.
In the artist’s current solo exhibition, Under the Floorboards at Moskowitz Bayse, the sculptures jump off the wall, angles jutting this way and that. Beams intersect with appliances; floor boards bend; stairways emerge from nowhere and terminate in open space; and radiator steam infiltrates everything in its path.
“Foggy Pipes” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 34 x 70 x 18 inches
Monaghan draws on the work of 20th-century underground legends like cartoonist R. Crumb or clay animator Bruce Bickford. In the artist’s three-dimensional scenes, tiny figures sometimes emerge comically half-concealed, sometimes grappling with the situation at hand and sometimes simply swept up in the action.
He embraces unpredictability and farce, playfully examining the relationships between stability, movement, time, and a sense of control. In “Stages,” for example, a series of platforms and rooms shift around in a puzzle-like arrangement, with one figure apparently taken by surprise by a steel beam, another crawling behind a curtain, and yet another passed out on a sofa while helping to “pull the strings” of the entire uncanny production.
Under the Floorboards continues through March 29 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
“Stages” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 44 x 67 x 15 inches
Detail of “Foggy Pipes”
“Trap Door” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 25 x 30 x 10 inches
Side view of “Road Refrigerator”
“Secure The Spaghetti” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 16 x 35 x 10 inches
“A Nice Night In” (2025), cardboard, tin foil, aluminum wire, epoxy clay, and watercolor, 28 x 45 x 14 1/2 inches
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Adrienna Matzeg’s Punch Needle Embroideries Conjure Nostalgic Summer Road Trips
by Aurelia Butler 19 February 2025, 10:00
“The Afterglow” and “Catch of the Day.” All images courtesy of Adrienna Matzeg and Tacit Collective, shared with permission
Adrienna Matzeg’s Punch Needle Embroideries Conjure Nostalgic Summer Road Trips
February 19, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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No matter where the map directs you, a road trip usually conjures some key elements that make it unique from any other kind of journey. Think quirky roadside attractions, diners, spontaneous snack stops, scenic views, national parks—the list goes on!
For Adrienna Matzeg, summertime trips inspire a new series of punch needle embroidery works (previously) in a collection titled The Scenic Route, now available through Tacit Collective.
“Lick-A-Treat”
The Toronto-based artist merges her interests in photography, textiles, and design to create vibrant, narrative embroidery compositions. “Through reducing the subject matter in her work to simplified colours, shapes, and fragments, she explores how we recall memories, with a specific interest in travel destinations and souvenirs,” says a gallery statement.
In works like “Catch of the Day,” Matzeg evokes the timeless experience of a pint of brew and a gingham-lined basket of freshly battered fish. “Lighthouse Route” captures a scenic byway sign, and in “The Afterglow,” a grocery store sign advertises summer vacation staples like ice cream cones and pizza by the slice.
Pieces in The Scenic Route hint at simple joys, brief pauses, and the fading light of day, evoking “in-between” experiences that may seem ordinary enough at the moment but linger in the memory long after summer ends.
Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Catch of the Day”
Detail of “Lick-A-Treat”
“Open”
Detail of “The Afterglow”
“Lighthouse Route”
“At the Lookoff”
Detail of “At the Lookoff”
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Matt Roussel’s Textured Woodcuts Metamorphose into Paintings
by Aurelia Butler 18 February 2025, 19:16
All images courtesy of Matt Roussel, shared with permission
Matt Roussel’s Textured Woodcuts Metamorphose into Paintings
February 18, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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From elaborate portraits to overflowing florals to playful animals, the woodcuts of Matt Roussel (previously) tell a wide range of enigmatic stories. For his large-scale works, Roussel begins by carving wooden panels, but rather than using the blocks to make prints, he applies acrylic paint to the surfaces to create bold, textured paintings. Portraits of women wearing unique garments are complemented by goldfish that metamorphose into birds and giant scarab beetles cloaked in giant flowers.
Roussel’s work will be on view in several forthcoming art3f fairs throughout Europe, with Strasbourg, Nantes, and Lyon coming up in late February and March. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Three Flowers Scarab,” acrylic on carved wood
Detail of “Three Flowers Scarab”
“Métamorphose,” acrylic on carved wood, 60 x 60 centimeters
“Fleur de Zhou,” acrylic on carved wood
“Poisson pipe,” acrylic on carved wood, 60 x 80 centimeters
“La grande fleur,” acrylic on carved wood, 120 x 80 centimeters
“Golden dance,” acrylic on carved wood, 60 x 80 centimeters
“3 cimes,” acrylic on carved wood, 120 x 80 centimeters
Detail of “3 cimes”
“La falaise,” acrylic on carved wood, 60 x 80 centimeters
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Charles Gaines Maps the Meanings of Ancient Baobab Trees in Meticulous Charts
by Aurelia Butler 17 February 2025, 13:48
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #4, Maasai”
(2024),
acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen. All images © Charles Gaines, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, shared with permission
Charles Gaines Maps the Meanings of Ancient Baobab Trees in Meticulous Charts
February 17, 2025
ArtNaturePhotography
Grace Ebert
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Since the 1970s, Charles Gaines (previously) has been charting the sprawling, unpredictable forms of trees onto numbered grids. He began with walnut trees in 1975, which he photographed while barren and then plotted onto hand-drawn graph paper.
A leader in the Conceptual Art movement, Gaines’ works ask viewers to explore the relationships between what something appears to be and what it means as it shifts from one context to the next. He also argues for a greater divide between subjectivity and aesthetics, instead emphasizing culture’s immense role in shaping our experiences.
Detail of “Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #4, Maasai” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen 
In his ongoing Numbers and Trees series, Gaines continues to chart differences. During a 2023 visit to Tanzania, the artist photographed majestic baobabs, which form the basis for a collection of triptychs that entwine the magnificent specimens with colorfully numbered grids. Gnarled trunks and spindly offshoots both layer atop and are masked by Gaines’ sequences, all viewed through sheets of plexiglass.
The baobab is known as “the tree of life” for its longevity, myriad roles in preserving the savanna ecosystem, and ability to host entire habitats within its canopies. The specimens are often associated with folklore and myth and in the era of climate disaster, are some of the casualties of unrelenting drought. Depending on location, epoch, and community, the trees can serve a wide array of purposes and hold a multitude of symbolism.
Icons of the African continent, baobabs also connect to histories of colonialism and slavery. In this context, they’re distorted and mediated by both Gaines’ organizing principles and the acrylic panes. “What you bring to the image, adds to the image,” the artist says.
Numbers and Trees, The Tanzania Baobabs is on view from February 19 to May 24 at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood.
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #7, Makonde” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Keith Lubow
Detail of “Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #7, Makonde” (2024), 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Keith Lubow
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #3, Tongwe” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen
Detail of “Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #3, Tongwe” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #2, Zanaki” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Keith Lubow
Detail of “Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #2, Zanaki” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Keith Lubow
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #5, Rangi” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen
Detail of “Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #5, Rangi” (2024), acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts, 95 x 132 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen
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Watery Landscapes Set the Stage for Lachlan Turczan’s Ephemeral Light Installations
by Aurelia Butler 14 February 2025, 13:55
“Veil IV” (2024), water, light, silt, 15 x 15 x 3 feet. All images © Lachlan Turczan, shared with permission
Watery Landscapes Set the Stage for Lachlan Turczan’s Ephemeral Light Installations
February 14, 2025
ArtNaturePhotography
Kate Mothes
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In the dreamy installations of Lachlan Turczan, natural and perceptual phenomena combine in otherworldly installations merging technology with aquatic landscapes. Water is central to the Los Angeles-based artist’s work and helps shape an ongoing series of immersive projects incorporating light and sonic phenomena.
Turczan is influenced by the Light and Space movement, which originated in Southern California in the 1960s and is characterized by the work of John McLaughlin, Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Lita Albuquerque, and more. The movement focused on perception, employing materials like glass, neon, resin, acrylic, and fluorescent lights to emphasize light, volume, and scale.
“Constellation Grid” (2024), water, light, and fog. A swamp in Upstate New York
Many Light and Space artists created installations and immersive spaces conditioned by naturally occurring elements like Turrell’s ever-changing glimpse of the sky through a ceiling aperture for “Space that Sees.” Not only does the view change as clouds roll by or the weather shifts, but the light continuously transforms the entire room.
“While my work shares this lineage,” Turczan tells Colossal, “it diverges in several key ways: rather than exploring the ‘nature of experience,’ I create experiences of nature that challenge our understanding of light, water, and space.” He describes his approach as “complicating” these elements, emphasizing the ever-changing fluidity of the environment.
In Turczan’s ongoing Veil series, light installations unfold organically in locations ranging from Death Valley’s Badwater Basin to a flooded park near the Rhine River. Lasers and beams of light are projected and submerged, capturing the movement of wind, mist, and the water’s surface.
Additional pieces also merge light and water, like “Aldwa Alsael,” which translates to “liquid light,” and was commissioned for the 2024 Noor Riyadh Light Art Festival.
“Veil I” (2024), light, water, and salt. Death Valley, California
“For the most part, these installations unfold organically,” Turczan says. “I may discover a location in nature that seems perfect for a new Veil sculpture, but when I return, the conditions have inevitably changed.” Evolving circumstances require the artist to proceed with an openness to chance encounters that strike a balance between preparation and intuition.
Find more on Turczan’s website, and follow updates on Instagram. (via This Isn’t Happiness)
“Death Valley Veil” (2024), water, light, and haze. Lake Manly, a temporary lake that formed in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin after Hurricane Hillary
“Veil II” (2024), light, water, and steam. Mojave Desert, California
“Aldwa Alsael” (2024), water, light, and steel tower, 25 x 25 x 50 feet
“Veil V” (2024), water and light, 15 x 15 x 3 feet
“Aldwa Alsael”
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Beep Boop! Computers and Game Consoles Blink to Life in Love Hultén’s Retrofuturist Tech
by Aurelia Butler 14 February 2025, 10:00
“R-KAID-R”
Beep Boop! Computers and Game Consoles Blink to Life in Love Hultén’s Retrofuturist Tech
February 14, 2025
ArtDesignMusic
Kate Mothes
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From throwback pixelated video games to science fiction-inspired computer consoles, Love Hultén’s playful sculptures (previously) harken back to the birth of digital.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, the artist’s explorations of video games, electronic music, and retrofuturist aesthetics continue to shape playful pieces like “R-KAID-R,” a mobile video game complete with a toggle, all of which can be carried like a briefcase.
“The Singer”
One recent work, “The Future Fan Stage” takes a humorous approach to a fantastical fusion of live performance, science, and computers. Commissioned for Gothenburg’s Way Out West, the screen doubles as a fully functional stage that played live recordings of the headliners “for what might be the largest yet smallest crowd in history: sperm and eggs getting ‘ready to rumble’ in a laboratory,” Hultén says.
The artist draws on controversies surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF) that have reached a fever pitch during the past few years. Taking an optimistic approach to science and modern medicine, Hultén references studies demonstrating that music may improve fertilization during the IVF process.
Hultén’s work will be on view in Liljevalchs’ spring salon Vårsalong 2025, which opens on February 14 in Stockholm. Find more on the artist’s website.
“Leto”
“The Future Fan Stage”
Detail of “The Future Fan Stage”
“Y-17”
Detail of “Y-17”
“R-KAID-R”
Detail of “Leto”
“The Singer”
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Matt Bua’s ‘Repurposed City’ in Upstate New York Just Hit the Market
by Aurelia Butler 13 February 2025, 19:30
The interior of Matt Bua’s cabin in Catskill, New York. Photo by Photo by Kevin Witte Productions. All images courtesy of Matt Bua, shared with permission
Matt Bua’s ‘Repurposed City’ in Upstate New York Just Hit the Market
February 13, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
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On nearly 27 wooded acres outside the town of Catskill, New York, artist Matt Bua has been hard at work on a creative compound like no other. For two decades, he has constructed an artist-built environment from salvaged materials comprising numerous living spaces and work areas. Recently listed for sale for $269,000, the off-grid property known as “B-Home” could be yours.
Bua’s project originated with the idea to “build one of every type of dwelling we could with materials that were easily at hand,” the artist tells Colossal. From repurposed vinyl records, bottles, and reclaimed wood, a sprawling “repurposed city” emerged as painted signs, sculptures, and one-of-a-kind structures popped up over time.
Bua describes his approach as “intuitive building,” working in response to the natural terrain, found materials, and vernacular structures of the northeast. He wrote a book titled Talking Walls, which focuses on the region’s tens of thousands of miles of historic stone walls and considers history and material culture merge in the ways we understand “place.”
Bua lived in Brooklyn when he purchased the property. “All I wanted to do was go up there and build,” he recently told Artnet. He was inspired by self-sustaining communities like Drop City in Colorado, an artists’ commune formed in 1960 with a reputation for remarkable hand-built homes. Incidentally, he also used to maintain Catskill’s quirky Catamount People’s Museum, an installation of an enormous bobcat made from scraps of wood.
Along with a cohort of friends who have contributed freestanding artworks and functional structures over the years, Bua approached “B-Home” as a collaborative experiment “informed by the needs and desires of our surrounding community.”
Learn more about Bua’s work on his website.
All images courtesy of Matt Bua, shared with permission
Map of “B-Home” More
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A New Documentary Traces How a Faith Ringgold Mural at Rikers Island Helped Women Break Free
by Aurelia Butler 13 February 2025, 14:10
Detail of “For the Women’s House” (1972). All images from ‘Paint Me a Road Out of Here’
A New Documentary Traces How a Faith Ringgold Mural at Rikers Island Helped Women Break Free
February 13, 2025
ArtFilmHistorySocial Issues
Grace Ebert
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In 1971, Faith Ringgold (1930-2024) received her first public art commission. New York City offered the late artist a $3,000 grant to paint a mural at the Women’s House of Detention on Rikers Island. After going inside and speaking with those incarcerated in the notorious prison, Ringgold decided to base the work around a request from one of the women about what she hoped the piece would depict: “I want to see a road leading out of here.”
In Ringgold’s characteristically bold palette, the resulting mural features more than a dozen figures, many of whom are employed in professions unavailable to women at the time. Vibrant and sliced into eight sections, “For the Women’s House” portrays doctors, bus drivers, basketball players, and the yet-to-be-realized vision of a woman as president. The large-scale work was a tribute to the deferred dreams of those who were locked up and a directive to reimagine the stereotypes put on incarcerated people.
According to ArtNet, the artist continued her relationship with the detained women and returned to the facility each month to provide “courses in subjects ranging from mask-making and theater to career counseling and drug addiction prevention.”
When Rikers Island transitioned to housing men in 1998, though, the Department of Corrections painted over the work, concealing it under a thick layer of white paint.
A new documentary directed by Catherine Gund chronicles Ringgold’s fight to regain control over the mural as it tells a broader story about the injustices of the U.S. justice system. Paint Me a Road Out of Here, released by Aubin Pictures, features conversations with Ringgold before her death last year, along with artist Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, who has been commissioned to create a new work to replace “For the Women’s House.”
The film comes at a time when more artists who were formerly incarcerated are gaining attention as they point out the dehumanization and cruelty at the heart of the prison system. Jesse Krimes, for example, interrogates the material conditions of life inside as he incorporates soap bars, playing cards, newspapers, and bedsheets into his practice. And at a similarly infamous facility, artist Moath al-Alwi sculpts ships from cardboard, dental floss, and threads from his prayer cap while detained at Guantánamo Bay.
“For the Women’s House” (1972)
While the film shares the story of Ringgold’s nearly lost mural—which was relocated in 2022—it also speaks to the power of community and connection through art and making, particularly in places where despair and degradation are rampant. “Art gives us permission to imagine a world beyond what currently exists,” one interviewee in the film says.
Paint Me a Road Out of Here is currently screening at the Film Forum in New York. Keep an eye on Aubin Pictures’ website and Instagram for additional locations.
The artist with the mural
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Art

More stories

Rooms and Buildings Have a Life of Their Own in Eamon Monaghan’s Uncanny Dioramas

Adrienna Matzeg’s Punch Needle Embroideries Conjure Nostalgic Summer Road Trips

Matt Roussel’s Textured Woodcuts Metamorphose into Paintings

Charles Gaines Maps the Meanings of Ancient Baobab Trees in Meticulous Charts

Watery Landscapes Set the Stage for Lachlan Turczan’s Ephemeral Light Installations

Beep Boop! Computers and Game Consoles Blink to Life in Love Hultén’s Retrofuturist Tech

Matt Bua’s ‘Repurposed City’ in Upstate New York Just Hit the Market

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