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      New Articulate Cardboard Sculptures by Greg Olijnyk Populate Miniature Worlds of Fantasy and Science Fiction

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      Art
      Craft

      #cardboard
      #insects
      #light
      #robots
      #science fiction
      #sculpture

      May 20, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “DvG 2.0.” All images by Griffin Simm, © Greg Olijnyk, shared with permission
      An eerie pair of buildings, a jet-powered dragonfly, and a sci-fi-inspired retelling of David and Goliath complete with an oversized robot and samurai comprise the latest cardboard sculptures by Greg Olijnyk (previously). Fully articulate and outfitted with LED lights and glass where necessary, the extraordinarily detailed works are futuristic, slightly dystopic, and part of larger world-building narratives. The architectural constructions, for example, are “the start of a series of pieces exploring the fear, fascination, and curiosity aroused by the stranger in our midst. The weird presence out of place. The building of unknown purpose with no windows and with lights flickering at night,” he says. “What’s going on in there?”
      Olijnyk is based in Melbourne and shares works-in-progress and more photos of the machine-like sculptures shown here on his Instagram.

      “DvG 2.0”
      Detail of “DvG 2.0”
      “Dragonfly Bot”
      “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      Detail of “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      Detail of “Dragonfly Bot”
      “Dragonfly Bot”

      #cardboard
      #insects
      #light
      #robots
      #science fiction
      #sculpture

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      Coronavirus Satirically Tops Kitsch Figurines Sculpted with Porcelain

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      Art

      #ceramics
      #COVID-19
      #porcelain
      #satire

      May 20, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Holland” (2021). All images © Chrystl Rijkeboer, shared with permission
      Artist Chrystl Rijkeboer contemporizes sentimental porcelain figurines with a present-day twist: spiky COVID-19 molecules obscure the characters’ facial features, rendering the largely wealthy and ornately dressed figures both anonymous and commonplace in modern contexts.
      Whether posing for a portrait or mid-curtesy, Rijkeboer’s pieces satirize the long-crafted Meissen figurines, which have been in production since the 18th Century and often romanticize an antiquated world “where women do not represent any relevance but being nice and glamourous,” she tells Colossal. “For me, it is mostly about the position as a woman and an artist. The pandemic made it quite clear that artists are the first to be labeled as unnecessary.”
      Living and working in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Rijkeboer has crafted an extensive COVID-themed collection, which includes ubiquities like Zoom calls and masks, all of which you can see on her site. (via Lustik)

      “Alice” (2021)
      “Will we ever play and dance again together?” (2020)
      Left: “Covid Duet #2 Brown” (2021). Right: “Dangerous Liaisons” (2020)
      “Girl with Carrots & Rabbit” (2021)
      Left: “Covid Couple” (2020). Right: “Covid Duet Blue” (2021)
      “La Famiglia” (2021)
      Left: “Covid Symphony #3” (2021). Right: Left: “Covid Symphony #4” (2021)
      “Music Friends, boy with guitar & girl with flute” (2021)

      #ceramics
      #COVID-19
      #porcelain
      #satire

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      Capricious Characters Express Emotional Ambivalence in Yoshitoshi Kanemaki’s Glitched Sculptures

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      Art

      #emotions
      #portraits
      #sculpture
      #wood

      May 19, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Fleeting Moment Caprice.” All images @ Yoshitoshi Kanemaki, courtesy of FUMA Contemporary Tokyo, shared with permission
      Japanese artist Yoshitoshi Kanemaki (previously) carves fickle, ambivalent, and even contradictory sentiments in his figurative sculptures that embody a range of emotions. The wooden characters are surreal in form with multiple limbs, duplicate features, and recurring faces that wind entirely around their bodies. Whether conveyed through kaleidoscopic or blurred techniques, each portrait “expresses the dignity of life as a human being, the hate and harassment that people experience, and the importance of environmental awareness,” the artist says, explaining:
      It’s the hesitation, contradiction, two-sidedness, or multi-sidedness, double standard. These are the problems that all people have, and I express them as sculptures under the concept of “ambivalence.” I want to portrait a modern person, who visualizes the “ambivalent” state that everyone has.
      Kanemaki is based in Nagareyama City and is currently altering one of his older works titled “Memento Mori” to deepen its sentiments and add more complexity. Explore an archive of his glitched figures at Fuma Contemporary Tokyo.

      “Singing in Rounds Geometry”
      “All Day Believing”
      “Singing in Rounds Geometry”
      “Swing Caprice”
      “Swing Caprice”
      “Repetition Geometry”

      #emotions
      #portraits
      #sculpture
      #wood

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      The Gaze: Barry Jenkins Directs a Stunning Non-Narrative Film that Preserves the Legacy of Black Ancestors

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      Art
      History

      #film
      #video

      May 18, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      
      At the heart of Barry Jenkins’s extraordinarily moving new film is “the Black gaze; or the gaze distilled.” The Oscar-winning director shot the standalone project while filming the TV adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, which premiered on May 14. Notably titled The Gaze, the parallel project isn’t an episode of the series but rather a compelling collection of non-narrative portraits captured spontaneously alongside the show.
      Early on in production, Jenkins says in a statement, “I looked across the set and realized I was looking at my ancestors, a group of people whose images have been largely lost to the historical record. Without thinking, we paused production on The Underground Railroad and instead harnessed our tools to capture portraits of… them.”

      Presented in the same order as the series which moves from Georgia to Indiana, the vignettes spotlight both principal and background actors who wear striking period costumes by Caroline Eselin—the designer also collaborated with Jenkins on his lauded films Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk. Each shot is an intimate and evocative portrayal of imagined kin. “We halted our filming many times for moments like these. Moments where… standing in the spaces our ancestors stood, we had the feeling of seeing them, truly seeing them and thus, we sought to capture and share that seeing with you,” the director says.
      Jenkins writes that he was inspired by Kerry James Marshall’s “Scipio Moorhead, Portrait of Himself, 1776,” which is an earnest rendering of the African American artist who actively painted throughout the 1770s while he was enslaved. Marshall’s homage secures Moorhead’s legacy in an urgent and necessary act of visual documentation that Jenkins replicates:
      We have sought to give embodiment to the souls of our ancestors frozen in the tactful but inadequate descriptor “enslaved,” a phrase that speaks only to what was done to them, not to who they were nor what they did… This is an act of seeing. Of seeing them. And maybe, in a soft-headed way, of opening a portal where THEY may see US, the benefactors of their efforts, of the lives they LIVED.
      Jenkins notes that The Gaze contains only abstracted scenes so it won’t spoil The Underground Railroad. Watch the entire film above, and read the director’s essay describing the project on Vimeo. (via Kottke)

      #film
      #video

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      Nimble Pugs and Other Cheery Canines Are Chiseled into Stocky Wooden Sculptures by Misato Sano

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      Art

      #dogs
      #sculpture
      #self-portrait
      #wood

      May 17, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Misato Sano, shared with permission
      Studies show that people are inclined to adopt canine companions that resemble themselves or family members, a psychological impulse that Misato Sano (previously) flips on its head. Rather than carve a pack of doggy doubles, the artist creates textured wooden sculptures of curly-haired poodles and acrobatic pugs imbued with different aspects of her own personality. Encompassing multiple breeds, expressions, and physical traits, each work is a self-portrait. She explains to Colossal:
      For me, using the form of dogs is the most appropriate, highest-resolution method to materialize what I think of my inner self. Materializing myself in various states is about having an honest, direct dialogue with myself. In facing myself, I would like to be passionate, free, and loving, like a dog. My works are also about myself looking at myself. In that sense, I might have been making an existence that is sometimes beside myself, a little distance in other times, watching over myself.
      Sano is based in the Tohoku region of the Miyagi prefecture and spends her summers creating the lively creatures with fur chiseled in visible gouges. As the weather turns cold, she shifts her practice to embroidery and conveys the adorable faces in plush tufts of thread.
      If you’re in Portland, you can see Sano’s carved characters as part of a group exhibition running August 14 to 29 at Gallery Nucleus. Otherwise, check out her Instagram for glimpses into her process and to see some of the real-life pups that inspire her works.

      #dogs
      #sculpture
      #self-portrait
      #wood

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      David Shrigley Designs a Collection of Phone Cases and Tech Accessories with His Signature Witty Illustrations

      by

      
      Art
      Design
      Illustration

      #humor
      #satire
      #technology

      May 14, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images courtesy of Casetify
      David Shrigley’s famously dry sense of humor and satirical quips grace a new collection of phone cases and other accessories. The British artist (previously) is collaborating with Casetify on a forthcoming line—it includes a dozen iPhone cases, plus Apple Watch bands, AirPods covers, stands, chargers, in addition to sleek laptop sleeves and bags—featuring his signature bold drawings alongside reminders to “be nice” and “work hard, play hard, eat a huge pizza.” One illustration, the pastel wolf, is even designed to howl a custom phrase.
      As part of the collaboration, 100 limited-edition black mirror cases printed with a multi-color “There are no rules” will be released through a lottery, which you can enter starting next week on Casetify’s site. The rest of the designs go on sale on May 25. (via It’s Nice That)

      #humor
      #satire
      #technology

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      Ceramic Mosaics Mend Cracked Sidewalks, Potholes, and Buildings in Vibrant Interventions by Ememem

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      Art

      #mosaics
      #public art
      #street art

      May 13, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Ememem, shared with permission
      Throughout his home city of Lyon, Ememem is known as “the pavement surgeon.” The artist repairs gouged sidewalks and splintered facades with colorful mosaics that he describes as “a poem that everybody can read.” Intricate geometric motifs laid with pristine tiles hug the cracks and create “a memory notebook of the city. It reveals what happened, the life in these public places,” he tells Colossal. “Here cobblestones have been picked up and thrown. There a truck from the vegetable market tore off a piece of asphalt…”
      Ememem’s first mosaic dates back 10 years when he found himself in a damaged alley in Lyon. At that time, he already was working in ceramic and translated that practice to revitalizing the outdoor area. Since 2016, he’s been consistently filling potholes and other divots throughout France. “It’s a succession of a lot of places and reflections, experiments I did before. I had done similar things, with other techniques, other supports, and finally, when this one emerged, I knew I found something that I was going to keep doing for the rest of my life,” he says.
      If you’re in Paris, you can see some of Ememem’s newest interventions around the Grand Paris Express in Saint-Maur-Créteil through August 31. His work also will be at Spraying Board in Lyon on June 2 and included in a group show at Florian Daguet-Bresson opening June 8. You can find an extensive archive of his patched projects on his site and Instagram. Check out these guerilla pothole mosaics by Chicago artist Jim Bachor for similar street mendings. (via Jeroen Apers)

      For Société du Grand Paris
      Left: Lyon (2021). Right: Paris (2020)

      Grand Paris Express
      Mycosis on the Môle de Sète
      Right: Rue Bollier

      #mosaics
      #public art
      #street art

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      Candid Murals by Street Artist Escif Cleverly Respond to Political Issues and Current Events

      by

      
      Art

      #humor
      #murals
      #public art
      #site-specific
      #street art

      May 13, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Espoire” in Lozzi, France. All images © Escif, shared with permission
      Street artist Escif (previously) utilizes muted color palettes and straightforward motifs to convert walls around his home city of Valencia and other locations throughout Europe into perceptive ruminations on capitalism, politics, and society. He paints sparse scenes and objects with ties to their environment and current events, often relying on humor and wit to convey an underlying message. Although the Spanish artist has spent much of the last year in his studio working on drawings with his two-year-old son, some of his more recent artworks include a brick shattering an already damaged window, a military officer armed with a vaccine like a bazooka, and a touching tribute to the late street artist Hyuro, who died last November.
      Escif just completed a series in Corse and is headed to Lithuania and northern Italy in the next few months, which you can follow on Instagram. Shop available prints on his site.

      “Aguja” in Valencia
      A tribute to the late artist Hyuro in Valencia
      “Break” in Charleroi, Belgium
      Left: “Low Cost” in Valencia. Right: “Brote”
      “Underground” in Barcelona

      #humor
      #murals
      #public art
      #site-specific
      #street art

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