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    Circular Paintings Expose the Fleshy Innards of Halved Oranges, Pomegranates, and Other Fruits

    
    Art
    Food

    #fruit
    #painting

    October 16, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “#65 (orange)” (2017), oil on canvas, 20 inches. All images © Alonsa Guevara, shared with permission
    Using round canvases with a range of diameters, Alonsa Guevara deftly paints the plump, juicy insides of oranges, watermelon, and other fruits. Each circular piece depicts a seemingly perfect slice down the middle, capturing the fibrous veins and central seeds found within fresh produce.
    Guevara spent her childhood in the Ecuadorian rainforests surrounded by tropical landscapes and nearby agriculture, an experience of nature that influences her artistic practice. The Chilean artist, who lives in New York City, began fruit portraits in 2014 as she reflected on her adolescence and thought of creating a body of work that felt universal.
    “Immediately I thought of fruits; they are everywhere and have been present as an essential part of evolution and as symbols throughout human history,” Guevara shares with Colossal. “I decided to paint the fruits cut open, revealing their insides, recreating and depicting all the incredible patterns, seeds, and infinite information they carry, which many people take for granted.”
    Now an extensive series with dozens of paintings—the artist creates both miniatures that are as little as 1.5 inches and larger works spanning 30 inches—Guevara considers the collection a representation of desire and fertility, in addition to death and decay. “These fruits of the earth can be delicious/poisoning, juicy/rotten, real/imaginary,” she says. No matter the type, though, every work is painted to elicit a sensory response.
    A limited print series of Guevara’s orange, kiwi, and pomegranate will go on sale on October 21 on Her Clique, a new platform dedicated to promoting women’s art, with a portion of the proceeds donated to a program for low-income international students at The New York Academy of Art. Explore the full series of fleshy fruits on Guevara’s site, and stay up to date with her work on Instagram and Artsy.

    Left: “#27 (kiwi)” (2015), oil on canvas, 12 inches. Right: “#55 (pomegranate)” (2016), oil on canvas, 20 inches
    “#47 (apricot)” (2015), oil on canvas, 10 inches
    “#48 (cactus pair)” (2015), oil on canvas, 5 inches
    Left: “#51 (imagined fruit)” (2015), oil on canvas, 8 inches. Right: “#52 (watermelon)” (2015), oil on canvas, 20 inches
    Installation view
    Upper left: Mini Fruit Portrait Lemon. Upper right: Mini Fruit Portrait Avocado. Lower left: Mini Fruit Portrait Watermelon. Lower right: Mini Fruit Portrait Orange
    “#42 (pineapple)” (2015), oil on canvas, 8 inches

    #fruit
    #painting

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    Lustrous Strips of Glass Bisect Debris, Bricks, and Semi-Precious Stones in Ramon Todo’s Sculptures

    
    Art

    #found objects
    #gemstones
    #glass
    #installation
    #sculpture
    #stone

    October 16, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Debris” (2016), debris and layered glass. All images courtesy of Art Front Gallery, shared with permission
    Between gnarly chunks of concrete, basalt pillars, and smooth rounds of lapis lazuli, Ramon Todo (previously) positions sleek segments of layered glass. The Tokyo-born artist splices fragments of found objects that otherwise would be regarded as refuse, like a crumbling brick from Iizuka City or coal waste, to repurpose the existing material with a lustrous embellishment.
    Whether volcanic rock or chunks of demolished architecture, the resulting juxtapositions carry the original history, although they’re presented anew. “The characteristics of the place. The uniqueness of the place. Like the memories of the place and time,” the artist says in an interview about a recent solo show at Art Front Gallery in Tokyo. “I use the rocks, debris, Bota (stone similar to coal) for my works believing they have such memories inside. I used the glasses as material in the middle to peek into the time and the history of inside the rocks.”
    Find more of Todo’s textured sculptures on Artsy, and see where his work is headed next on Art Front’s site.

    (2015), basalt and glass
    (2015), basalt and glass
    “Debris 267703” (2016), debris and glass, 23 4/5 × 7 7/10 × 5 3/5 inches
    Top: “Debris – 267411” (2014), debris and glass, 8 1/10 × 23 3/5 × 7 1/10 inches. Left: “o.T-GS” (2018) stone and layered glass, 11 × 16 1/2 × 8 3/10 inches. Right: “o.T. -dtk267801″ (2016), stone from Datekan and glass, 7 1/5 × 7 1/5 × 7 inches
    (2015), basalt and glass
    “Afghanistan” (2017), Lapis lazuli and glass, 7/10 × 2 1/2 × 1 3/5 inches
    “Chikuho Coal waste #15” (2020), coal waste from Chikuho and glass, 12 3/5 × 12 1/10 × 5 3/5 inches
    “Chikuho Red Brick” (2020), brick pieces collected from Iizuka City and glass, 7 1/5 × 4 2/5 × 2 2/5 inches

    #found objects
    #gemstones
    #glass
    #installation
    #sculpture
    #stone

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    Strength: Pejac Honors Spain’s Health Workers with a Moving Trio of Interventions

    
    Art

    #COVID-19
    #painting
    #public art
    #trompe l’oeil

    October 16, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Overcoming.” All images © Pejac, shared with permission
    On the campus of University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla in Santander, Spain, a trio of interventions by street artist Pejac (previously) simultaneously responds to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and offers potential paths for healing. The new series, titled Strength, is Pejac’s direct response to the 50,000 people who have died from the virus in his home country. “The idea of the Strength project arises as a gesture of gratitude to the health workers of Valdecilla, for their work in general and during this Covid crisis in particular. Offering them what I do best, which is painting,” the artist says.
    In “Social Distancing” (shown below), a horde of people escape from a crevice in the building’s facade. The trompe l’oei artwork is a multi-layered metaphor for the ways the virus has ruptured society and the necessity of community care and compassion. “Caress” features two silhouettes standing six-feet apart, with Monet-style reflections on the ground nearby. The figures, which represent a patient and doctor, stretch their hands toward each other.
    Pejac worked in collaboration with young oncology patients to complete the third piece, titled “Overcoming” (shown below), in which a child perched on a wheelchair recreates Van Gogh’s “Wheat Field with Cypresses.” “This is something that we, as a society could do—take this crisis and use it to propel us forward,” he says.
    Watch the heartwarming video below that captures the works-in-progress, and find more about the tribute on Pejac’s Instagram.

    “Social Distancing”
    “Social Distancing”
    “Caress”
    “Caress”
    “Social Distancing”
    “Social Distancing”
    “Overcoming”
    “Overcoming”

    “Overcoming”
    “Social Distancing”
    

    #COVID-19
    #painting
    #public art
    #trompe l’oeil

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    Mantra’s Trompe L’oeil Murals Encase Enormous Butterflies in Vintage-Style Boxes

    
    Art

    #butterflies
    #murals
    #public art
    #street art
    #trompe l’oeil

    October 15, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    Torino, Italy. All images © Mantra, shared with permission
    Working with entomologists around the globe, the French street artist known as Mantra (previously) transforms brick facades and concrete walls into massive studies of local butterfly specimens. With framed outer edges that mimic a wooden box, the trompe l’oeil murals render the winged insects in detail, depicting their richly hued scales and delicate antennae. Each artwork features species native to the area, making it possible that a live specimen might flutter by its enormous counterpart.
    In a conversation with Colossal, Mantra said he’s harbored a lifelong fascination with entomology that stems from spending hours in French gardens and bucolic areas as a kid. “As a child, I was interested, curious, and focused on the small life forms in those places,” he says. His current practice hearkens back to those carefree hours and connects with an adolescent desire to become a naturalist. “My approach is as a scientist,” the artist says, noting that education about environmental care and issues is part of the goal.
    Although Mantra considers all insects and natural life beautiful and crucial to maintaining biodiversity, the focus on butterflies revolves around his artistic ambitions because the vivid creatures allow him to experiment with color, shape, and texture. Each specimen is rendered freehand before the artist adds detail and the illusory shadows that make them appear three-dimensional. By painting various Lepidoptera species again and again, the artist is “repeating a mantra,” a detail of his practice that informs the moniker he works under.
    In recent months, Mantra has traveled to Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden, in addition to various locations throughout France, to complete public artworks, and he’ll be in Arkansas this month for two projects curated by Just Kids. Follow all of the artist’s entomological murals on Instagram.

    Rombas, France
    Cancún, Mexico. Image by Gino Caballero
    Silkeborg, Denmark
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    Dijon, France
    Jacksonville, Florida
    Brooklyn, New York
    Dallas, Texas. Image by Chop’ em Down
    Overum, Sweden
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    Cancún, Mexico. Image by Gino Caballero
    Torino, Italy. Image by Martha Cooper

    #butterflies
    #murals
    #public art
    #street art
    #trompe l’oeil

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    Two Fabric Homes by Artist Do Ho Suh Float Above an Atrium in Incheon International Airport

    
    Art

    #architecture
    #fabric
    #installation
    #sculpture

    October 13, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    “Home within Home” (2019), polyester fabric, stainless steel, 292.91 x 325.59 x 316.93 inches. Images © Do Ho Suh, courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, shared with permission
    Living and working in London, Korean artist Do Ho Suh (previously) is concerned with “home, physical space, displacement, memory, individuality, and collectivity,” ideas he evokes in his life-sized fabric sculptures and installations. His 2019 piece “Home within Home,” which is suspended from an atrium in Incheon International Airport in Seoul, positions two structures vertically, with the larger polyester and steel construction on top. This newer work evokes a similar piece from 2013, titled “Home Within Home Within Home Within Home Within Home,” which placed replicas of Suh’s former living spaces within one another, from his first house in South Korea to an apartment building in Rhode Island.
    Often using his own experiences as source material, Suh’s multi-media practice explores both the physical and metaphorical understandings of home as he considers the ways people occupy structures in specific times, locations, forms, and histories. “The spaces we inhabit also contain psychological energy, and in his work, he makes visible those markers of memories, personal experiences, and a sense of security, regardless of geographic location,” a statement about his practice says.
    Suh is represented by Lehmann Maupin, and you can explore more of the artist’s architectural sculptures, installations, and smaller works on the international gallery’s site.

    “Home within Home” (2019), polyester fabric, stainless steel, 292.91 x 325.59 x 316.93 inches
    “Home within Home” (2019), polyester fabric, stainless steel, 292.91 x 325.59 x 316.93 inches
    “Home within Home” (2019), polyester fabric, stainless steel, 292.91 x 325.59 x 316.93 inches
    “Passage/s” (2017)
    “Passage/s” (2017)

    #architecture
    #fabric
    #installation
    #sculpture

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    Little Amal: An Enormous Puppet Is Traveling 8,000km to Shine Light on the Refugee Crisis

    
    Art

    #public art
    #puppets
    #refugees
    #social justice

    October 12, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    Photograph by Bevan Roos. All images shared with permission
    To draw attention to the ongoing refugee crisis, an oversized puppet will traverse 8,000 kilometers on a route starting at the Turkey-Syria border. From April to July 2021, “Little Amal” will travel across Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and France on a search “to find her mother. To get back to school. To start a new life.” The international journey will end in the United Kingdom, with a celebration at Manchester International Festival. Good Chance Theatre, a London-based organization dedicated to humanitarian and social justice efforts, is helming the public project “embodying the urgent message, ‘Don’t forget about us.’”
    The 3.5-meter tall character, which was created by Handspring Puppet Company, will stop in 70 cities across Europe to meet with locals and participate in celebrations and education programs. “At this time of unprecedented global change, The Walk is an artistic response: a cultural odyssey transcending borders, politics, and language to tell a new story of shared humanity – and to ensure the world doesn’t forget the millions of displaced children, each with their own story,” Good Chance writes in a statement.
    Check out the official map of Amal’s international journey and planned events on the project’s site, and follow along with updates on her progress on Instagram and YouTube. (via It’s Nice That)

    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Bevan Roos
    Photograph by Nick Wall

    #public art
    #puppets
    #refugees
    #social justice

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    Using Shattered Ceramics, Artist Bouke de Vries Revitalizes Found Porcelain in New Sculptures

    
    Art

    #ceramics
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

    October 7, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Bouke de Vries, shared with permission
    Bouke de Vries (previously) refers to some of his porcelain sculptures as “three-dimensional still lifes.” The artist, who was born in the Netherlands and now lives in London, creates sprawling assemblages that resemble a classic bowl of fruit or table setting frequently found in Dutch art. “I compose these pieces as, after the painter has finished with them, the ceramics get broken and decayed, and I breathe new life into them. The butterfly in still life is a symbol for the resurrection in (the) way I see what I do through my work,” he tells Colossal. In de Vries’s works, though, the seemingly mundane scenes are fractured with bursting ceramics, encroaching insects, and decaying fruit.
    The artist began working with porcelain as a restorer for 15 years before embarking on his own practice, which begins with a search for broken pottery and glass shards. He never breaks an undamaged piece but rather revitalizes those that are damaged already by creating new figures that celebrate the beauty of their previous forms. With a penchant for Kintsugi, he often utilizes gold lacquer to highlight the repaired cracks.
    Alongside sculptural still lifes, the figure of Guan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, mercy, and kindness, recurs in de Vries’s work. Often surrounded by cracked shards and recomposed garments, she conveys an ability for understanding and repair.
    In recent weeks, de Vries has been working on commissions and new pieces, in addition to a large-scale project that spans the entrance of one of Sotheby’s Bond Street galleries, which you can see on Instagram. To find out more about the artist’s vision behind that piece, watch this interview. (via Cross Connect Magazine)

    #ceramics
    #porcelain
    #sculpture

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    Antidote: Organic Lifeforms Rendered with Prussian Blue Create Vivid Ecosystems by Yellena James

    
    Art

    #acrylic
    #coral
    #flowers
    #gouache
    #ink
    #nature
    #painting

    October 6, 2020
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Yellena James, courtesy of Stephanie Chefas Projects, shared with permission
    Using a combination of acrylics, gouache, and ink, Yellena James cultivates brightly-hued ecosystems ripe with lines, patterns, and nature-based motifs. The Portland-based artist paints organic forms that resemble both marine species like coral and kelp in addition to full-bloom flowers, creating brilliant, labyrinth-like ecosystems. Although Prussian blue ink has been a mainstay in James’s practice for years, she recently discovered that the specific color serves as a remedy for certain toxic metal poisonings. This realization spurred the series shown here, which is aptly named Antidote. Each work features the vibrant hue in some capacity.
    If you’re in Portland, check out James’s solo show at Stephanie Chefas Projects through October 10. To see the artist’s works in progress, head to Instagram, and try your hand at similar drawings with James’s book, Star, Branch, Spiral, Fan: Learn to Draw from Nature’s Perfect Design Structures. (via Supersonic Art)

    #acrylic
    #coral
    #flowers
    #gouache
    #ink
    #nature
    #painting

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