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New work by WRDSMTH in Chicago, USA
Street artist WRDSMTH has recently entered into an exciting partnership with the newly launched luxury cannabis edibles brand, The Bettering Company (TBCo.).WRDSMTH, renowned for his ability to inspire and motivate through his art, finds a kindred spirit in The Bettering Company. Both entities share a common mission deeply rooted in driving positive change and fostering improvement. This partnership serves as a promising beginning to a series of collaborations with artists, signifying an ongoing initiative that aims to merge art and cannabis in unique and impactful ways. Together, WRDSMTH and The Bettering Company are poised to create a space where creativity and luxury converge, delivering experiences that transcend traditional boundaries.TBCo. has made a noteworthy entrance into the market as a premium cannabis brand, offering a meticulously curated selection of edibles infused with real fruits, herbs, teas, spices, and jams. These gourmet creations are crafted by skilled chefs and consistently maintain their vegan and gluten-free qualities, catering to consumers who value the thoughtful artistry behind their consumption.Take a look below for more photos of WRDSMTH’s latest project. More
- in Art
From Chicago to Detroit, Yashua Klos Presents Black Resilience, Defiance, and Tenderness
Art#Chicago
#collage
#flowers
#identity
#portraits
#printmaking
#segregation
#Yashua KlosJanuary 30, 2023
Grace Ebert More
- in Art
Take a Swing Around ‘Par Excellence Redux,’ a Mini Golf Course of Playable Artworks at Elmhurst Art Museum
Art
Colossal#Chicago
#games
#golfJuly 22, 2021
ColossalAll images courtesy of the Elmhurst Art Museum, shared with permission
Now open at the Elmhurst Art Museum is Par Excellence Redux, a miniature golf course featuring a widely varied collection of playable artworks. Curated by Colossal’s founder and editor-in-chief Christopher Jobson as part of an open call, the two-part course pays homage to the wildly popular Par Excellence that opened in 1988 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The designs range from a challenging optical illusion to a maze-like castle with the potential for a hole-in-one to Annalee Koehn’s fortune-telling piece first shown 33 years ago in the initial exhibition.
Chicago sculptor Michael O’Brien conceived of the original Par Excellence, which opened to lines down the block and subsequently sold out daily. It was recognized nationally in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune, among others, and went on tour throughout Illinois before returning to Chicago as a rebranded commercial project called ArtGolf, which was located at 1800 N. Clybourn in Lincoln Park on the site that’s now occupied by Goose Island Brewery. Although artist-designed golf courses are shown at a variety of Midwest museums—you can see versions at the Walker Art Center, The Sheldon, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art—Par Excellence is widely regarded as the first.
The Front 9, which runs through September 26, features artists Julie Cowan, Current Projects, Andrea Jablonski & Stolatis Inc., Annalee Koehn, Latent Design, Jesse Meredith, Gautam Rao, Robin Schwartzman & Tom Loftus (aka A Couple of Putts), and the museum’s Teen Art Council. Open October 13, 2021, to January 2, 2022, The Back 9 shows work from artists Wesley Baker, KT Duffy, Eve Fineman, Joshua Kirsch, Annalee Koehn, Vincent Lotesto, Joshua Lowe, Jim Merz, David Quednau, and Liam Wilson & Anna Gershon.
Try your hand at the first nine holes by heading over to Elmhurst’s site to book a tee time, and remember that Colossal Members get 25% off.#Chicago
#games
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More - in Art
Sentrock Captures the Sights of Chicago’s Pilsen Neighborhood in a New Series About Mental Health
Art
Illustration#birds
#Chicago
#healthJune 3, 2021
Grace EbertAll images © Sentrock, shared with permission
In honor of Mental Health Month this May, Chicago artist Joseph Perez, who works as Sentrock, created an illustrated series celebrating the people and scenes around his studio in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. “I started doing it just for myself, to take an hour or two and share my thoughts or reflections for that day or the day prior,” he tells Colossal.
Lively, expressive, and deeply empathetic, the resulting illustrations draw on Sentrock’s background as a graffiti artist and his connection to those around him. They tell a story about the neighborhood that’s historically been rich with Latinx culture and portray the sights and experiences shared by the community through a distinctly personal lens. The artist explains:
I started allowing myself to reflect on the past, present, the current situations I found myself in. I allowed myself to reflect on my everyday life, whether boring, exciting, or just my imagination of the moment. I started to capture the people outside my studio, whether friends or strangers. My purpose for this was to initiate a connection with the people around me, the community.
Sentrock began with reference photos of friends, family, and community members before reinterpreting them in bright, vivid renditions of his signature bird character. Usually depicted as a beaked mask, the recurring image is Sentrock’s analogy “to humanity: a person who is able to find or escape to their freedom by placing them in a different reality.” In the new works, the character travels from person to person, sometimes worn by kids skateboarding down 18th Street and others by the artist himself, like in the moving portrait of him and his mother.
Head to Instagram to see the full series and original images, and if you’re in Chicago, keep an eye out for the designs, which Sentrock plans to wheat paste around the city.Portrait of the artist with his mother
Self-portrait
#birds
#Chicago
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More - in Street Art
“UMI” by Daniel Popper in Chicago, Illinois
Multidisciplinary artist Daniel Popper recently worked on new large scale sculptural works. “UMI” – meaning life in Swahili and mother in Arabic, is 1 of 5 new works of Daniel Popper from the Human+Nature exhibition opening at the Morton Arboretum.For this exhibition the artist tried to explore some new techniques, working with 3d sculpting and the same time experimenting with new materials and building techniques. Made from steel & GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete), sculpture “UMI” stands 20ft tall. The pieces by Daniel Popper will on display for 1 year.Take a look below for more photos of the stunning piece. More
- in Art
A Tiled Wave Ripples Across Olafur Eliasson’s New Installation in Downtown Chicago
Art#Chicago
#installation
#pattern
#public art
#street art
#wavesJanuary 19, 2021
Grace Ebert“Atmospheric wave wall” (2021), 30 x 60 feet. All images courtesy of CNL Projects, shared with permission
Last week, artist Olafur Eliasson (previously) unveiled a massive, wave-like artwork that mimics the rippled surfaces of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Comprised of 1,963 curved tiles, “Atmospheric wave wall” sits between the two bodies of water at Willis Tower and shifts in appearance based on the sunlight, time of year, and position of the viewer. It’s the Danish-Icelandic artist’s first public project, which was curated by CNL Projects and commissioned by EQ Office, in Chicago.
Speckled with orange pieces, the blue-and-green motif is constructed with powder-coated steel and based on Penrose tiling, a design with fivefold symmetry, which fills the undulating border. At night, a light shines through the street-side work, emitting a glow through the tile seams and further altering the appearance of the textured facade. Eliasson says about the work:
Inspired by the unpredictable weather that I witnessed stirring up the surface of Lake Michigan, ‘Atmospheric wave wall’ appears to change according to your position and to the time of day and year. What we see depends on our point of view: understanding this is an important step toward realizing that we can change reality.
Follow Eliasson’s latest projects on his studio’s site and Instagram.
#Chicago
#installation
#pattern
#public art
#street art
#wavesDo 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!
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More - in Street Art
New works from E. LEE go up in Chicago
We always love checking in with Chicago’s E. LEE. E brings creativity and thoughtfulness to every piece (whether in the street or indoors), and there’s usually more than what meets the eye.
b-sm = 300×250; sm > none;
E. LEE began his street art career in 2015 with a goal to impact lives with art. By taking the viewer into consideration, he orchestrates experiences using trompe l’oeil effects and pop images as symbols. In this series about cultural symbols of value, he replaces common objects with cartoon representations of currency and gold. The depth created with shadows and the fantastic scale creates a sense of awe for the viewer while the simplicity and boldness of the piece sneaks into a complex question of what we value in our culture…and why.
First up is a work entitled “Looming Large”, in the Uptown neighborhood. The works invites the viewer to sneak a peek at a stash of massive gold coins within an otherwise unassuming buildingNext up is the complex “Your Life as a Comedy” in the Logan Square neighborhood.
Lee tells Street Art News, “I feel this piece is very important right now. A lot of people are feeling anxious and unsafe in the current environment. A threat from nature in Covid, a threat from society with possible income and housing loss, and a large amount of social unrest on top of everything.”
Lee continues, “This is an optimistic piece. The viewer is the protagonist and it is the story of our lives. It’s a cycle (represented by the cycle of the day) showing the metaphoric hurdles we all must overcome:
The desert: an empty barren place with a lack of nourishment. It is loneliness and a feeling of isolation.
The flood / ocean: turbulent water represents turbulent emotions. It is the opposite of a lack, but rather an overwhelm and possible feeling of drowning.
Anvils floating above us on balloons: This is anxiety… the random occurrence that can fall on our heads out of nowhere (cancer, pandemic, death of a loved one)
A Crack in the Earth: This represents us falling into a hole. A major problem or depression we have to climb out of.We navigate these obstacles and we get ourselves to the other side. When we do, there is more life (trees and bushes), more balance, and we’re equipped with the tools to build a little more safety for ourselves and the ones we love. The last panel represents us improving our lives, building, and the opportunity to take a breath and rest up… for the cycle and challenge will soon begin again.”
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