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Paradise and Precarity Merge in Jessica Taylor Bellamy’s Paintings of Los Angeles Life
by Aurelia Butler 7 February 2025, 14:57
“American Airlines Passenger Ticket 1 (after Warhol)” (2023), oil on canvas, 32 x 59 inches
Paradise and Precarity Merge in Jessica Taylor Bellamy’s Paintings of Los Angeles Life
February 7, 2025
ArtClimate
Kate Mothes
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For Jessica Taylor Bellamy, juxtapositions, transparency, and layers shape a way of working that evokes her family history and notions of home and landscape. Born to an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and an Afro-Cuban Jamaican father, Bellamy was raised in Whittier, just southeast of Los Angeles.
In glowing oil paintings, she draws from personal mementos like photographs, sales receipts, and newspaper clippings to explore the relationships between utopia and dystopia, humans and nature, image and text, and fantasy and reality.
“Did She Nail It?” (2025), oil on canvas, 26 x 20 inches
Bellamy portrays sunsets, landscapes, trees, urban streets, flora, animals, and cloud formations in a kind of dreamy washiness, adding patterns like chainlink fences, gates, and lace curtains suggestive of boundaries. Horizontal landscapes overlaid with American Airlines tickets echo Andy Warhol’s 1960s silkscreen prints of SAS airline tickets merged with floral motifs.
“Bellamy’s observations are rooted in her experiences of the sprawling urban landscape of Los Angeles—a meeting of nature and civilization at the edge of a precarious paradise, formed by fire, drought, flood, and wind,” says a statement from Anat Ebgi, which represents the artist and opens her new solo exhibition, Temperature Check.
A few works shown here, like “Did She Nail It?,” appear in the show, which merges landscapes and atmospheric lighting effects with references to DIY culture, what’s gendered as “men’s work,” and car and motorcycle culture. The Home Depot receipt, which typically uses the slogan “Did we nail it?,” is combined with an image of a rear-view mirror depicted so close that it initially appears abstract.
Bellamy examines the dualities and precarity of life in Southern California—a seeming paradise we’ve witnessed can be swiftly devastated by fire and drought. The title Temperature Change is also a double entendre, suggesting meteorological readings and a figurative expression used when measuring a group mood or opinion. Through surreal imagery and echoes of mass production and consumerism, the artist invokes a noir reverie.
Temperature Check runs from February 8 to March 22 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Box Fan (AM)” (2025), oil on canvas, 57 1/2 x 32 inches
“American Airlines Passenger Ticket 2 (after Warhol)” (2023), oil on canvas, 32 x 60 inches
“Playa Larga (Coquina Combination Pill Pack)” (2023), oil on canvas, 23 3/4 x 42 1/2 inches
“A Subspecies of Journalism” (2023), oil on canvas, 59 x 43 1/2 inches
“A Splendid Paradox” (2022), oil on canvas, 70 x 52 inches
“Curtain of Sky” (2024), oil on canvas, 57 1/2 x 48 inches
“Horizontal Thrust I (Blue graffiti highway)” (2025), oil on canvas, 26 x 70 inches
“Driveway Moment” (2025), oil on canvas, 57 1/2 x 47 inches
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Elemental Shifts and Enigmatic Narratives Anchor Rupy C. Tut’s Mystical Paintings
by Aurelia Butler 3 February 2025, 12:58
“A River of Dreams” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 62 x 42 1/4 x 2 inches framed. Photos by Phillip Maisel. All images courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
Elemental Shifts and Enigmatic Narratives Anchor Rupy C. Tut’s Mystical Paintings
February 3, 2025
ArtClimateSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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Verdant scenery inhabited by vibrant wildlife and graceful feminine figures center in the work of Rupy C. Tut, whose paintings (previously) draw upon her Sikh ancestry and experiences emigrating from India as a young girl. “As an environmentalist and Indian-American woman, she never takes place for granted,” says a statement from Jessica Silverman Gallery, which represents the artist.
Tut’s ethereal works tread the boundaries between abstraction, portraiture, pattern, and traditional Indian painting. Her compositions introduce narratives—often captivatingly mysterious—that highlight enigmatic mystical, elemental, and spiritual phenomena.
“Bursting with Clouds” (2024) handmade pigments on linen, 41 1/2 x 61 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed
The artist’s subjects typically exist front-and-center, like in “A River of Dreams,” in which a figure sits in a stream and observes a lily while dark clouds move in above. Motifs of darkening skies and dramatic change continue in recent works like “Bursting with Clouds” and “The First Rain.”
Oscillating between idyllic paradises, anxieties around climate disasters, and gender constraints, Tut focuses on female figures, turning the tables on a genre that typically focuses on male achievements. “I question traditional roles and labels while preserving traditional practices,” she says.
Tut was a 2024 recipient of the Joan Mitchel Foundation Fellowship, and her work is on view in the group exhibition About Place at San Francisco’s de Young through the end of November. You can explore more on her website and Instagram.
“A Place Dear to Me” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed
“The First Rain” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches framed
“Riding my Thunder” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 inches framed
“Where Dreams Flow” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 42 1/8 x 82 x 2 inches framed
“Bowing to the Cosmos” (2024), handmade pigments on linen, 61 3/8 x 41 5/8 x 2 inches framed
“Archipelago” (2024), handmade pigments on linen; diptych, 61 1/2 x 83 x 2 1/4 inches overall, framed
“Escaping the Heat” (2024), handmade pigments on hemp paper, 13 3/4 x 18 3/8 x 1 1/2 inches framed
“A Natural Thought” (2025), handmade pigments on linen, 81 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 2 inches framed
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Dinosaurs Overrun a World Post Climate Disaster in Michael Kerbow’s Paintings
by Aurelia Butler 17 January 2025, 19:28
“Late Capitalism.” All images © Michael Kerbow, shared with permission
Dinosaurs Overrun a World Post Climate Disaster in Michael Kerbow’s Paintings
January 17, 2025
ArtClimateNature
Jackie Andres
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After ending another year of record-breaking climate statistics, we stand at the precipice of 2025, which has already revealed its own devastating challenges. As the window for meaningful change continues to narrow during the next several years, we’re left to wonder what the world might look like if we stay on this path. Through the lens of hyper-consumerism, San Francisco-based artist Michael Kerbow (previously) envisions the future in his wry and imaginative landscape paintings.
Swarming decayed gas station roofs, perching atop abandoned vehicles in forests, and sauntering past crumbling highways and fast food joints, the dinosaurs in Kerbow’s paintings govern a world overrun by the effects of late-stage capitalism. Hints of climate devastation reveal themselves through small details in the background, such as volcano eruptions, dense, hazy skies, and pools of floodwater.
“Bypass”
Kerbow scatters familiar signage and advertisements from recognizable chains within his scenes to introduce humor and make his work more approachable. However, the artist emphasizes the gravity of the issue at hand:
We like to believe everything we currently have will always be there for us, but I suspect it could just as easily fall apart and slip away. I try to stay optimistic about the future, but the truth is I am troubled by where I see things appear to be headed, specifically with the health of our ecosystem. Each passing year seems to bring more alarming statistics, and this comfortable place we call home seems to grow more precarious. It is sobering to consider my artwork as foreshadowing a future reality.
As Kerbow continues to make new paintings, you can follow along on Instagram and see his website for more.
“Adaptive Reuse”
“Vestige (Golden Arches)”
“Black Monday”
“Highwater”
“Glade”
“Economic Decline”
“Siren Song”
“Shadowplay”
“Oasis”
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Endless Fields of Detritus Blanket Cássio Vasconcellos’s Aerial Composites
by Aurelia Butler 12 November 2024, 16:00
Detail of “Air Force.” All images courtesy of Cássio Vasconcellos and Nara Roesler Gallery, shared with permission
Endless Fields of Detritus Blanket Cássio Vasconcellos’s Aerial Composites
November 12, 2024
ArtClimatePhotography
Kate Mothes
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Where do jets go when they no longer fly? What happens to shipping containers when they aren’t useful anymore for cargo? The answer is invisible to most of us, but for Cássio Vasconcellos, abandoned trains, planes, and automobiles are far from forgotten.
For more than four decades, the São Paolo-based artist has been fascinated by the relationship between humans and the landscape. Over the years, his work has captured dramatic impressions of sprawling cities around the globe, often from the air, spurring an ongoing series called Collectives that condenses details of urban infrastructure like highways and parking lots into sprawling, all-over compositions.
“Collective 11: Airplanes”
Collectives 2, to which these images belong, focuses solely on the mesmerizing—and mind-boggling—quantity of scrapped vehicles and metal indefinitely parked in nondescript places. Vasconcellos draws from tens of thousands of aerial photographs he has made of junkyards, scrap heaps, airplane graveyards, and dumps to create remarkable, large-scale composite images.
The artist has mapped all of the junkyards around São Paolo, plus numerous more near the Brazilian cities of Cubatão, Santos, and Rio de Janeiro. He has also documented desert landscapes in the U.S. that serve as final resting places for commercial airliners and military jets.
“Over,” for example, considers numerous associated meanings, like “overview,” “all-over,” “overdose,” or “game over.” The title references not only excess but the overflow of visual information in contemporary society.
“Seeing an image like this is to make clear that there is no ‘throw away,’” Vasconcellos says in a video about “OVER,” which took him about a year and three months to complete. “This volume of things that are in the work… they are out there,” he adds. “I just put them together.”
Detail of “Over”
“These photos may look like post-apocalyptic scenarios, but they could be our future,” the artist says in a statement. “We still have to learn that by throwing things away and taking them out of our sight, we don’t make themdisappear. In fact, they keep existing somewhere else, outliving us mostof the time.”
Vasconcellos cuts out individual shipping containers, trucks, dumpsters, and piles of detritus in a meticulous and time-consuming digital process. He never repeats an element in a composition, and each piece is scaled and situated so that the shadows align with the directionality of the light. He then adds dust and dirt to the surfaces, simultaneously emphasizing the patina of time and an eerie sense of timelessness.
Devoid of people, Vasconcellos’s images nevertheless describe the human predilection to produce, consume, and cast aside. “It’s kind of nonsense, because there are some paths, but you don’t really understand how a person or a car can get in there—or get out,” Vasconcellos says. “It is a possible world, but at the same time, an absurd one.”
Vasconcellos is represented by Nara Roesler Gallery, and you can explore more of his work on his website and Instagram.
“Collective 12: Boats”
“Collective 10: Containers”
“Air Force”
“Collective 7: Metal Scrap”
Detail of “Collective 7: Metal Scrap”
“Collective 9: Scrap Dumpster”
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Thriving Habitats by Stéphanie Kilgast Emerge from Plastic Bottles and Recycled Objects
by Aurelia Butler 23 October 2024, 16:30
“Fitting In (Decorator Crab)” (2024), mixed media on thrifted jewelry box, 8 x 6.75 x 7 inches. All images courtesy of Arch Enemy Arts, shared with permission
Thriving Habitats by Stéphanie Kilgast Emerge from Plastic Bottles and Recycled Objects
October 23, 2024
ArtClimate
Kate Mothes
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From crunched, single-use containers to thrifted boxes and repurposed clocks, Stéphanie Kilgast (previously) devises unique habitats for a wide range of creatures. Fungi takes root along the sides of a green bottle as a beetle crawls over the cap in “Weevil Wander,” for example, and a violet owl alights on the top of a pair of binoculars.
Kilgast’s solo exhibition, LUSCIOUS LEGACY at Arch Enemy Arts, continues the artist’s interest in highlighting the human impact on the environment and the increasingly grim consequences of the climate crisis. Rather than focusing on the darker reality, she adopts an optimistic view of nature’s resilience.
“Weevil Wander” (2024), mixed media on plastic bottle, 6 x 5 x 7.75 inches
“My work touches very contrasting emotions: the joy of color and natural beauty but also the sadness and despair of where we are headed,” Kilgast says. She hopes to aid us in questioning mass consumerism and its resulting trash, which continues to threaten delicate ecosystems worldwide, and adds, “The world is beautiful. It is worth fighting for.”
LUSCIOUS LEGACY runs through October 27 in Philadelphia. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Chi Va Piano” (2024), mixed media on reclaimed clock, 6 x 3 x 4.25 inches
Detail of “Chi Va Piano”
“Stare (Eurasian Eagle Owl)” (2024), mixed media on reclaimed binoculars, 3.5 x 5 x 9.75 inches
Detail of “Weevil Wanderer”
“Glacier” (2024), mixed media on plastic bottle, 4 x 4.25 x 8.75 inches
“Bloom” (2024), mixed media on plastic bottle, 6.75 x 7.75 x 9.75 inches
“Luscious Legacy” (2024), mixed media on milk carton, 7.75 x 3 x 8.75 inches
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Mulyana Transforms Plastic Yarn and Netting into Arresting Ocean Textures
by Aurelia Butler 16 October 2024, 15:33
Photo by Ign Raditya Bramantya. All images courtesy of Mulyana and Sapar Contemporary, shared with permission
Mulyana Transforms Plastic Yarn and Netting into Arresting Ocean Textures
October 16, 2024
ArtClimatePhotography
Kate Mothes
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From thousands of plastic bags, nets, and hanks of yarn, Indonesian artist Mulyana (previously) illuminates the fragility of marine ecosystems.
In his solo exhibition Remembering Our Collective Future at Sapar Contemporary, the artist has incorporated recyclable materials and distilled the palette to white, evoking a symbol of purity and drawing attention to the consequences of human impact on our oceans, such as coral bleaching.
“Betty 21” (2024), plastic yarn, plastic net, and cable wire, 82 5/8 x 76 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches
Curated by John Silvis, the show invites viewers to reflect on the effects of the climate crisis and the critical importance of environmental preservation. Photographs by Ign Raditya Bramantya highlight a living, breathing embodiment of coral as it traverses the city streets, bringing the ocean to daily life.
Mulyana painstakingly twists, knots, and wraps plastic netting, cable wire, and plastic yarn into sculptures and wall hangings resembling coral and cartoonish sea creatures.
Running concurrently at the Charles B. Wang Center at SUNY Stony Brook, an exhibition of the artist’s vibrant yarn works showcases costumes and characters inspired by marine life. Yarnscapes: Mulyana’s Environmental Tapestries presents a playful counterpoint to the monochrome pieces, nevertheless urging us to remember and evaluate our relationship to our oceans.
Remembering Our Collective Future runs from October 22 to November 20 in New York City, coinciding with Yarnscapes in Stony Brook through December 10. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Photo by Ign Raditya Bramantya
Photo by Ign Raditya Bramantya
Detail of “Betty 25” (2024), plastic yarn, plastic net, and cable wire, 74 3/4 x 78 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches
“Betty 28” (2024), plastic yarn, plastic net, and cable wire, 86 5/8 x 86 5/8 x 13 3/4 inches
Photo by Ign Raditya Bramantya
Detail of “Betty 26” (2024), plastic yarn, plastic net, and cable wire, 65 x 51 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches
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In London, a 15-Foot Flower by Shepard Fairey Advocates for Environmental Justice
by Aurelia Butler 11 October 2024, 13:00
All photos by Jonathan Furlong, courtesy of the artist ObeyGiant, shared with permission
In London, a 15-Foot Flower by Shepard Fairey Advocates for Environmental Justice
October 11, 2024
ArtClimateSocial Issues
Grace Ebert
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At 36 Boundary Street in London, a bold new mural rises 15 feet above the street. Anchored by scales atop a small seedling, the public artwork by Shepard Fairey addresses environmental justice and our responsibility to care for the planet.
“I believe that our individual and collective actions will dramatically impact current and future generations, be it for the better or for the worse. It is our responsibility as the citizens of Earth to protect it,” the artist said.
A series of workshops with young Londoners inspired the bright, graphic motif. The group was interested in expanding access to green space and reducing air pollution, and given the recent convening of the United Nations General Assembly focusing on international cooperation, connection between countries and cultures was top of mind.
The project was produced by Charlotte Pyatt, Simon Butler, and Migrate Art, which has raised more than £2.1 million in the last decade through creative projects in refugee camps in France and Northern Iraq, with the Indigenous Xingu people in the Amazon, and in collaboration with U.K.-based charities feeding London’s unhoused population.
Find more from the artist on his website.
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Temporary Interventions by Kobra Convey the Critical Impacts of Increasing Wildfires
by Aurelia Butler 8 October 2024, 15:30
All images courtesy of Kobra, shared with permission
Temporary Interventions by Kobra Convey the Critical Impacts of Increasing Wildfires
October 8, 2024
ArtClimate
Kate Mothes
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Around the world, rising temperatures and ecosystem imbalances due the climate crisis have spurred an increasing number of wildfires annually. Brazil, for example, has seen more than 180,000 hot spots this year as of mid-September, the most since 2010. As deforestation reduces rainfall, a catastrophic cycle of drought and wildfires has only strengthened.
For Eduardo Kobra, the unprecedented number of uncontrolled blazes spurred a new series of artworks drawing attention to this troubling reality. As fires impacted rural and urban areas alike, including the city of Araçariguama—a little more than 30 miles from São Paulo—the artist chose a local area scorched by flames to document a collection of temporary interventions.
Drawing attention to the wildlife and habitats being destroyed, Kobra portrays birds, monkeys, anteaters, and other creatures surrounded by burned forest. In one piece, a firefighter assists a baby jaguar, and in another—a sign of hope—a child waters a sprouting plant.
Kobra is known for his large-scale murals on buildings around the world, which emphasize vibrant portraits and nods to pop culture through characteristically bright, geometric patterns. Using biodegradable materials, his new series of cutout panels uses a relatively smaller scale to address an enormously critical issue.
See more on his website and Instagram.
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climate

More stories

Paradise and Precarity Merge in Jessica Taylor Bellamy’s Paintings of Los Angeles Life

Dinosaurs Overrun a World Post Climate Disaster in Michael Kerbow’s Paintings

Endless Fields of Detritus Blanket Cássio Vasconcellos’s Aerial Composites

Thriving Habitats by Stéphanie Kilgast Emerge from Plastic Bottles and Recycled Objects

Mulyana Transforms Plastic Yarn and Netting into Arresting Ocean Textures

Temporary Interventions by Kobra Convey the Critical Impacts of Increasing Wildfires

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