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    Through Fairy Lights and Butterflies, Chiharu Shiota Tethers Presence and Absence

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    “Metamorphosis of Consciousness” (2025), mixed media, dimensions variable. All images courtesy of Red Brick Art Museum

    Through Fairy Lights and Butterflies, Chiharu Shiota Tethers Presence and Absence

    May 22, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    In one of the foundational texts of Taoism, Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou recalls a dream in which he was a butterfly, soaring through the sky with no recollection of his human form. Upon waking, though, he finds himself firmly in a bipedal body, prompting an important question: is he a butterfly dreaming he’s Zhuang Zhou or a man dreaming he’s a butterfly?

    This ancient story of transformation and the thin line between states of mind informs a dazzling new installation by Chiharu Shiota (previously). “Metamorphosis of Consciousness” suspends glimmering lights and faint butterfly wings above an iron-framed twin bed topped with a white blanket and pillow. Rejecting the strict separation between body and mind, Shiota references her belief in the spirit’s ability to endure long after one’s final breath. “While each time we slip into sleep, it is a rehearsal for death—a journey beyond the body,” she says.

    “Metamorphosis of Consciousness” (2025), mixed media, dimensions variable

    Exemplary of the artist’s interest in memory and knowledge, “Metamorphosis of Consciousness” is just one of the immersive works in the monumental exhibition Silent Emptiness at Red Brick Art Museum in Beijing.

    On view through August 31, the show revolves around Shiota’s ongoing explorations into the “presence in absence,” this time extending such inquiries into ideas of emptiness as it relates to Eastern philosophy and enlightenment.

    Included in the exhibtion is an antique Tibetan Buddhist doorway that anchors “Gateway to Silence,” an explosive installation that entwines the elaborately carved wood structure in a dense, criss-crossing labyrinth of string. Red thread, one of the artist’s favored materials, symbolizes relationships. And in this case, it’s an invitation to introspection and finding an awareness of the present moment.

    Metaphorically interlacing art, memory, and faith, Shiota very literally visualizes the intextricable web in which we’re all bound, regardless of geography or era. Pieces like “Echoes of Time” and “Rooted Memories” incorporate materials like soil and large stones, presenting the passage of time as cyclical and the past as always shaping the present.

    Detail of “Gateway to Silence” (2025), antique porch and red wool, dimensions variable

    Born in Osaka, the artist has lived in Berlin for much of her life, and Silent Emptiness also tethers her roots to more global experiences. Shiota likened her understanding of herself to the way salt molecules appear as crystals only after water evaporates. “I was not visible as an individual in Japan,” she says. “Whereas I did not know who I was, what I wanted to do, and what was necessary in the water, I feel that I became an individual and crystal, and understood those things for the first time by coming to Germany.”

    Another example of finding presence in absence, Shiota’s migration and experience of discovery provides an important touchstone for her thinking and practice. She adds, “Absence does not signify disappearance but rather an integration into a vaster universe, re-entering the flow of time and forming new connections with all things.” (via designboom)

    “Gateway to Silence” (2025, antique porch and red wool, dimensions variable

    Detail of “Gateway to Silence” (2025, antique porch and red wool, dimensions variable

    Detail of “Metamorphosis of Consciousness” (2025), mixed media, dimensions variable

    “Rooted Memories” (2025), red rope, boat, and earth, dimensions variable

    “Rooted Memories” (2025), red rope, boat, and earth, dimensions variable

    Detail of “Rooted Memories” (2025), red rope, boat, and earth, dimensions variable

    “Multiple Realities” (2025), mixed media, dimensions variable

    “Echoes of Time” (2025), black yarn and rock, dimensions variable

    “Echoes of Time” (2025), black yarn and rock, dimensions variable

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      Metaphysical Interactions Unfold in Moonassi’s Surreal ‘Mind Illustrations’

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      “Same difference” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 72.7 x 60.6 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission

      Metaphysical Interactions Unfold in Moonassi’s Surreal ‘Mind Illustrations’

      May 12, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Through ink on hanji paper that juxtaposes deep blacks with delicate cross-hatching, surreal scenes unfold in the drawings of Seoul-based artist Moonassi (previously). Through the dramatic use of chiaroscuro and simple yet elegantly delineated faces, hands, and limbs, the artist constructs dreamlike worlds in which figures commune and explore.

      Moonassi’s use of meok, a traditional Korean inkstick ground with water against a stone to produce a liquid, results in a deep black medium achieved through a meditative process. He refers to his work as “mind illustration,” delving into the emotional and psychological bonds between pairs, small groups, and otherworldly surroundings.

      “Meme” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 130.3 x 193.9 centimeters

      Recent pieces like “Same difference” explore dualities like opaqueness and transparency, weight and lightness, and unity and individuality. Moonassi’s compositions are often intrinsically introspective, as the figures interact with others that may or may not be versions of themselves or figments of their own imaginations.

      Repetition and scale play significant roles in the artist’s work, like in “Meme,” in which a central figure crouches onto the ground and gently cups another tiny figure in their hands, who in turn does the same. At some point, it dawns on us that the main figure is also framed by enormous hands, akin to an otherworldly Matryoshka nesting doll. Moonassi’s scenes challenges our senses of perspective, presence, care, and the spiritual world.

      Find more on the artist’s website.

      “Mineral Wait” (2024), ink on Hanji, 76 × 145 centimeters

      “Acrobat IV” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 72.7 x 60.6 centimeters

      “Becoming Nature” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 72.7 x 60.6 centimeters

      “The feeling aligned for us” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 130.3 x 190.4 centimeters

      “Rippled and sparkled” (2024), ink on Hanji, 130.3 x 193.9 centimeters

      “Feeling Kintsugi” (2024), ink and acrylic on Hanji, 72.7 x 60.6 centimeters

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    • 125 Shares169 Views

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      David Surman’s Gestural Paintings Question How We Understand Animal Emotion

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      “Bathers At K’gari” (2024), oil on canvas, 100 x 120 centimeters. All images courtesy of David Surman and Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, shared with permission

      David Surman’s Gestural Paintings Question How We Understand Animal Emotion

      March 7, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      Now based in London, David Surman was raised in a small coastal village in southwest England. The bucolic scenery and access to animals left an indelible impact on the artist, who plumbs his memory and draws on a vast array of art historical references in his paintings.

      Surman’s most recent body of work is on view in his solo exhibition at Rebecca Hassock Art Gallery. In comparison to previous collections, After the Flood is less abstract but similarly gestural, as sweeping brushstrokes delineate a bull’s sinewed musculature or the curled mane of a bashful horse.

      “Clarion Call” (2024), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters

      Interested in the ways we project our experiences and ideologies onto the natural world, Surman renders recognizable subjects in a manner that reflects our tendency to ascribe human emotion and feeling to other species. “I like painting animals because they short-circuit people’s interpretive routines and get them looking at paint without the self-consciousness they might bring to abstract painting,” he said in a 2023 interview, adding:

      The creatures that I paint are caught up in our human problem, which is the separation from the world caused by consciousness. The way in which my animals look at the viewer deliberately sets up a feeling of intensity, perhaps troubled engagement, a kind of accusation or affection. But in every case, the creature possesses a trace or residue of conscious agency.

      In “Old Stew Head,” for example, viewers encounter a deeply troubled fox grasping a limp fish in its jaws. The dog in “Bathers At K’gari” is similarly anxious as it carries a young pup under a bright blue sky.

      After the Flood continues in London through March 29. Find more from the artist on his website and Instagram.

      “Old Stew Head” (2025), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters

      “Icarus And Daedalus” (2024), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters

      “Kelpie Of Loch Ailort” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters

      “The Explorers” (2025), oil on canvas, 100 x 120 centimeters

      “Leo The Lion (Art For Art’s Sake)” (2025), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters

      “Ostracon” (2025), oil on canvas, 160 x 140 centimeters

      “A Frog In An Endless Pond” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters

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    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Lena Guberman’s Emotive Sculptures Call Upon Childhood Social Anxiety

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      All images courtesy of Lena Guberman, shared with permission

      Lena Guberman’s Emotive Sculptures Call Upon Childhood Social Anxiety

      February 12, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

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      For any of us who are shy or anxious about interacting with others in the outside world, we might think of the face we “put on” that enable us to feel less fearful. For Lena Guberman (previously), a recent series of ceramic sculptures titled INS_IDE_OUT delves into her childhood experiences with social anxiety and the uncertainties of the unknown.

      “The mask provides a protective shell and presents a ‘perfect’ appearance to the outside world but fails to stop the fears and emotions from bursting out,” Guberman tells Colossal.

      Each piece is modeled on the same melancholy face of a young, brown-haired girl, with painted and sculpted elements that range from spikes to arrows to a dead bird. Emotionally evocative and sometimes slightly unsettling, her sculptures explore the spectrum of feelings associated with anxiety.

      Guberman is currently planning a project that expands upon her use of ceramics by adding other materials. See more work on her website, Instagram, and Behance.

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    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity

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      “Neo Jomon: Green Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 35 3/8 x 30 1/4 x 28 3/4 inches. Photos by Grace Dodds. All images courtesy of the artist and Ross + Kramer, Gallery, New York, shared with permission

      Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity

      February 6, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      In Japanese philosophy, the concept of Ma emphasizes the relationships between time and space and how moments, intervals, and distance provide the basis for how we experience the world around us. Derived from the word Ma, or “間,” which translates to “pause” or “gap,” the idea of negative space is viewed as a fundamental element of art and architecture.

      For En Iwamura, who lives and works near Kyoto, working from the perspective of Ma forms a significant tenet of his sculpture practice (previously). He examines scale, the sense of one’s surroundings, and comfort in proximity to others. “People constantly read and measure different Ma between themselves, and finding the proper or comfortable Ma between people or places can provide a specific relationship at a given moment,” the artist says in a statement.

      “Neo Jomon: Black/White Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 38 1/4 x 34 5/8 x 29 1/2 inches

      In Mask, Iwamura’s solo exhibition at Ross+Kramer Gallery, he delves into the cultural, conceptual, and symbolic significance of the titular objects. Drawing on childhood memories of visiting the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, where he saw masks from around the world, the artist evokes the sense of mystery he felt upon viewing the works and curiosity about their origins.

      Masks have been used for centuries in cultures all around the globe, predominantly associated with religious ceremonies, funerary customs, festivals, dramatic performances, and other rituals of social importance. We don masks to protect us from inclement weather or to provide a layer of safety in certain sports or recreational activities. In 2020, the mask took on a new significance in the global effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

      Iwamura’s playful, gentle, sometimes wistful ceramic sculptures reference the historical nature of masks while reflecting their role in our contemporary world. “A driving force behind this collection of work is a reconnection to child-like senses of curiosity, wonderment, and creativity,” says an exhibition statement.

      In this exhibition, Iwamura presents numerous sculptures from his ongoing Neo Jomon series, drawing on details characterizing earthenware of the ancient Jōmon culture, which existed in what is modern-day Japan from around 14,000 to 300 B.C.E. The name literally means “cord-marking” after a style of pottery scholars attribute to the period.

      “Neo Jomon: Mask and Eyes” (2024), glazed ceramic, 31 7/8 x 31 7/8 x 28 inches

      Soft forms complement vibrant hues and a variety of textures in Iwamura’s sculptures, which range in size from a little over a foot tall to more than five feet. “To achieve these intricate surfaces, the artist allows his hand-built forms to air dry slightly before drawing various tools across the surface of the clay,” the gallery says. The textures recall rake-like patterns of Buddhist Zen gardens and cord-marking, a technique of pressing a twisted cord into wet clay.

      “While serving as a meditation on parenthood, this series is also an encouragement to reunite with one’s inner child,” the gallery says. Mask continues through March 26 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Neo Jomon: Red Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 46 x 46 1/2 x 31 1/8 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 20 1/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Pink Mask (Beret)” (2024), glazed ceramic, 36 x 40 x 7 1/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 16 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Black Mask (Crack)” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 31 x 31 x 9 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 15 x 9 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches

      “Neo Jomon: Blue Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 23 x 36 x 14 5/8 inches

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    • 113 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment

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      All images courtesy of Reen Barrera, shared with permission

      Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment

      January 23, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Sporting colorful garments and richly patterned faces, Reen Barrera’s doll sculptures (previously) evoke an expressive, make-believe world. Often dressed in striped tops and hand-stitched hoods with animalistic ears, his imaginative Ohlala characters represent the universality of human emotions while emphasizing every individual’s unique qualities.

      Barrera creates the sculptures from wood and patchwork textiles, and he also makes paintings depicting Ohlala figures in pensive moments or expressing a sense of empowerment. Find his work at Art Central Hong Kong in March, and see more on his website and Instagram.

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