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    An Ikebana Artist and His Student Sow an Unconventional Approach to Flower Arranging

    Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves. All photos by Maximilian Geuter, courtesy the artists and Kunstverein München, shared with permission

    An Ikebana Artist and His Student Sow an Unconventional Approach to Flower Arranging

    April 12, 2025

    ArtNature

    Grace Ebert

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    “I want to explode the idea of beautiful ikebana,” says Kosen Ohtsubo, one of the foremost conceptual artists working in the Japanese tradition.

    Since the 1970s, Ohtsubo has been unsettling the ancient art of flower arranging. Incorporating atypical botanicals like cabbage leaves or weaving in unconventional materials like bathtubs and scrap metal, the artist approaches making with the mindset of a jazz musician, a genre he frequently listens to while working. Improvisation and experimentation are at the core, along with an unquenchable desire for the unexpected.

    Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

    An exhibition at Kunstverein München in Munich pairs Ohtsubo with Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham who, after discovering the ikebana icon’s work in a book in 2013, became his student. Titled Flower Planet—which references a sign that hangs outside Ohtsubo’s Tokorozawa home and studio—the show presents various sculptures and installations that invite viewers to consider fragility, decay, and the elusive qualities of beauty and control.

    Given the ephemeral nature of the materials, photography plays an important role in most ikebana practices as it preserves an arrangement long after it has wilted. This exhibition, therefore, pairs images of earlier works with new commissions, including Ohtsubo’s standout orb titled “Linga München.” Nested in a bed of soil and leaves, the large-scale sculpture wraps willow with metal structures and positions a small candle within its center.

    Similarly immersive is “Willow Rain,” which suspends thin branches from the ceiling. Subverting the way we typically encounter fields of growth, the work is one of many in the exhibition that seeds questions about our relationship to the natural world and the limits of human control.

    Flower Planet is on view through April 21. Explore Ohstubo’s vast archive on Instagram.

    Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

    Kosen Ohtsubo, “Willow Rain” (2025), 800 basket willow branches, metal frame

    Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Corruption”

    Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Penny Waking up from a Dream” (2025), carrot, Chinese long bean,reflecting sphere, Japanese woven bamboo basket

    Detail of Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Penny Waking up from a Dream” (2025), carrot, Chinese long bean, reflecting sphere, Japanese woven bamboo basket

    Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

    Kosen Ohtsubo, “怪芋III / Strange Callas III” (2025), Calla lily, willow, custom-designed iron box

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    Wondrous and Mischievous Misfits Populate Rhea Mack’s Bubblegum Daydreams

    All images courtesy of Rhea Mack, shared with permission

    Wondrous and Mischievous Misfits Populate Rhea Mack’s Bubblegum Daydreams

    April 4, 2025

    ArtIllustration

    Grace Ebert

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    On candy-colored paper, Rhea Mack draws a world in which all misfits are welcome. The Massachusetts-based artist lovingly renders curious characters with three heads, flowers growing from their palms, or a penchant for plump, strawberry hats.

    Mack has a soft spot for these strange oddballs who develop organically, often springing from her Sunday morning sessions seemingly on their own accord. “I usually start drawing, and they just kind of develop over a few hours. I sometimes have a certain feeling or pose in mind, but mostly I am just making it up as I go,” she says.

    This intuitive, accommodating attitude influences much of her process, including the decision to draw on pink paper simply “because it made sense,” she says. Mack chooses other materials similarly. “The colored pencil pinks I use in my drawings are very buttery and just feel nice to draw with,” she adds.

    As if emerging from a favorite fairytale—creating a children’s book is on Mack’s mind—the drawings twist common plants and animals like dogs and daisies into surreal fantasies. Each is packed with small moments of intrigue and playful patterns like stripes and dots.

    In one work, for example, a full human skeleton and dozens of single eyes float from a figure’s gaze, while a pink pup leaps overhead. Another features a quintet bound by a rainbow dress, their bulbous, beige coifs fused together like the clouds above.

    Mack’s solo exhibition Massachusetts Dreaming opens next week at Kyst Gallery in Dragor, Denmark, and is on view through May 8. Find prints in her shop, and follow her work on Instagram. (via WePresent)

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    Otherworldly Flowers Emerge from Darkness in Clara Lacy’s Meticulous Graphite Drawings

    “Hypnos.” All images courtesy of Clara Lacy, shared with permission

    Otherworldly Flowers Emerge from Darkness in Clara Lacy’s Meticulous Graphite Drawings

    April 1, 2025

    ArtNature

    Kate Mothes

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    Nature has always been a subject of fascination for Clara Lacy, who roamed the fields and streams around her home in Hampshire when she was young, spurring an interest in studying biology. Art also emerged as a way for her to channel her interest in animals and plants, tapping into the long-held tradition of artists documenting flora and fauna for science.

    As she moved around to different parts of the world, with stints in Hong Kong and Sydney before returning to the U.K., Lacy absorbed each place’s variations in botanical life, weather, and light, inspiring a body of work that reflects on climate change, species loss, and “the need to find balance between humans and nature,” she says.

    “Thanatos”

    The World Has Dropped Its Petals is a series of elaborately detailed graphite drawings illuminating the world of flowers. In heavily contrasted grayscale, the blooms are devoid of the bright colors we typically associate with their petals and foliage, instead highlighted by an array of textures and naturally occurring patterns.

    “I’ve always been drawn to monotone work for its subtle tonal variations, offering a contrast to the bombardment of colour and light around us, all vying for our attention,” Lacy tells Colossal. She was drawn to graphite because its limited palette helps the subject to stand out through contrasts like delicate lines or deep blacks. She’s also interested in how graphite is often overlooked in fine art, classified typically as a sketching material rather than a standalone medium.

    Lacy titles her pieces after characters in Greek myth like Thanatos, the personification of death, and twin brothers Nyx (Night) and Hypnos (Sleep). She uses her own photos for reference, collaging and layering components in Photoshop until she finds an overall composition that resonates. The World Has Dropped Its Petals draws inspiration from stills lifes of the Dutch Golden Age, too, characterized by dark backgrounds from which flowers or fruit appear to pop in brilliance.

    The series is on view through April 13 at James Gorst Architects in London. Lacy has also started working on a new project exploring time and aging, which emphasizes zoomed-in views of flower fragments. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

    “Heimarmene”

    “Helios”

    “Nephele”

    “Selene”

    “Elpis”

    “Nyx”

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    Flowers Entwine Porcelain Animals and Objects in Lizzie Gill’s Surreal Tablescapes

    “Pair of Covered Vases” (2024), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on canvas, 56 x 62 inches. All photos by Jenny Gorman, courtesy of Hesse Flatow, shared with permission

    Flowers Entwine Porcelain Animals and Objects in Lizzie Gill’s Surreal Tablescapes

    March 31, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    “To have something be uncanny, you must first introduce the familiar,” says Lizzie Gill. Likening her compositions to a dining table’s place settings, the artist paints elaborate still lifes that explore the matriarchal lineages and how objects passed down shift in meaning over time.

    The vivid works feature flat backdrops met by boldly striped or floral linens and a menagerie of animals seized by fresh blooms. A marble and dust emulsion, which Gill layers on the acrylic-painted panel with a baker’s piping tool, adds a life-like texture to the petals. She also utilizes an image-transfer process to translate various pieces from her mother’s porcelain collection, further enmeshing her works in domestic traditions.

    “Wedgwood (Nightlines) II” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on panel, 30 x 24 inches

    The still life, Gill says, is her preferred platform for exploring the tenets of Surrealism and what it means to be a steward. In “Lunar Still Life (Avec L’hippopotame),” for example, long stems coil around an animated porcelain seal and hippo rendered in delicate blue and white. “Still Life With Four Cerulean Vessels” is similarly lively as a miniature fox with a vine wrapped around its torso wanders across the tablescape.

    Decorating the vases are unlikely scenes depicting volcanic eruptions, rocket launches, and even a menacing twister ripping across the terrain. Embellishing antique forms with contemporary imagery, the works juxtapose the calm propriety associated with domestic spaces and world-changing, explosive actions generated by both humans and nature.

    Based in Sharon, Connecticut, Gill is currently researching historic textiles for upcoming works, and those shown here are on view in her solo exhibition Paraphernalia through April 26 at Hesse Flatow. Follow the latest on Instagram.

    “Lunar Still Life (Avec L’hippopotame)” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on panel, 30 x 40 inches

    Detail of “Wedgwood (Nightlines) II” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on panel, 30 x 24 inches

    “Still Life With Four Cerulean Vessels” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on canvas, 48 x 40 inches

    “Tea For Two (Avec Le Caniche)” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on canvas, 40 x 48 inches

    “Wedgwood (Nightlines) III” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on panel, 30 x 24 inches

    “Lunar Still Life (Avec le Elephant)” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on canvas, 60 x 80 inches

    “Wedgwood (Nightlines)” (2025), acrylic, image transfer and marble dust emulsion on panel, 30 x 24 inches

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    Krzysztof Grzybacz’s ‘Floral Compositions’ Are Tender Portrayals of Togetherness

    “Yellow, White, Orange, Pink, Blue, Yellow, White” (2025), diptych, oil on canvas, 200 × 320 centimeters. Photos by Bartosz Zalewski. All images courtesy of Krzysztof Grzybacz and Galeria Dawid Radziszewski, Vienna, shared with permission

    Krzysztof Grzybacz’s ‘Floral Compositions’ Are Tender Portrayals of Togetherness

    March 27, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Arranged by size and hue, the blooms in Krzysztof Grzybacz’s large-scale oil paintings appear in comfortable togetherness, each individual’s features amplified by its placement next to those that differ. His Floral Compositions series organizes the flowers against swaths of green fabric, exploring their potent symbolism.

    Grzybacz taps into the age-old tradition of flowers in oil, rendering their petals and stems in vibrant hues that capture their unique outlines and textures. Rooted in still life, his compositions are underpinned by abstraction and the artist’s fascination with layering and perspective.

    “Yellow” (2025), oil on canvas, 200 × 160 centimeters

    The works in Grzybacz’s current solo exhibition at Galeria Dawid Radziszewski also reference the queer community. “Flowers are like people: they pose, search for their own space, and mark out boundaries,” says a statement from the gallery. The artist nods to the role of order and systems, while also emphasizing the importance of celebrating diversity.

    Grouped together in front of textile folds, oblique grids, or distorted human features, the artist invokes the power of alliances through a sense of tenderness, curiosity, and pliability.

    Floral Compositions continues through March 29 in Vienna. Find more on Grzybacz’s website and Instagram.

    “Blue, yellow, orange, white, pink” (2025), oil on canvas, 100 × 80 centimeters

    “Orange, blue, pink, yellow, white, maroon, purple” (2025), oil on canvas, 200 × 160 centimeters

    “White, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Purple” (2025), oil on canvas, 200 × 160 centimeters

    “Blue, White, Yellow, Orange, Pink” (2025), oil on canvas, 100 × 80 centimeters

    “White, maroon, orange, yellow, blue” (2025), oil on canvas, 70 × 60 centimeters

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    Tropical Flowers and Prickly Cacti Leap from Lili Arnold’s Vibrant Block Prints

    “Strelitzia Reginae, a.k.a. Bird of Paradise III.” All images courtesy of Lili Arnold, shared with permission

    Tropical Flowers and Prickly Cacti Leap from Lili Arnold’s Vibrant Block Prints

    March 26, 2025

    ArtIllustrationNature

    Kate Mothes

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    Every year, Lili Arnold’s mother would block-print holiday cards to send to family and friends. When she was old enough to wield a carving tool, Arnold began to make her own, too. But it wasn’t until college, when she took an Intro to Printmaking class, that she became enthralled with the practice’s myriad methods.

    Block printing specifically captured Arnold’s attention because of its relatively simple components and technique—no giant presses required. The block can expand in scale, incorporate different colors, or be layered with numerous pressings.

    “Strelitzia Reginae, a.k.a. Bird of Paradise”

    “I think what I love most about the process is seeing my first print after so many hours of sketching, planning, carving, and troubleshooting,” Arnold tells Colossal. “There’s a lot of thought and time invested in the steps before the actual print becomes real, so when I see that first reveal, it’s both terrifying and thrilling.”

    Arnold’s compositions often revolve around natural subjects, especially botanicals like cacti and tropical flowers. She is fascinated by the environment’s infinite interaction of colors, textures, patterns, and symmetry.

    “There’s such vast diversity of plant life out there, each ecosystem encapsulating unique details and wonders,” she says. “We as artists and botanical patrons have the pleasure of translating and expressing our appreciation of this beauty through our artwork, writing, gardening, exploring, and beyond.”

    Follow updates on Arnold’s Instagram, and browse prints available for purchase in her shop.

    “Zantedeschia Albomaculata, a.k.a. Spotted Calla Lily III”

    “Palm Study III”

    “Emergence of Spring”

    “Opuntia Ficus-Indica, a.k.a. Prickly Pear”

    Blocks ready for printing

    Pulling “Opuntia Ficus-Indica, a.k.a. Prickly Pear”

    Block for “Banksia Prolata”

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    Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

    “Flowers in a Glass Vase” (1704), oil on canvas, 33 × 26 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts. All images shared with permission

    Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

    March 11, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Many of us are familiar with titans of the Dutch Golden Age like Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and more. Yet fewer of us have probably heard of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), renowned during her lifetime for her original style but under-acknowledged through the centuries in the canon of Western art history.

    Co-organized by the Toledo Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, the first major U.S. exhibition of the artist’s work, Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art, introduces audiences to the breadth of her remarkable paintings.

    “Posy of Flowers, with a Beetle, on a Stone Ledge” (1741), oil on canvas, 7 7/8 × 9 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of Kunstmuseum Basel

    During her seven-decade career, Ruysch was the first woman admitted to the Confrerie Pictura, The Hague painters’ society, and she was appointed court painter in Düsseldorf to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. She rose to become one of the highest-paid artists of her day. In a foreword for the exhibition catalog, the directors explain that “Ruysch achieved fame across Europe in her lifetime, but her oeuvre was little studied by art historians in subsequent centuries. She has never been the subject of a major exhibition—until now.”

    Art historians consider Ruysch to be among the most talented still life artists of the era, and by the time she died at 86, she had produced hundreds of paintings. Nature into Art includes more than 90 international loans, including 48 of her most significant works.

    The artist was born in The Hague, The Netherlands, to parents with backgrounds in science and design. Her father was a professor of botany and anatomy, and her mother was the daughter of an architect. The artist began painting when she was around 15, copying flower and insect specimens from her father’s collection.

    As her artistic faculty grew, Ruysch taught her father and her sister Anna how to paint. She merged modern scientific observation with an incredible aptitude for capturing light, composition, and form, and she typically dated her paintings when she signed them, giving art historians a clear record of stylistic shifts and subject matter over time.

    “Flowers and Fruit in a Forest” (1714), oil on canvas, 38 × 48 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of Städtische Kunstsammlungen & Museen Augsburg

    Ruysch’s success during her lifetime is attributed to both her unmistakable talent and the 17th-century Dutch fondness for flowers and gardening. Still life paintings of floral arrangements and tables heaping with food highlighted the beauty of nature and the gifts of plenty. The vanitas genre also sprung from the style, interpreting memento mori, Latin for “remember you must die,” into subtle, well-versed visual cues.

    Motifs like skulls, insects, rotting fruit, or wilting flowers were symbolic reminders of the futility of pleasure, power, or wealth after death. For example, in Ruysch’s “Posy of Flowers, with a Beetle, on a Stone Ledge,” beetles and flies crawl over a spray of peonies and wildflowers that will soon wilt, and water droplets signify purity and the fleetingness of life.

    Nature into Art runs from April 12 to July 17 in Toledo, traveling on to Boston afterward, where it opens on August 23.

    “Flowers” (1715), oil on canvas, 29 2/3 × 23 3/4 inches. Photo by Photo: Nicole Wilhelms, courtesy of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen—Alte Pinakothek Munich

    Illustration from ‘Observations of a Surinam Toad,’ graphite on paper, 8 x 11 in. Image © The Royal Society, London

    Anna Ruysch (Dutch, active from 1685, died after 1741), “A Still Life of Flowers on a Marble Table Ledge” (1685), oil on canvas, 13 × 11 3/4 inches. Photo by Erin Croxton, courtesy of a private collection and Birmingham Museum of Art

    “Flower Still Life” (about 1716-20), oil on canvas, 29 3/4 × 23 7/8 inches. Image courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art

    Rachel Ruysch and Michiel van Musscher (Dutch, 1645–1705), “Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750)” (1692), oil on canvas, 30 × 25 inches. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns

    “American Crow” (2025),
    acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. All images courtesy of Vasilisa Romanenko and Arch Enemy Arts, shared with permission

    Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns

    March 11, 2025

    ArtNature

    Grace Ebert

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    Beauty and nature’s resilience are at the core of Vasilisa Romanenko’s work. The Connecticut-based artist paints faithful depictions of common yet dignified birds amid clusters of fruits and flowers, exploring the power of opulence in times of upheaval.

    A stately crow poses amid rust-colored roses, a great blue heron poses amid clusters of tangerines and lilies, and a small warbler perches amid pink poppies. Referencing the defiantly decorative works of English textile designer William Morris (1834–1896), Romanenko embraces the entrancing nature of decadent patterns.

    “Great Blue Heron” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 inches

    “I want my work to feel like an escape from everyday life, like taking a moment to be still and appreciate nature,” she says about her solo exhibition, BIRDS & BLOOMS, at Arch Enemy Arts. Enveloped by flora at full bloom, the winged subjects exude a sense of calm and strength as they perch and prepare for their next flight.

    BIRDS & BLOOMS is on view through March 30 in Philadelphia. Find more from Romanenko on her website and Instagram.

    “Northern Mockingbird” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14 inches

    “Black-capped Chickadee” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 5 x 7 inches

    “Orange-crowned Warbler” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 5 x 7 inches

    “Dark-eyed Juncos” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 inches

    “Palm Warbler” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches

    “Brewer’s Blackbird” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 inches

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