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    Detroit’s Heidelberg Project in Wisconsin? Tyree Guyton Transports His Magic

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    ‘Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?’ installation
    view (2025). All images courtesy of the artist and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, shared with permission

    Detroit’s Heidelberg Project in Wisconsin? Tyree Guyton Transports His Magic

    September 29, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    If you were to have visited the 3600 Block of Heidelberg Street in Detroit around 1986, you would have likely encountered a young artist beginning the project of a lifetime. Found object assemblages and painted patterns were quickly transforming a neighborhood that had experienced mass disinvestment, turning grassy lots and abandoned homes into an enclave of creativity.

    Soon, an immersive, vernacular art environment emerged and was at once an amalgamation of everyday materials and what seemed to be a mystical translation from another realm. The creator behind the sprawling installation—which continues today—is artist Tyree Guyton, who dubbed what would become his most famous work in his home neighborhood of McDougall Hunt, The Heidelberg Project.

    Site view of ‘The Heidelberg Project’ (1986–ongoing)

    Spanning nearly four decades and several blocks, the ever-evolving environment has become a destination for tourists and locals alike as Guyton’s spiritual philosophies reach every inch of the property. There’s the iconic polka-dot house, another covered in long paintings of shoes, a collection of portraits on car hoods, and countless sculptures and assemblages that seem to take on a life of their own. Because the works are exposed to the elements, maintenance and upcycling occur regularly at the project, as the artist adds to an existing piece or transforms materials anew.

    Several of Guyton’s standalone works are on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A large-scale presentation of the artist’s decades-long outdoor and studio projects, Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now? is rooted in what the museum describes as “the study of discarded material incorporated into the fabric and structure of a community and the effects on the community.”

    Guyton, on the other hand, is much more abstract, offering the following in a phone conversation from Detroit. “That’s what this show is about, magic. Two plus two equals eight, Heidelbergology…There are people there that have not been here, and I came there to give them a reason to come. It’s an invitation.”

    While exhibiting in a traditional white-cube gallery space, Guyton brings his community focus to Sheboygan. He invited locals to paint his beloved polka dots on the walls, providing a vivid and expressive backdrop for his expansive works. Looming in the entrance is Guyton’s version of Noah’s Ark, composed of crowd-sourced stuffed animals and children’s toys piled high atop a painted fishing boat.

    “Auto World” (1998), mixed media and paint

    Guyton makes an explicit connection to the divine—and Yahweh, in particular—throughout the exhibition and his work, more broadly. He considers The Heidelberg Project to be both a mirror to society and also a conduit to a higher power, one whose messages he translates and shares with anyone who might encounter the work.

    “What I see happening in the world? I put it on those TV sets, put it in a museum, turn it into works of art, to give it back to the public and to say to them, look at what’s happening,” he says. “Like, can we see it? I see it through me.”

    The exhibition also nods to the artist’s own history and his grandfather, Sam Mackey, who first introduced Guyton to art as a child. A collection of Mackey’s drawings made at the end of his life is suspended in a house-shaped structure at the center of the museum. These familial works aren’t typically on view in Detroit and offer special, often-unseen insight into the artist’s background.

    As Guyton and the project’s team prepare for the future, they intend to transfer The Heidelberg Project to the community, who they hope will steward the enormous effort and further invest in the neighborhood. “I’m here to do something that when I die, it’s going to live on,” the artist says. “I believe that what I have done here is so philosophical, it’s teaching me, and I love making mistakes.”

    Site view of ‘The Heidelberg Project’ (1986–ongoing)

    While hoping to secure support for the project, Guyton isn’t precious about his work and easily embraces change. When the exhibition in Sheboygan wraps, for example, the sculptures and paintings that have been so meticulously cared for in a museum setting will be returned outdoors, although they might find themselves in a new spot if the artist filled the previous location with something new.

    In this way, The Heidelberg Project is always in motion, presenting new messages for Guyton to learn and share through a graffiti-covered television set or a collaged work on panel. When asked how he feels a piece is complete, he answers clearly: “My work is finished when I’m dead.”

    See Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now? through February 15, 2026. And while you’re in the area, be sure to check out the truly impeccable environments at the Art Preserve just a few miles away. You can find more about the project on the website and Instagram.

    ‘Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?’ installation view (2025)

    ‘Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?’ installation view (2025)

    ‘Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?’ installation view (2025)

    Site view of ‘The Heidelberg Project’ (1986–ongoing)

    Site view of ‘The Heidelberg Project’ (1986–ongoing)

    Site view of ‘The Heidelberg Project’ (1986–ongoing)

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      ‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues

      by

      Misato Sano, “なるほど！ /  Oh, I see!” (2025), camphor wood and oil paint

      ‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues

      September 22, 2025

      ArtPartner

      Joy Machine

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      “Play between humans and pets, as well as simply spending time peaceably hanging out together, brings joy to all the participants. Surely that is one important meaning of companion species.” –Donna Haraway, ‘Companion Species Manifesto‘

      Companions is a group exhibition celebrating our closest animal friends and colleagues. Featuring works across media by Lola Dupre, Debra Broz, Roberto Benavidez, Misato Sano, William Mophos, and Nicolas V. Sanchez, this show revels in the ways we share our lives with non-human species.

      Debra Broz, “Horse Boxer” and “Boxer Horse” (2025), secondhand ceramic figurines and mixed media

      Each artist translates their furry and feathered subjects in a distinctively human way: Dupre and Broz distort any realistic likeness in favor of surreal, exaggerated amalgamations, while Benavidez translates a small kitten into the celebratory form of a piñata. Sano similarly gouges small pieces of camphor wood to carve a range of expressive pups, which she then paints in oils.

      Although their renderings take a more realistic approach, Sanchez and Mophos utilize substrates embedded within human life, the former gravitating toward the blank pages of a sketchbook and the latter scouring the streets of São Paulo for architectural remnants that become small jagged canvases.

      In this way, these artists present companionship as a bridge between nature and culture. They see their companions as being both of their own making–in that any relationship is influenced and created by both parties– and as independent beings with big personalities all their own.

      Companions opens on September 27, 2025. RSVP to our opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

      Roberto Benavidez, “Medieval Kitten” (2025), paper, paperboard, wire, glue, crepe paper, fallen cat whiskers, 5.5 x 6 x 3 inches

      Lola Dupre, “Geordi” (2025), paper collage, 12 x 16 inches

      William Mophos, “Tom Tom” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragments in an acrylic frame with cement board backing, 16.6 x 21 x 7.5 centimeters

      Nicolas V. Sanchez, “Mariana with lambs” (2018), color ballpoint pen on paper, 5.5 x 10.5 inches

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      Stéphanie Kilgast’s Book ‘Utopia’ Chronicles Ten Years of Vibrant, Post-Apocalyptic Sculptures

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      “LoFi Girl” (2024). All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission

      Stéphanie Kilgast’s Book ‘Utopia’ Chronicles Ten Years of Vibrant, Post-Apocalyptic Sculptures

      September 22, 2025

      ArtBooksNature

      Kate Mothes

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      In Stéphanie Kilgast’s vibrant yet poignant pieces, a speculative future without humans gives rise to unusual relationships. “In my artwork, humanity is absent, leaving behind its legacy of objects, buildings, and trash,” the artist says. She continues:

      Flora and fauna are taking over. Animals, mushrooms, lichens, plants, and corals are inhabiting every nook and cranny, thus creating new habitats. This symbiosis between the object and the growing environment reflects the balance and respect that humanity has lost, and that I symbolically recreate in my work by expressing hope, joy, and the beauty of nature in an explosion of color.

      Kilgast’s lighthearted, vivd, post-apocalytpic sculptures often include objects we tend to find discarded along the side of the road, like aluminum cans or glass bottles. Uncanny habitats also emerge around outmoded items like VHS tapes, portable CD players, or alarm clocks, which people rarely have a need for anymore thanks to smartphones or streaming services.

      “Cycle” (2025)

      The artist has also recently announced a new book, Utopia, which chronicles the last ten years of her work. The volume brings together a decade of sculptures, paintings, and sketchbook pages, complemented by essays and a complete catalogue of her pieces.

      Utopia will print if at least 150 pre-orders are made by October 3. Dibs your copy today via Dashbook. Orders are anticipated to ship in December. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Front view of “Plastic Play” (2022)

      “Alice Following the White Rabbit” (2023)

      “Chemical Candy Dragonfly” (2024)

      “Snapshot” (2024)

      “Moving Pictures” (2024)

      “Copper” (2024)

      Rear view of “Plastic Play” (2022)

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    • 113 Shares199 Views

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      Song Dong’s Monumental Installations Mirror Memories, Globalization, and Impermanence

      by

      “A Quarter” (2021-2024), interactive installation of steel, mirrors, collected daily objects and furniture from different
      households, lighting fixtures, small stools, and carpets. All images © Song Dong, shared with permission

      Song Dong’s Monumental Installations Mirror Memories, Globalization, and Impermanence

      September 5, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Mirrors, lights, and household furnishings converge on a grand scale in the luminous installations of Song Dong. The Chinese artist’s interdisciplinary practice often combines performance, sculpture, painting, video, and calligraphy to summon memories and create monumental immersive experiences.

      Themes of transition and ephemerality often appear in Song’s pieces, like a series of installations and performances in which tabletop constructions reminiscent of metropolitan skylines were constructed from edible treats, dismantled brick by brick—or biscuit by biscuit—as visitors passed by. Playful and saccharine on the surface, these works examine the artist’s own childhood experiences of food scarcity along with themes of ephemerality and globalization.

      “Waste Not” (2009), installation performance, Museum of Modern Art, New York

      “Waste Not” —which was shown initially at Beijing Tokyo Art Projects before being exhibited in major institutions in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Germany—explores related themes of consumption and impermanence. Incorporating more than 10,000 items his mother had accumulated over the course of five decades, the installation-performance became “an act of physical and psychological unpacking,” says Pace Gallery, which represents the artist. Viewers were presented with “a veritable landscape of commodities, ranging from bottle caps, shoes, blankets, toothpaste tubes, metal pots, and toys.”

      Through the use of old wooden windows, bed frames, doors, mirrors, lamps, color-coated glass, porcelain, and other found objects and “daily necessities,” Song composes elaborate, structural installations. These evoke dreamy notions of home, belonging, security, and migration while exploring the relationships between memory and fact, humor and trauma. He culls his materials from the streets of Beijing, sourcing discarded furniture, architectural elements, and quotidian objects.

      “These collaged remnants of people’s homes carry with them the history of a city and the lives of its people,” Pace says. “As viewers are invited to peek inside, they are transformed into voyeurs: imagining their homes, their stories, and perhaps identifying shared experiences, and primed to think of the future.”

      Now on view as part of the vibrant 36th São Paolo Biennial, Song’s work appears among ambitious installations by dozens of artists from around the world. His commissioned piece “Borrow Light” takes the form of a mirrored world brimming with lamps that reflect from every surface, not unlike one of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms.

      “Borrow Light” (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, ‘Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice’ © Levi Fanan / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

      The artist considers the concept of “borrowing” in terms of its inherent temporality. He positions it as something of an ethos for understanding our short time on Earth, whether life’s cycles or even the presence of humans at all over the course of millions of evolutionary years.

      Song draws inspiration “from both a carnival’s house of mirrors and the traditional Chinese feng shui method of using mirrors and windows to expand interior space by ushering in the external world,” says an exhibition statement. “Borrow Light” becomes a participatory experience, where visitors’ movements are reflected and illuminated throughout the space. Chairs and lamps, all lent from private homes, provide places for rest and contemplation.

      “Playing with fluid elements such as light, reflection, and illusion, Song’s installation immerses the audience into an infinite universe, where our images and minds become entwined in a silvery, glowing light,” the biennial says.

      Explore more exhibitions and learn about the artist on Pace Gallery’s website.

      Detail of “Same Bed Different Dreams No. 3.” Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery

      Detail of “Same Bed Different Dreams No. 3.” Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery

      “Borrow Light” (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, ‘Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice’ © Levi Fanan / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

      “Borrow Light” (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, ‘Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice’ © Levi Fanan / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

      Detail of “Same Bed Different Dreams No. 3.” Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery

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    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Yuji Agematsu Arranges Street Debris into Tiny Daily Sculptures

      by

      Installation view of ‘Yuji Agematsu: 2023-2024’ (May 10 to August 30, 2025), 101 Spring Street,
      Judd Foundation, New York. Photo by Timothy Doyon, © Judd Foundation. Art © Yuji
      Agematsu. All images shared with permission

      Yuji Agematsu Arranges Street Debris into Tiny Daily Sculptures

      August 26, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      Each day, Yuji Agematsu takes a walk for the explicit purpose of scouring the streets. The dried leaf, lost toy, and even the wad of gum discarded on a park bench are his treasures, which he retrieves and places in the clear cellophane that wraps a pack of cigarettes. Although Agematsu no longer smokes, this habit of wandering and collecting has been harder to break: he’s been committed to it since 1996.

      Once tucked inside the thin envelope, the artist’s findings become an homage to the beauty of the mundane. He arranges trash and other findings almost like ikebana, using a glass shard or cracked stick to find balance and harmony. Objects others would barely notice are materials that represent the human condition and contemporary concerns. In Agematsu’s eyes, they reveal a whole host of insights about our individual and collective lives.

      “Zip: 11.22.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      Judd Foundation presents two years’ worth of Agematsu’s sculptures in the aptly titled 2023–2024, an exhibition presented at 101 Spring Street in SoHo and Gavin Brown’s home on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. The Spring Street space is the former home and workspace of Donald Judd, a building Agematsu managed for two decades.

      Presented chronologically, each piece is cleverly positioned on a white, aluminum shelf to resemble a monthly calendar. Given the artist’s decades-long dedication, the ongoing project has offered several revelations. As Agematsu told The New York Times earlier this year:

      Found objects have more power. We can see so many varieties of how to change the shape and color. Weather makes change. Also human ego. Because of the chewing gum, I notice that laughing chewing gum, angry chewing gum, are all different. We make a different shape from a different mood.

      While the “zips,” as the artist refers to them, are small—about 3.5 x 2.5 x 2 inches—they have the ability to capture conditions so much bigger than any one person. For example, a rainy spring day might leave a layer of mud and condensation pooling at the bottom of the plastic, while wrappers for particular kinds of candy might indicate the cultural makeup of a neighborhood.

      “Zip: 3.14.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      In this way, the pieces are also a visual diary of what humans control and don’t, and how the innumerable forces impacting our lives appear in even the tiniest remnants.

      2023-2024 is on view through August 30.

      “Zip: 10.25.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      “Zip: 11.10.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      “Zip: 4.19.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      “Zip: 4.3.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      “Zip: 12.7.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      Installation view of ‘Yuji Agematsu: 2023-2024’ (May 10 to August 30, 2025), 101 Spring Street,Judd Foundation, New York. Photo by Timothy Doyon, © Judd Foundation. Art © YujiAgematsu

      “Zip: 11.16.24” (detail), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper, approximately 2 1/4 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Photo by Reggie Shiobara, © Yuji Agematsu

      Installation view of ‘Yuji Agematsu: 2023-2024’ (May 10 to August 30, 2025), 101 Spring Street,Judd Foundation, New York. Photo by Timothy Doyon, © Judd Foundation. Art © YujiAgematsu

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    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Found Objects Hold Puerto Rican Lineage in Adrián Viajero Román’s Layered Portraits

      by

      “Aguas De Libertad” (2012), graphite on wood, cardboard, pastel, 36 x 24 inches. All images courtesy of Adrián Viajero Román, shared with permission

      Found Objects Hold Puerto Rican Lineage in Adrián Viajero Román’s Layered Portraits

      August 13, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      “The objects I use often serve as memory keepers,” says Adrián Viajero Román. “Sometimes they find me—objects with history, decay, or presence—and I build a piece around them. Other times, I begin with a story I want to tell and seek materials that can hold that narrative.”

      Román finds an intuitive balance between object and idea, allowing each to influence the other as he melds two-dimensional portraiture with three-dimensional forms like wooden frames, religious iconography, frayed chicken wire, and even an empty can of Goya black beans. These found—and seemingly mundane—items hold stories that reflect the artist’s ongoing interests: memory, migration, and the genealogies we can trace through the objects that accompany us or that we leave behind.

      “Picking Up The Pieces” (2018), portrait of Maria Kerialys Aldea de Jesus of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, graphite on wood, terry cloth, plastic bottles, newspaper, 24 x 18 inches

      Based between Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, Román frequently reflects on the experience of the Puerto Rican diaspora and the bifurcated way of living that can emerge when people leave their homelands. He’s deeply interested in the correlations between belonging and displacement and how preserving the past is essential to telling honest stories about ourselves and communities.

      The artist’s works often feature children, who appear as both innocent and supremely knowing. Staring at the viewer with serious eyes, these youthful protagonists might be steadfastly engaged in a game or otherwise posed in a way that suggests impermanence. The child in “Picking Up The Pieces,” for example, grasps a white terrycloth towel in her pudgy hand while sitting atop crunched plastic bottles, a precarious seat that will only hold for so long. Román shares:

      The children become physical, dimensional presences, symbols of possibility and resilience that inhabit our space as reminders of hope and imagination… I often depict children because they carry both the innocence of potential and the clarity of truth. In these works, the children aren’t passive. They’re dreaming, resisting, surviving. They become living monuments, carrying the weight of history while pointing us toward the future.

      In his solo exhibition titled Archivos Vivos at The National Puerto Rican Museum in Chicago, the artist presents his mixed-media sculptures and installations as a sort of journey through Puerto Rican identity. As its name suggests, archival imagery and objects appear frequently to illustrate the various influences on this collective experience.

      “Niño Santo” (2011), graphite and charcoal on wood, window frame, wire, rope, iron claw foot

      As part of this exhibition, Román facilitated a pair of workshops that invited community members to reflect on their own experiences and encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and then create either a paper airplane or boat. Participants also responded to a more profound, enduring question: “What does citizenship mean—especially for Puerto Ricans, whose U.S. citizenship was imposed, not chosen?”

      “This workshop came at a time of heightened urgency,” Román says, noting that just days before the gatherings, federal agents visited the museum unannounced. “It was a chilling reminder that our communities are still being surveilled, targeted, and threatened. This is why we must keep telling our stories—why we gather in these spaces to remember, create, and resist.”

      Archivos Vivos is on view through January 17, 2026. A new installation in his Caja De Memoria Viva series will open this October at the National Portrait Gallery, with a replica to follow for Puro Ritmo at the Smithsonian Latino American Museum in April. Until then, keep up with the artist’s work on his website and Instagram.

      “Mi Caridad” (2010), charcoal and graphite on wood, vintage objects (trunk, photos, toys, washboard, and books), 24 x 36 x 24 inches

      “Caja De Memoria Viva II, Sobrevivientes: Digna Quiles” (2018), charcoal on wood, 48 x 49 x 48 inches

      Interior detail of “Caja De Memoria Viva II, Sobrevivientes: Digna Quiles” (2018), charcoal on wood, 48 x 49 x 48 inches

      “Si Yo Sueño,” graphite on wood, vintage suitcase, wood frame, book, twine, wood toy, 17 x 29 x 6 inches

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    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Kirsty Elson’s Spirited Creatures Breathe New Life into Weathered Driftwood

      by

      All images courtesy of Kirsty Elson, shared with permission

      Kirsty Elson’s Spirited Creatures Breathe New Life into Weathered Driftwood

      August 1, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Grace Ebert

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      Wander into Kirsty Elson’s Cornwall studio, and you’ll likely greet a menagerie of creatures alongside scraps of driftwood and rusted bits of metal. Scouring local beaches and embankments, the artist (previously) has an impeccable ability to envision a piglet’s ear or a dog’s snout from a weathered hunk of timber. Once in her studio, quirky characters emerge from scratched and worn materials, their lively personalities shining through the signs of age.

      Elson sells some of her sculptures on her website, and you can follow her work on Instagram.

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    • 138 Shares169 Views

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      In Immersive Mixed-Media Tapestries, Lillian Blades Reflects on Pattern and Presence

      by

      Detail of “Perennial” (2024). Photo by Cydney Maria Rhines. All images courtesy of the artist and SAM, shared with permission

      In Immersive Mixed-Media Tapestries, Lillian Blades Reflects on Pattern and Presence

      June 18, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Reveling in the interplay of light, material, and space, Lillian Blades creates expansive and immersive installations that reflect on how we experience pattern and texture. Through the Veil, now on view at Sarasota Art Museum, marks the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition, bringing together a sweeping array of the Atlanta-based artist’s large-scale works.

      Blades takes a multimedia approach to tapestry, combining fabric, stained glass, wood, acrylic, and found materials to create glimmering surfaces. She suspends some pieces from the ceiling, meandering through the gallery space like mixed-media curtains, while other assemblages hang on the wall. Colored light bounces onto the floor, and the loose latticework casts dramatic shadows onto the surrounding walls.

      “Perennial” (2024)

      “My patchwork veils are wired tapestries of images and texture…I want it to feel complex but simple at the same time,” Blades says. “I want the details and the objects to carry memory and trigger viewers into thinking about their associations with certain patterns and textures.”

      Through the Veil continues in Sarasota through October 26. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Installation view of ‘Through the Veil’ at Sarasota Art Museum

      The artist working in her studio. Photo by Marie Thomas

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    • 163 Shares199 Views

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      Josh Dihle Toys with Reality in His Topographic Paintings Akin to Fever Dreams

      by

      “Moreau/Detrick Reliquary” (2024),
      walnut, paper pulp, plaster, foam, faux fur, found objects, acrylic, and oil on panel, 40.25 x 31 x 13 inches. All images courtesy of Andrew Rafacz, shared with permission

      Josh Dihle Toys with Reality in His Topographic Paintings Akin to Fever Dreams

      June 16, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      “The model railroader is the truest creator: engineer, architect, and master of his own timetable,” reads a statement about Josh Dihle’s feverish exhibition, Basement Arrangement.

      Armed with hundreds of minuscule objects from coral to LEGO, Dihle concocts dreamlike worlds in which figures become topographies and every cavity houses a surprising detail. Peek inside the cheek of “Moreau/Detrick Reliquary,” and find a wooly mammoth with lustrous stones embedded in its wooden tusks. “Confluence” is similar as carved fish jut out of the foam-and-plaster ground alongside trees and palms with widespread fingers.

      Detail of “Confluence” (2025), oil, acrylic, colored pencil, resin, fossils, rocks, LEGO, marbles, beach glass, plastic toys, coral, paper pulp, plaster gauze, foam, cherry, and carved walnut on panel, 57 x 45 x 19 inches

      Evoking model railroads and dollhouses, Dihle’s sculptural paintings incorporate recognizable objects but with an uncanny, if not skewed, perspective. Stretching nearly five feet tall, the large-scale works hang on the wall and draw a contrast between the overall composition, viewed straight on, and the miniature vignettes best taken in at a 90-degree angle. Step back and see an aerial landscape with hills shaped like lips or a sunken nose, while close-up inspection becomes a dizzying hunt for unlikely items tucked into every crevice.

      The exhibition title originates with hermit hobbyists, who seem to come alive when cloistered in worlds of their own making. What appears to outsiders as an escape from reality is, for them, an attempt to organize the chaos and take control, even if in the form of toys and make-believe.

      If you’re in Chicago, see Basement Arrangement at Andrew Rafacz through July 18. Find more from Dihle on his website.

      Detail of “Confluence” (2025), oil, acrylic, colored pencil, resin, fossils, rocks, LEGO, marbles, beach glass, plastic toys, coral, paper pulp, plaster gauze, foam, cherry, and carved walnut on panel, 57 x 45 x 19 inches

      “Moreau/Detrick Reliquary” (2024), walnut, paper pulp, plaster, foam, faux fur, found objects, acrylic, and oil on panel, 40.25 x 31 x 13 inches

      Detail of “Moreau/Detrick Reliquary” (2024), walnut, paper pulp, plaster, foam, faux fur, found objects, acrylic, and oil on panel, 40.25 x 31 x 13 inches

      “Brittle Star” (2025), oil, acrylic, casein, colored pencil, Legos, fossils, rocks, plastic toys, marbles, mosaic tile, buttons, carved walnut, paper pulp, plaster gauze, foam, and plywood on panel, 47 x 21 inches

      “Confluence” (2025), oil, acrylic, colored pencil, resin, fossils, rocks, LEGO, marbles, beach glass, plastic toys, coral, paper pulp, plaster gauze, foam, cherry, and carved walnut on panel, 57 x 45 x 19 inches

      “Sighting” (2025), casein, colored pencil, rocks, fossils, eyeball agate, agate, amber, found objects, plastic toys, mosaic tile, marbles, LEGO, beads, thumb tacks, and beach glass on carved basswood, 18 x 14 x 1.5 inches

      “Falls” (2025), acrylic, turquoise, meteorite, fossil, marble, rocks, plastic toy, paper pulp, plaster gauze, twine, maple, and foam on panel, 42 x 32.5 x 11 inches

      “Radon” (2025), casein, acrylic, resin, turquoise, rocks, LEGO, found jewelry, plastic Micro Machine, fossil, beach glass, and walnut on panel, 13.25 x 10.25 x 1.25 inches

      Detail of “Radon” (2025), casein, acrylic, resin, turquoise, rocks, LEGO, found jewelry, plastic Micro Machine, fossil, beach glass, and walnut on panel, 13.25 x 10.25 x 1.25 inches

      Installation view of ‘Basement Arrangement’

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