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

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

    “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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    William Mophos Conjures the Carefree Joys of Childhood on Salvaged Architecture

    Detail of “Quintal da Vovข” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragment, miniatures of mixed materials, acrylic dome with cement board base, 21.6 x 23 x 21 centimeters. All images courtesy of William Morphos, shared with permission

    William Mophos Conjures the Carefree Joys of Childhood on Salvaged Architecture

    June 6, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    The thrills of childhood play are on full display in the miniature works of William Mophos. On salvaged bricks, cracked tiles, and other architectural matter found throughout São Paulo, the Brazilian artist composes mixed-media scenes of a toddler drinking from a water hose or a youngster walking a dog. Intimate in size, the dioramas meld photorealistic portraits in acrylic with sculptural elements like minuscule flip-flops flung off a child’s feet or a red balloon frozen in an acrylic pane.

    Shown here are pieces of Colossal, a series that’s taken shape during the last five years. Marked with age, the materials evoke times passed and conjure a nostalgic, wistful longing for days filled with exploration and imagination. Find much more of Mophos’ work on his website and Instagram.

    “Estou Voando…” (2023), acrylic painting on tile, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 25.5 x 25.5 x 7.5 centimeters

    “Quintal da Vovข” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragment, miniatures of mixed materials, acrylic dome with cement board base, 21.6 x 23 x 21 centimeters

    “Quintal da Vovข” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragment, miniatures of mixed materials, acrylic dome with cement board base, 21.6 x 23 x 21 centimeters

    “Violeta e o Amarelo” (2023), acrylic and miniature painting on tiles, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 29 x 29 x 12.5 centimeters

    Detail of “Violeta e o Amarelo” (2023), acrylic and miniature painting on tiles, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 29 x 29 x 12.5 centimeters

    “Bexiga” (2023), acrylic painting and miniature on a wall fragment, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 24 x 26.8 x 7.5 centimeters

    Detail of “Bexiga” (2023), acrylic painting and miniature on a wall fragment, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 24 x 26.8 x 7.5 centimeters

    “Bento e seu amigo” (2025), acrylic painting on a wooden fragment, miniatures of mixed materials, framed in acrylic with a cementboard background, 33 x 26.5 x 9 centimeters

    Detail “Bento e seu amigo” (2025), acrylic painting on a wooden fragment, miniatures of mixed materials, framed in acrylic with a cementboard background, 33 x 26.5 x 9 centimeters

    “Ligia e o Urso” (2022), acrylic and miniature painting on a clay floor, framed in acrylic and with a cementboard background, 22.6 x 28 x 7.5 centimeters

    “Ibirapuera” (2024), acrylic painting on wooden board, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 32 x 18 x 7.5 centimeters

    “Bem Te Vi” (2024), acrylic painting on tiles, framed in acrylic with a cement board background, 20.3 x 42 x 7.5 centimeters

    “Dia de Chuva” (2023), acrylic painting on floor, framed in acrylic and with a cement board background, 9.3 x 19 x 7.5 centimeters

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    Ubiquitous Objects Transform into Ambient Soundscapes in Zimoun’s Installations

    All images courtesy of Zimoun, shared with permission

    Ubiquitous Objects Transform into Ambient Soundscapes in Zimoun’s Installations

    May 19, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Objects often regarded as fixtures of modern life—cardboard boxes, glass cups, and plastic jugs, to name a few—become generative materials in the soundscapes of Swiss artist Zimoun (previously). Connected to small, direct-current motors, wires and strings strung across installations of these unassuming items rattle and twirl to create continuous, ambient noise.

    Zimoun frequently references the tension between chaos and order in his works, particularly as it relates to the relationship between the individual elements and the larger composition. For a recent project for Rewire in The Hague, for example, the artist tethered piano strings to 24 polyethylene tanks in one room and to 36 water containers in another.

    While the basic construction was the same, the way the vibrating wires interacted with the vessels affected their timbre. “Each of the spaces sounds distinctly different, even though the same principle was applied throughout. Both deep, bass-like sounds and very varied, constantly changing overtones can emerge,” the artist says.

    Exploring the possibilities of such simple materials is at the core of many of Zimoun’s works, as he shifts our perspective on their uses and functionality. Appearing animate, each object becomes an instrument in its own right, as the kinetic, often frenetic, movement of the machines transforms a wood-slatted door or metal barrel into a sonic apparatus.

    It’s worth poking around Zimoun’s Vimeo to explore the breadth of the installations and their subtly varied sounds. The artist has several exhibitions planned for later this year and throughout 2026, so follow the latest on Instagram.

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    Cozy Homes and Woodland Wonders Abound in Julie Liger-Belair’s Collages

    “cottage bubble.” All images courtesy of Julie Liger-Belair, shared with permission

    Cozy Homes and Woodland Wonders Abound in Julie Liger-Belair’s Collages

    December 10, 2024

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    From flowery headdresses to botanical guises to houses perched on the tippy-top of tree stumps, Julie Liger-Belair’s collages (previously) invite us into a whimsical world. In paper and found objects, she dives into personal stories and the emotional connections binding us to nature, place, and a sense of belonging.

    In her Scrappy Blablah series, for example, the artist compiles various cutouts into playful compositions that provide a way of processing external information, coming about “when the paper scraps on my table decide to embody my feelings about the world outside my studio,” she says. “But they also provide the antidote.”

    “Vietnam 1”

    Liger-Belair and her family recently visited Vietnam, spurred by their eldest daughter, who was adopted from the country and hadn’t been back since. New works inspired by the trip include larger collages with painted elements on wood panels, in addition to found objects, vintage photos, and snapshots the artist took on the trip.

    She continues themes of home and comfort through the motif of the house, which often encompasses figures, flowers, patterns, and vines that unfurl beyond their confines. In other compositions, the house shrinks in size, as giant mushrooms and blossoms coexist alongside woodland creatures in fanciful landscapes.

    Liger-Belair has also revisited ideas from earlier assemblage work, making small, three-dimensional pieces in sardine tins and other found boxes. “I have always loved collecting things and using them in pieces,” she tells Colossal. “My experiments with resin and ceramics have also made their way into this series (called) tinned stories, and they are more fun, dreamlike pieces.”

    Find much more on Liger-Belair’s website, Instagram, and Behance.

    “the upside of down” from the ‘tinned stories’ series

    “forest blablah”

    “blablah in the garden”

    “house bubble 14”

    “house bubble 18”

    “mountain landscape” from the ‘tinned stories’ series

    “wide awake,” plus another piece from the studio

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    In Striking Assemblages, Portia Munson Elucidates Societal Constraints on Women

    “Serving Tray #6” (2022), found figurines, string, rope, and serving tray, 29 x 17 1/2 x 18 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography. All images © Portia Munson, courtesy of the artist and P·P·O·W, New York, shared with permission

    In Striking Assemblages, Portia Munson Elucidates Societal Constraints on Women

    November 27, 2024

    ArtSocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    From a vast accumulation of found and readymade consumer products, Portia Munson has created elaborate sculptures and installations for more than three decades that explore the thinly veiled messages and codes embedded in mass-produced objects.

    Based in Catskill, New York, the artist first began working with found consumer items like plastic figures and kitsch in 1989 when she presented an early version of a bright pink assemblage titled “Pink Project: Table” for her MFA thesis exhibition at Rutgers University.

    “Pink Project: Bedroom” (2011-ongoing), found pink plastic and synthetic objects along with salvaged pink bedroom furnishings, 96 x 216 x 120 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    Munson had been collecting pink plastic objects to use as references for paintings, but over time, they began to overtake her studio. “I realized it was a piece unto itself,” she says. “If you have an idea and something you want to express, then you find the medium that’s best going to express those ideas.”

    Pink emerged as a central interest for Munson as she began to interrogate why the color is associated with women, especially babies and young girls. For years, she collected anything that was pink, plastic, and manufactured on a mass scale, often rummaging through knick-knacks at garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets.

    Over time, Munson’s pieces expanded to include immersive environments constructed entirely from a single color, such as the fabric-draped interior of “Garden” or the Pink Project series that continues through works like “Pink Project: Bedroom.”

    “Bound Angel” (2021), found figurines, lamps, candles, string and rope, wedding gowns as tablecloth, extension cords, and oval table, 192 x 68 x 66 inches. Photo by Lance Brewer

    Tables and serving trays provide platforms for Munson’s seemingly jumbled compositions, bundling numerous figurines together with string and rope, like in her Serving Tray series or the large-scale “Bound Angel.”

    “Serving Tray #6,” for example, presents a mix of ceramic and glass representations of women, tethered with string and perched on a silver platter. Munson describes the group of blindfolded, fettered figures as “sacrificial martyrs, inviting the contemplation of what we are being fed as a culture and who ultimately pays for it.”

    Displayed across the entirety of a cloth-covered oval dining table, “Bound Angel” brings together dozens of found white statuettes and lamps, many of which depict angels. Munson has wrapped rope and string around their bodies and faces, emphasizing the constraints society places on women, illuminating struggles that may be hidden in plain sight.

    Detail of “Bound Angel.” Photo by Lance Brewer

    “This piece is one in a series of works that explore how femininity and the female body are portrayed in our culture,” Munson says in a statement. She adds:

    “Bound Angel” reviles the insatiable, consumerist, sexist, and repressive value systems which degrade society. By bringing these objects together, this piece harnesses their collective power, transforming their original function to pacify, sexualize, and infantilize women into one of retaliation, confrontation, and strength.

    “Bound Angel” will be on view at Art Basel Miami Beach in the Meridians area, a sector of the fair dedicated to large-scale installations, sculptures, and performances. The show runs from December 6 to 8, where Munson’s work will be presented by P·P·O·W. Find more on the artist’s website.

    “Pink Project: Bedroom” (2011-ongoing), found pink plastic and synthetic objects along with salvaged pink bedroom furnishings, 96 x 216 x 120 inches. Photo by Daniel Salemi

    Detail of “Pink Project: Bedroom.” Photo by JSP Art Photography

    “Crescent Moon” (2024), found figurines, string, and thread, 26 x 30 x 8 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    “The Garden” (1996), found/recycled manufactured synthetic and plastic floral and garden-related objects with salvaged floral bedroom furnishings, dimensions variable

    Detail of “The Garden”

    “Nightstand” (2021), found figurines, lamps, string and rope, and bedside table, 51 1/2 x 34 x 27 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    “Pink Moon” (2024), found figurines, string, and thread, 18 x 18 x 7 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    Installation view of “Bound Angel” at P·P·O·W. Photo by Lance Brewer

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    Through Monumental Installations of Soap and Stones, Jesse Krimes Interrogates the Prison System

    Apokaluptein:16389067″ (2010–2013), cotton sheets, ink, hair gel, graphite, and gouache, 15 x 40 feet. All images courtesy of Jesse Krimes, Jack Shainman Gallery, and The Met, shared with permission

    Through Monumental Installations of Soap and Stones, Jesse Krimes Interrogates the Prison System

    November 21, 2024

    ArtSocial Issues

    Grace Ebert

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    Around 2009, Jesse Krimes was sent to solitary confinement while awaiting trial for a drug charge. He had recently graduated from Millersville University of Pennsylvania with an art degree and spent his first year inside Fairton Federal Correctional Institution making. “The one thing they could not take away or control was my ability to create,” he says.

    Like many incarcerated artists, Krimes had to forgo the luxuries of a pristine canvas and set of paints. Instead, he had to be resourceful and utilize the few materials available to him. He began transferring mugshots and small photos printed in The New York Times onto wet remnants of soap bars. He then tucked the blurred, inverse portraits into cut-out decks of playing cards glued together with toothpaste, which created a kind of protective casing that allowed him to smuggle the works out of the facility.

    Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards

    The 292 works became “Purgatory,” which considers how we view criminality and references the unwinnable game of living in a carceral society. Having transferred both photos of people sentenced to prison and celebrities like Naomi Campbell and David Letterman, Krimes points to the ways popularized images can exacerbate power imbalances.

    “Purgatory” is currently on view at The Met in Jesse Krimes: Corrections, one of two New York exhibitions of the artist’s work.

    Exploring the role of photography in the criminal justice system, Corrections brings together several of Krimes’ large-scale works, including “Apokaluptein: 16389067.” The 40-foot patchwork mural similarly features imagery taken from newspapers that the artist transferred to 39 prison-issue bedsheets using hair gel. Inverted photographic renderings piece together advertisements, snapshots of global strife, and scenes of life from 2010 to 2013, all overlaid with Krimes’ own drawings.

    The root of apocalypse, apokaluptein is a Greek word translating to “uncover” and “revelation.” Paired with Krimes’ Bureau of Prisons ID number, the title references mass destruction and the mediated view of the world from inside the justice system.

    Detail of “Apokaluptein:16389067” (2010–2013), cotton sheets, ink, hair gel, graphite, and gouache, 15 x 40 feet

    Following his release, Krimes co-founded the Center for Art and Advocacy, which supports artists directly impacted by the justice system, and continues to collaborate with people who are incarcerated, often seeking help in sourcing materials for his work.

    “Naxos,” for example, suspends 9,000 pebbles from prison yards in a vivid installation as a parallel to “Apokaluptein: 16389067” at The Met. And at Jack Shainman Gallery, where Krimes is represented, the artist’s new body of work repurposes clothing gathered from currently and formerly incarcerated people into sweeping tapestries.

    Cells features three abstract works of transferred art historical imagery overlaid with sprawling, network-like embroideries. The webbed pattern is based on microscopic images of cancerous cells, which the artist excised to leave only the healthy tissue intact. By removing these malignancies, he creates an intricate metaphor for the ways the justice system extracts people from society while exploring new pathways toward care and redemption.

    Part of Krimes’ intent for his practice is to pay homage to those inside. “It is an absolute honor to have works that were created in such an austere and traumatic environment on display,” he said about Corrections. “To show these works highlights much more than the work of an individual artist, namely the collective value, creativity, and dignity of the millions of people currently behind prison walls.”

    Cells is on view through December 21 at Jack Shainman Gallery, while Jesse Krimes: Corrections runs through July 13, 2025, at The Met. Find more from Krimes on his website.

    “Unicorn” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, and image transfer, 109 x 105 x 2 3/4 inches

    Detail of “Unicorn” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, and image transfer, 109 x 105 x 2 3/4 inches

    Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards

    Detail of “Purgatory” (2009), soap, ink, and playing cards

    Detail of “Naxos,” installation view of ‘Jesse Krimes: Corrections’

    Detail of “Naxos,” installation view of ‘Jesse Krimes: Corrections’

    “Stag” (2024), used clothing collected from currently and formerly incarcerated people, assorted textiles, embroidery, image transfer, acrylic paint, 82 x 77 x 2 3/4 inches

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

    “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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