Florals and Landscapes Redefine Vintage Portraits in Han Cao’s Embroidered ‘Silhouettes’
Art
Craft
#embroidery
#fiber
#found photographs
#Han Cao
#thread
September 6, 2023
Kate Mothes More
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Embroidery Adds Textured Narratives to the Subjects of Flore Gardner’s Stitched Photographs
Art
Craft
History
Photography#embroidery
#found photographs
#threadApril 14, 2022
Grace Ebert More
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Shipping Containers and Intersecting Lines Clutter Landscapes in Mary Iverson’s Paintings on Globalization
Art
#acrylic
#found photographs
#ink
#landscapes
#oil painting
#paintingJanuary 18, 2022Grace Ebert“Calamity at Cairo,” acrylic and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches. All images © Mary Iverson, shared with permissionLatticed lines and brightly colored boxes overlay the chaotically transformed landscapes by Mary Iverson (previously). Based in Seattle, the artist uses a combination of oil and acrylic paints, ink, and found photographs to render shockingly prescient scenes blighted by globalization and environmental disaster: barges and shipping containers float in the sea and haphazardly occupy beaches, with their contents sometimes spilling out onto the surrounding area.The largely natural scenes and the clean, angled lines and geometric forms clash in Iverson’s superimposed works in a manner that evokes the competition of industry. In a note to Colossal, she shares that given the dramatic changes the world has undergone in the last few years, her “paintings are no longer theoretical.” She explains:Because at the same time as the pandemic was unfolding, the super mega-ships were entering the trade system. Everyone was stuck at home and ordering stuff at an unprecedented pace, the demand for goods got very high, the workforce shrank, and everything got backed up, creating “supply chain issues.” We now have actual real sea-level rise, huge apocalyptic fires, and shipping disasters unfolding before our very eyes. We are at the precipice of an apocalypse. The question is, how are we going to deal with it?Often rendered on images of historically and culturally significant sites like Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, and the pyramids of Cairo, Iverson’s works indicate the evolution of human society with a bleak, discouraging perspective. “I look at photos of lost civilizations and think about their hopes, dreams, and ideals, and I wonder what the end will look like for us,” she says.Iverson shares glimpses into her process and works-in-progress on Instagram, and prints of “Calamity at Cairo” are available in the Juxtapoz shop through January 19.“Sunk 2,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Calamity at Crater Lake,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Lost Shipment,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Calamity at Machu Picchu,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Calamity at the Colosseum,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Point Reyes Lighthouse,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches“Calamity at Summit Lake (Mount Rainier),” oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches“Rube Beach with Containers,” oil on canvas“Fleet,” acrylic, ink, and found photograph on panel, 12 x 12 inches
#acrylic
#found photographs
#ink
#landscapes
#oil painting
#paintingDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story More - in Art
Cleverly Collaged Portraits Layer Vintage Ads and Magazine Spreads into Dramatic Daydreams
Art#collage
#found photographs
#humor
#paper
#vintageNovember 18, 2021
Grace Ebert“Did You Ever Really Love Me.” All images © Shane Wheatcroft, shared with permission
With a flair for spectacle and clandestine activities, the perfectly coiffed characters of Shane Wheatcroft’s collages face a deluge of intrigue and drama. The Kent-based artist snips vintage ads and editorial spreads that become the musings of professionally photographed subjects: a woman replays an excruciating party scene, a businessman envisions a wholesome family gathering, and quite a few protagonists imagine scenarios they likely keep covert.
Having worked with the medium for the last five years, Wheatcroft boasts a body of work that includes a broad array of collages, from bold typographic sayings to cheeky compositions that use ad slogans and outmoded headlines to poke fun at social conventions. Surreal and witty, the new portraits feature imagery from periodicals published between 1945 and 1975. They’re spurred by “being a big fan of John Stezaker and buying old movie annuals that had stunning publicity shots of film stars on plain backgrounds. The recent series I’m making is really my attempt to reflect everyday dramas and scenarios through the medium of collage,” he says. “They’re kind of like a hybrid of Dalí’s portrait of Mae West and Coronation Street.”
The main portrait sets the tone for the piece, Wheatcroft tells Colossal, with the background image, furniture, and figures pasted on top. These additional elements compose an abstract representation of a face and generally feature a single eye peering through a television set or frame on the wall. “I’ll often have a song or personal experience in my head that’ll become the theme of the piece,” the artist says. “I can spend hours searching for an image of the right-sized chair or person that will fit. It’s a bit like making a jigsaw puzzle and hunting for the missing pieces.”
Represented by Lilford Gallery in Canterbury, Wheatcroft has been sharing a variety of flat collages and 3D diorama-style pieces—see these layered works up close on Instagram—and he also has a few pieces available for purchase on Artfinder. (via Kottke)“Tough Room”
Left: “Parents Outgrown.” Right: “The Merry Widow”
“You Are My Sunshine”
“RGB”
Left: “Private Eye.” Right: “Notice Me”
“The Gables”#collage
#found photographs
#humor
#paper
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Candid Moments Captured in Vintage Photos Are Magnified in Mohamed L’Ghacham’s Murals
Art
Photography#found photographs
#murals
#public art
#street artApril 13, 2021
Grace Ebert“Confinamiento” (2019), Cheste, Valencia, Spain. All images © Mohamed L’Ghacham, shared with permission
Whether depicting a birthday party or a child’s first steps, the expressive murals by Mohamed L’Ghacham (previously) enlarge sincere, unposed moments into monumental celebrations of everyday life. The Moroccan artist recreates vintage photographs as wall-sized artworks in locations across Europe that portray a woman readying for bed or the chaotic minutes before a family portrait at a massive scale.
L’Ghacham tells Colossal that his relationship to the original images has evolved in recent years from a simple juxtaposition of the site and the quiet, unassuming beauty of the domestic scenes to a more complex understanding. “Those first murals were done in abandoned, demolished places or simply on the outskirts of cities and public spaces. The impact of seeing an image of this type painted with a technique closer to classical painting than graffiti in such spaces created a concept by itself for me,” he says.
Today, the Barcelona-based artist sources reference photographs and home videos from neighbors and city archives to connect more directly with the local culture. While his style is unchanged—L’Ghacham continues to use loose brushstrokes and layers of muted tones to achieve the vintage aesthetic—the streetside works reflect those living nearby. “I think (the murals) can be very symbolic and that many people can feel represented even if they are not necessarily the protagonists portrayed,” he says. “Until now my intention was to pay tribute and give visibility to situations that we all live in and that maybe sometimes we find it hard to value.”
Starting next month, L’Ghacham will be traveling around Europe for a few projects and has a solo exhibition at PDP Gallery slated for this summer, which will be comprised of the smaller paintings he’s been sharing on Instagram.“Pillando el globo” (2019), Mataró, Spain. Done in collaboration with Ivan Floro
“Matança do porco” (2019), Figueiró Dos Vinhos, Portugal
“Indoor II” (2019), Schiedam, Netherlands
“Dormitorio III” (2019), Mantova, Italy
“La Fondue” (2019), Crans-montana, Switzerland
“Family portrait” (2020), Wevelgem, Belgium
“El dormitorio de Aina” (2020), Torrellas, Spain#found photographs
#murals
#public art
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Dozens of Mushroom Characters Populate a Family Tree in Whimsically Painted Photographs by Jana Paleckova
Art
Photography#found photographs
#mushrooms
#oil painting
#paintingMarch 3, 2021
Grace EbertAll images © Jana Paleckova, shared with permission
An affinity for fleshy spores runs in the long line of ancestors laid out in a family tree by Jana Paleckova. The Prague-based artist layers antique photographs with playful oil paintings of spindly enoki or ribbed chanterelle, creating hybrid characters brimming with fungi-fueled personalities. “There are many types of mushrooms, all of which have different characteristics. Just like people,” she says.
In a note to Colossal, Paleckova says she was prompted to start the whimsical project when she was flipping through her family’s atlas of fungi. “Czech people are known mushroom hunters. It’s quite common for families to go out looking for mushrooms together,” she says. This atlas later served as a reference point for the 90 small portraits, which consist of the dozens of vintage photographs that the artist sourced from flea markets, that comprise the sprouted kin.
Paleckova’s body of work features a variety of surreal combinations, like eggheads, human-spider hybrids, and balloons shaped like children, all of which you can find on her site and Instagram.#found photographs
#mushrooms
#oil painting
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Lorna Simpson Photographs Rihanna in an Elegantly Collaged Collaboration for ESSENCE Magazine
Art
Photography#celebrities
#collage
#found photographs
#magazinesJanuary 25, 2021
Grace Ebert“Of Earth & Sky (Blue Cumulus)” (2020), collage and ink on paper. All images © Lorna Simpson, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
An extraordinarily glamorous collaboration graces the pages of ESSENCE’s January/February 2021 issue. The print publication paired acclaimed artist Lorna Simpson and pop icon and businesswoman Rihanna for a striking interpretation of modern beauty.
Within the Of Earth & Sky series are 12 collages and the cover image, which features Rihanna, eyelids coated in bright blue, staring directly at the camera. A diamond collar drapes around her neck, and she’s adorned with a roughly textured crown of crystal derived from 19th-century lithographs.
Many of the superimposed collages feature the Barbados-born singer framed in archival imagery, from star-studded galactic coiffes to bright bursts of watercolor. Others in the collection stray from hairstyle transformations and instead position her against vintage backdrops, including one shot of Rihanna donning an elaborately feathered headdress and lingerie in front of the city skyline.
Brooklyn-based Simpson is known for her kaleidoscopic collages centered on Black women that pull imagery from back issues of Ebony and Jet, a treatment she applies to ESSENCE‘s first-ever commission. The layered works are paired with an essay by the artist’s daughter, actress and model Zora Simpson Casebere, about Rihanna’s lasting influence on her own career. For more of Simpson’s collages that intersect contemporary culture and retro imagery, head to her site. (via Artnet)“Of Earth & Sky (Nebula)” (2020), collage on paper
“Of Earth & Sky (Cover)” (2020), collage on paper
“Earth & Sky #24” (2016), collage on paper
“Of Earth & Sky (Bivalve)” (2020), collage on paper
“Of Earth & Sky (Moving Planets) “(2020), collage on paper
“Of Earth & Sky (Bridge)” (2020), collage on paper#celebrities
#collage
#found photographs
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Surreal Scenes and Pixelation Overlay Vintage Artworks in Hybrid Oil Paintings by André Schulze
Art#found photographs
#oil painting
#painting
#surrealJanuary 20, 2021
Grace EbertAll images courtesy of Paradigm Gallery
André Schulze scours dusty thrift store bins and private advertisements for vintage paintings and photographs created in the first half of the 20th Century. The German artist restores the found artworks and then dramatically alters them by working directly on the canvas, layering each rendering with boldly new scenes: a stodgy bookworm finds himself in a sea of fish, an elderly woman peers out her window only to see a neighboring home ablaze, and a vintage portrait is transformed into a feathered hybrid creature. The surreal additions are steeped in the artist’s distinct wit and humor that expand the decades-old narratives or that shape a rich and complex account within his original non-vintage pieces.
Schulze’s whimsical paintings are included in Salvage, a group exhibition curated by Colossal’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief Christopher Jobson at Paradigm Gallery + Studio in Philadelphia. Examining how artists are revitalizing fragments of tradition and culture that were destined to be lost, relegated to the periphery, or buried forever, Salvage opens on January 22 with a live talk with Jobson, Schulze, Debra Broz (previously), and Yurim Gough—tickets are available on Eventbrite—and runs through February 20.
Explore more of Schulze’s revisionary pieces on Instagram and Singulart.#found photographs
#oil painting
#painting
#surrealDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now!
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