Sonya Clark Uses Common Fibers to Weave Together Craft, Community, and Activism
Art
#activism
#books
#hair
#portraits
#sculpture
#Sonya Clark
#textiles
November 13, 2023
Grace Ebert More
hair
Subterms
Latest story
More stories
- in Art
Furry Tendrils and Tufts of Technicolor Hair Erupt Across Shoplifter’s Immersive Installations
Art#hair
#immersive
#installation
#videoSeptember 29, 2021
Grace Ebert
Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, otherwise known as Shoplifter (previously), fittingly describes her immersive environments of hair as “an exploded rainbow.” Cloaking walls with neon fur and hanging tendrils of fuzzy fibers from the ceiling, the artist creates enormous, extravagantly colored landscapes designed to be ruffled and stroked as viewers pass through the cave-like walls and underneath the suspended strands.
In a new interview with Lousianna Channel, Shoplifter recounts her first encounter with the medium as a child in Iceland and her later move to New York, where she’s spent the last 25 years creating kaleidoscopic landscapes brimming with textures. She perpetually gravitates toward vibrant, bold color palettes because of their therapeutic, playful, and ornamental qualities, and although she creates such strikingly manufactured installations, she describes her practice as a form of “hyper-nature… I’m not competing with nature. I just exaggerate and create this abstraction that resembles it but isn’t literal.”
Watch the full interview above to dive deeper into Shoplifter’s inspirations and process, and see an archive of her technicolor creations on Instagram.“Hyperlings” at the Art Gallery of Alberta. All images courtesy of Shoplifter
“Hyperlings” at the Art Gallery of Alberta
“Hyperlings” at the Art Gallery of Alberta
“Hyperlings” at the Art Gallery of Alberta#hair
#immersive
#installation
#videoDo 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
Plants, Hair, and Shadows Obscure Women in Introspective Gouache Paintings
Art#gouache
#hair
#paintingMarch 23, 2021
Grace EbertAll images © Mai Ta, shared with permission
Saigon-based artist Mai Ta veils the subjects of her nuanced paintings with leaves, long locks of hair, splayed hands, and dim lighting. Utilizing muted tones and saturation, she works primarily in gouache to render lone women in domestic settings, creating introspective scenes that question what’s visible. “Obscurity in my work represents my own inability to be confident about who I am,” the artist tells Colossal. “It’s easier to hide behind my hair (shadows, plants, anything) than to honestly express how I really feel.”
Many of the pieces stem from Ta’s background, although she strives to connect her experiences and the viewers’. I Set the Moon on Fire Because She Wouldn’t Wake Up, a series comprised of many of the paintings shown here, was transformative in helping her realize that “exploring my own personal narrative and emotions can be both therapeutic and visually exciting,” she says. “I made work about how my friends’ and (my) rooftop moon-watching sessions moved me. I made work about my own heartbreak. I made work about missing and loving Vietnam.”
Explore a larger collection of Ta’s paintings that examine the relationship between interior emotions and outward expressions on her site and Instagram. (via Juxtapoz)#gouache
#hair
#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
