home

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares139 Views

    Through Stacks of Laundry and Humble Vessels, Danym Kwon Cherishes the Mundane

    by

    “Dear Moments” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 51 1/4 x 114 1/2 inches. All images courtesy of Hashimoto Contemporary, shared with permission

    Through Stacks of Laundry and Humble Vessels, Danym Kwon Cherishes the Mundane

    August 11, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    For Danym Kwon, the concept of home is mutable. The artist (previously) recently relocated to San Jose from her native Seoul, having spent just a few years back in South Korea before realizing that she longed to return to the Bay Area where she lived while her children were young.

    “I may never have had a place to stay forever. But wherever we were together became a home,” Kwon says about her move and the paintings and sculptures that emerged from the experience. “These works are my way of holding onto that—of cherishing the moments that pass too quickly.”

    “A Message of Comfort” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas in cherry wood foldable frame, 22 1/8 x 33 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches

    On view at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York, Dear Moments presents Kwon’s tender, pastel-hued recollections of family life. Tucked within her signature stacks of laundry are small vignettes of siblings digging in the sand at the beach, a couple wandering through an art museum, and a parent snuggled up in bed with their child and a book. The artist’s vessels are similar, depicting a woman strolling along a candy-colored path or a young boy playing with blocks and a toy car.

    Having worked largely on canvas, she ventures into birch sculpture for this exhibition, plucking the doting characters common within her paintings and presenting them in three dimensions.

    Seemingly mundane, these familial scenes become magical and revered in Kwon’s hands. She beckons viewers into a world where even chores like folding clean clothes offer space for reflection and calm. While we might not treasure such simple moments in the present, Kwon suggests, we should hang on dearly to the small embraces and quiet acts of togetherness that ultimately make us feel at home.

    Dear Moments is on view through August 30. Find more from Kwon on her website and Instagram.

    “Looking together” (2025), acrylic gouache on birch plywood, 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 1 1/8 inches

    “A Still Life of You” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 35 3/4 x 28 5/8 inches

    “Sand, Stories and a Small House” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 17 7/8 x 17 7/8 inches

    “Sunday” (2025), acrylic gouache on birch plywood, 12 1/2 x 21 3/4 x 1 1/8 inches

    “My Favorite Path” (2024), acrylic gouache on canvas, 35 3/4 x 28 5/8 inches

    “Little Reader’s Nest” (2025), acrylic gouache on paper in cherry wood frame, 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches

    Detail of “Dear Moments” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 51 1/4 x 114 1/2 inches

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

    Hide advertising

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

    Receive members-only newsletter

    Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/month

    $75/year

    Explore membership options

    Previous articleNext article More

    More stories

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Homewares and Laundry Take on Lives of Their Own in Tobias Izsó’s Mixed-Media Sculptures

      by

      “#1” (2023) from the series ‘off the cuff,’ textile, foam, horsehair, walnut, lime, oil willow, rattan, and brass, 80 x 70 x 5 centimeters. All photos by Simon Veres. Images courtesy of the artist and Christine König Galerie, shared with permission

      Homewares and Laundry Take on Lives of Their Own in Tobias Izsó’s Mixed-Media Sculptures

      May 28, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Shoelaces, zippers, chairs, and other domestic items adopt unexpected personalities in the uncanny sculptures of Tobias Izsó. Incorporating a wide range of materials, from various woods and paper to leather and textiles, the artist investigates the emotional terrain of private spaces. Izsó depicts sweaters, shoelaces, shirt cuffs, and piles of laundry merging with their surroundings or seemingly possessing minds of their own.

      Christine König Galerie, which represents the artist, exhibited Izsó’s series off the cuff last year in its project space, KOENIG2. The works explore relationships between home, self, and the emotional influence of stuff. Izsó’s work will be on view at Kunstverein Dresden in October, and you can find more on the artist’s Instagram.

      “#8” (2024) from the series ‘off the cuff,’ oak, paperclip, and paper, 15 x 19 x 14 centimeters

      “#6” (2023) from the series ‘off the cuff,’ webbing, leather, stainless steel, bentwood, oak carpet, textile, rattan, veneer, and brass, 170 x 47 x 35 centimeters

      “#3” (2024) from ‘off the cuff,’ beech, walnut, cherry, oak, and elm, 116 x 45 x 43 centimeters

      “#2” (2023), from the series ‘off the cuff,’ rattan, beech, Afrik, walnut, raffia walnut, and raffia, 82 x 60 x 12 centimeters

      “#5” (2024) from the series ‘off the cuff,’ cherry wood, pine wood, leather, and textile, 108 x 30 x 855 centimeters

      “#4” (2024) from the series ‘off the cuff,’ cherry wood and wall anchor, 99 x 42 x 15 centimeters

      Installation view of ‘Off the Cuff’ at KOENIG2 by_robbygreif

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      To ‘Walk the House,’ Do Ho Suh Traverses Memory and Perceptions of Home

      by

      “Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home” (2013-2022), installation view of ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House.’
      All images © Do Ho Suh, courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin
      New York, Seoul, and London, and Victoria
      Miro. Photo by Jai Monaghan/Tate, shared with permission

      To ‘Walk the House,’ Do Ho Suh Traverses Memory and Perceptions of Home

      April 30, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      “Is home a place, a feeling, or an idea?” That’s the lofty yet immanently relatable question at the heart of Do Ho Suh’s major survey open now at Tate Modern. The London-based Korean artist (previously) explores notions of belonging, connection, comfort, security, and familiarity in large-scale installations that replicate his own homes in Seoul, London, and New York, among a range of vibrant multimedia works.

      Suh is known for his use of gossamer fabric to create immersive, monumental installations. In The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, the artist “examines the intricate relationship between architecture, space, the body, and the memories and moments that make us who we are,” the museum says.

      “Nest/s” (2024), installation view of ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’

      Visitors are invited to walk through “Nest/s,” for example, an expansive assemblage of colorful, sheer textile structures that link together to form a passageway or conduit. As the boundaries between interior and exterior are blurred, we’re invited to experience architecture from the perspective of movement and perception, highlighting how all of our interactions with other homes or places are inherently linked.

      Issues around shelter, safety, and community are inextricably tied to how we perceive home, especially when for many around the world, those basic needs are in constant peril or upended without warning. “Suh asks timely questions about the enigma of home, identity, and how we move through and inhabit the world around us,” a statement says.

      The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House continues in London through October 19. Plan your visit on the museum’s website, and follow updates on Suh’s Instagram.

      Detail of “Nest/s.” Photo by Jeon Taeg Su

      “Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul” (2024), installation view of ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’

      Still from “Robin Hood Gardens, Woolmore Street, London E14 0HG” (2018), commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

      “Nest/s” (2024), polyester and stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 centimeters. Photo by Jeon Taeg Su

      Detail of “Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home” (2013-2022), installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia. Photo by Sebastian Mrugalski

      “Home Within Home (1/9 Scale)” (2025), installation view of ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’

      “Nest/s” (2024), installation view of ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Asya Marakulina Sculpts Poignant Ceramic Portraits of Demolished Homes

      by

      All images courtesy of Asya Marakulina, shared with permission

      Asya Marakulina Sculpts Poignant Ceramic Portraits of Demolished Homes

      January 22, 2025

      ArtSocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Prior to the 20th century, apartment buildings and row houses were often built with shared walls between adjoining properties. Intrigued by these aging structures, Vienna-based artist Asya Marakulina began cataloging examples she first noticed on walks around her former home in St. Petersburg, Russia.

      “Since houses in the 19th century were built without gaps between them, when one house is torn down, the neighboring house often bears traces of the demolished one,” Marakulina tells Colossal. These remnants of decor, plumbing, and other signs of human habitation form the basis of her ongoing ceramic series, There Was a Home.

      When Marakulina moved to Vienna, she noticed a similar phenomenon in the remains of older buildings that had been demolished there, too. Fragments of floor still clung to the walls and the outlines of painted or papered rooms were suddenly—somewhat uncomfortably—external. The ease of a warm interior and its associated domesticity was upended.

      “What touches and affects me the most in images of ruined houses are the traces of wallpaper, tiles, and children’s rooms, which suddenly become visible to the entire street,” the artist says, sharing that the sight evokes a deep sadness. “These spaces were never meant to be seen in such a way.”

      Marakulina likens houses to the bodies of living organisms, imbued with emotions, memories, and layered histories. The ceramic cross-sections take on a portrait-like quality, capturing straightforward views of multistory edifices that are simultaneously immediate and intimate. “Maybe that’s why these images captivate me so much because a part of someone’s inner, domestic life is suddenly turned inside-out and put on public display,” she says.

      The houses in There Was a Home are typically drawn from real buildings, photographs of which she captures herself or finds on the internet. Marakulina also considers the impacts of war and is profoundly moved by the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, where thousands of homes have been destroyed and their inhabitants killed or displaced. The half-standing homes simultaneously represent lives lost and the hope of one day being able to rebuild.

      Rather than straightforward copies of the buildings she encounters, Marakulina takes liberties with wall colors, sometimes adding graffiti or words she sees on the streets or derives from the news. She scores the clay to create the textures of tile and concrete or delineate lintels and former doorways. The resulting reliefs become collage-like, merging locations and motifs.

      If you’re in Belgium, you can see the artist’s work in Ceramic Brussels, which opens today and continues through January 26. In London, Marakulina created a site-specific installation for a solo show at The Smallest Gallery in Soho, which continues through mid-February, and later that month, she will exhibit with Vienna Collectors Club. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Art

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

      by

      “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

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      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

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More