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    ‘Level Up’ by GAFFA Transports Us to an Uncanny Parking Garage

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    Installation view of ‘Level Up.’ Photos by Ladina Bischof. All images courtesy of GAFFA and Kunsthalle Arbon, shared with permission

    ‘Level Up’ by GAFFA Transports Us to an Uncanny Parking Garage

    May 12, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    When you think of an orange safety cone, you might imagine rows of the small reflective objects placed around temporarily parked vehicles or, say, next to potholes. But a stroll through GAFFA’s recent exhibition, Level Up at Kunsthalle Arbon, and the everyday sight took the form of an unmissably imposing, monumental structure.

    GAFFA is a collective founded nine years ago by Wanja Harb, Linus Lutz, Dario Forlin, and Lucian Kunz. Through a signature blend of humor, irony, and an interdisciplinary approach involving zines, collages, photography, sculpture, and installation, the group challenges our perceptions of physical space, history, and society.

    In their sometimes absurd installations, GAFFA often brings the outdoors in, like importing a beach chair and umbrella into a concrete room or constructing an enormous brown slug that slid across a gallery floor. In Level Up, traffic serves as the primary focus—both its symbols and the fine line between regulation and chaos.

    GAFFA transformed the Swiss art gallery into a parking garage containing an extra-long stretch limo, an entry ticket, orange cone, and double-arrow directional sign. We don’t know to whom the car belongs or where they are.

    Viewers are transported into a kind of Alice in Wonderland experience where the scale of everything feels befuddling and incongruent. The car, though life-size, is made of cardboard, and the yellow sign is an oil painting.

    “Underground garages and parking garages are places we usually only notice in passing,” the gallery says in a statement. “They are purpose-built ‘non-places’ to which hardly anyone pays attention, yet they have their own aesthetics: the strict geometry of the parking spaces, the rhythmic movement of the barriers, the seemingly random arrangement of the holes on a parking ticket.”

    Anyone who has driven into a large garage knows the anxieties of a gate not opening when it’s supposed to or the ticket machine not working. Within the large yet controlled space of the Kunsthalle Arbon, Level Up begged the question: how does one get out of here? Explore more on the collective’s website.

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      Nøne Futbol Club’s ‘Hot Wheels’ Drive at the Dualities of Systems and Society

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      Detail of “Work n°144 : Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), charred plane wood, 59 x 59 x 21 centimeters each. All images © ADAGP, Paris, 2025, courtesy of Nøne Futbol Club, shared with permission

      Nøne Futbol Club’s ‘Hot Wheels’ Drive at the Dualities of Systems and Society

      February 13, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Combining sculpture and performative interventions, Nøne Futbol Club—sometimes referred to as Nonefutbolclub—expresses conceptual messages through ephemeral objects and time-based actions. The name is the alias of Colas Claisse, who co-founded the project as a collective but now works solo under the moniker. The initiative continues to delve into potent dichotomies like tragedy and humor, vulnerability and security, disruption and calm, and politics and fiction. 

      “Nøne Futbol Club’s work may sometimes make you smile, but it can also be serious,” says a statement. “It highlights the violence inherent in our world, where speed and productivity are seen as all-powerful.” The artist describes the project’s role as one that “takes hold of our immediate environment,” expressing social divides and examining socio-political issues with a spark of wry humor.

      Installation view of “Work n°144 : Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), charred plane wood, 59 x 59 x 21 centimeters each

      An ongoing series of sculptures assume the form of tires fashioned from wooden rings. Scorched with fire, the series Wheeling and dealing includes multimedia works all titled “Work nº144: Hot Wheels.” The pieces appear in the guise of Cooper or Pirelli racing tires, yet upon closer inspection, they reveal their surprising composition. Layered meanings emerge through the flames, which initially create, and in some cases destroy, the works.

      Each life-size wooden object is made from sliced tree trunks that have been carbonized, producing the rich, black texture and facets redolent of treads. “Since a tree does not grow from its core but from the periphery of its trunk, the cracks resulting from combustion are created concentrically,” the artist says, describing how the resulting patterns mimic brand new, rubber car tires.

      A double entendre in the sense that the sculptures refer to the American toy brand of the same name and the literal temperature of the pieces as they burn, the artist plays with perception by creating a material that pretends to be another.

      Nøne Futbol Club continues to revel in this subtle deception, trapping the spectator in the simulacrum: “Subjected to form but destroying function, Wheeling and dealing introduces the silent unease of a double game: real tire or wood? Voluntary combustion or fatal car accident?”

      Detail of “Work n°144 : Hot Wheels”

      The series also spawns drawings made from charcoal chipped off of the sculptures when handled. Video works, such as the half-hour piece included below, chronicle the tires’ destruction in atmospheric landscapes. Bespoke molds cast tire shapes in plaster, aluminum, and—coming full circle—rubber. And later pieces incorporate puddles of metal underneath the tires, symbolizing overheating as the rims melt and serve as a display pedestal. Literally and figuratively a loop, the pieces define the cyclical nature of much of Nøne Futbol Club’s practice.

      The artist describes his approach as a “systematic hijacking or reversal of the system,” tapping into the powerful symbolism of objects that are burned or smashed amidst revolt. “Faced with a sense of powerlessness, car vandals and rioters seek an accessible way to convey a radical message,” he says. “As the embodiment of a comfortable and cushioned system, the car is a perfect target.”

      Nøne Futbol Club is slated to show work at Iconoscope Gallery in May in Montpellier and at MacBar in September in Lyon. Find more on his website and Instagram.

      “Work nº144: Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), burnt wood on paper, 100 x 77 centimeters

      “Work n°144 : Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), charred plane wood, 59 x 59 x 21 centimeters each

      “Work n°144 : Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), charred plane wood, 59 x 59 x 21 centimeters

      “Work nº144: Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), burnt wood on paper, 100 x 77 centimeters

      Still from “Work nº144: Hot wheels (Dompcevrin I)” (2017), video, 18 minutes, 23 seconds

      “Work nº144: Hot Wheels” from the series ‘Wheeling and dealing’ (2017), burnt wood, 28 x 82 x 103 centimeters

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    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Join Us for a Colossal x Joy Machine Workshop with Peter Frederiksen

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      “Not Taking Any Chances” (2022), freehand machine embroidery on linen, 8 x 6 inches

      Join Us for a Colossal x Joy Machine Workshop with Peter Frederiksen

      February 11, 2025

      ArtColossalWorkshops

      Grace Ebert

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      We’re excited to share that we’re hosting an embroidery workshop next month with Chicago-based artist Peter Frederiksen. Join us at Joy Machine on March 2 for Frederiksen’s signature Stitch Circle.

      The three-hour workshop will unpack his unique approach to image-making and teach the basics of embroidery. All skill levels are welcome.

      This workshop coincides with Joy Machine’s inaugural exhibition, Light Preserver, which features Frederiksen’s embroideries alongside works by eight artists who cultivate and ritualize joy.

      There are only a handful of tickets left, so get yours before they sell out. And if you’re a Colossal Member, don’t forget to use the discount code in your account for $5 off.

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    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      A Provocative Photography Exhibition Invites You to Experience ‘Chromotherapia’

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      Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, “Toiiletpaper.” Image courtesy of ‘Toiletpaper.’

      A Provocative Photography Exhibition Invites You to Experience ‘Chromotherapia’

      January 28, 2025

      ArtBooksPhotography

      Kate Mothes

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      In the world of photography, the color image has long held an inferior reputation to black-and-white, which connoisseurs historically deemed to be more dignified. Today, vibrant images are embraced in a wide range of fields, from fine art and fashion to advertising and journalism.

      Championing the potential of the medium, artist Maurizio Cattelan and French Academy in Rome—Villa Medici director Sam Stourdzé curated Chromotherapia: The Feel-Good Color Photography.

      Martin Parr, “Common Sense.” Image © Magnum Photos

      Color therapy, though deemed a pseudoscience, has its roots in color theory, which focuses on interactions between hues and how they affect our moods and emotions.

      Cattelan and Stourdzé emphasize ebullient hyperreality, humor, and the absurd through works like Juno Calypso’s “Chicken Dogs,” in which an anonymous figure lies face-down next to a can of hot dogs, or Walter Candoha’s expressive pets. And in “Toiletpaper,” by Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, who co-founded a magazine of the same name in 2010, a man sits on a tan couch, wearing a matching suit, covered in spaghetti.

      In total, twenty artists explore a range of approaches in the exhibition, from portraits of people and animals to food and uncanny tableaux. “Many have freed themselves from the documentary function of the photographic medium to explore the common roots of the image and the imaginary, flirting with pop art, surrealism, bling, kitsch, and the baroque,” says a statement.

      Chromotherapia opens February 28 and continues through June 9 in Rome, and an accompanying catalogue published by Damiani is slated for release in March in the U.K. and May in the U.S. Pre-order your copy in the Colossal Shop.

      Cover of ‘Chromotherapia’ (2025). Featured image by Walter Chandoha, “New Jersey” (1962). Image ©️ Walter Chandoha Archive

      Juno Calypso, “Chicken Dogs” (2015), archival pigment print. Image © Courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting

      William Wegman, “Ski Patrol” (2017). Image courtesy of Galerie George-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois

      The back cover of Damiani’s catalogue for the exhibition ‘Chromotherapia: The Feel-Good Color Photography,’ featuring a photo by Walter Chandoha

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    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Uncanny Objects by Joyce Lin Blur Distinctions Between Reality and the Fantastical

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      “Fir Mignon” (2023), wood, epoxy clay, oil paint, 8.75 x 8.75 x 3 inches. All images courtesy of Joyce Lin, shared with permission

      Uncanny Objects by Joyce Lin Blur Distinctions Between Reality and the Fantastical

      January 21, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      Whether enclosed in clear acrylic or seemingly sliced from a single tree, Joyce Lin’s sculptures examine themes of interconnectedness and the Anthropocene, which describes our planet’s most recent epoch and the way humans significantly impact its ecosystems and climate.

      “I am both disturbed and captivated by the paradoxes of industrialized society,” Lin says in a statement, “where modes of production and disposal are often obscured to the public, yet people have more technology than ever to make their imagined worlds a reality.”

      “Wood Chair in Fir” (2024), oil paint, epoxy clay, plywood, MDF, and wood, 16.5 x 16.25 x 34.75 inches

      Lin’s uncanny pieces meld form and function, taking the recognizable shapes of furniture and food and transforming them into playful meditations on mass production and consumption. She often uses organic materials like wood, augmenting the surfaces with synthetic mediums like epoxy, resin, and oil paint to preserve their appearance in perpetuity. Some works, like the Wooden Chair series, are entirely composed of engineered materials.

      “I love to dissect and understand things, and my works often feature objects—usually a chair—sliced open to expose an inner structure; to express an inner truth, so to speak,” Lin tells Colossal. She manipulates the structures extensively, blurring the reality of what she describes as the “insides” and the “outsides,” so the composition takes on a fantastical quality.

      “I don’t think they’re so convincing when you really zoom in, so it’s interesting to see people assume they’re somehow grown or AI-generated, even though they take an incredible amount of manual labor and time to create,” Linn adds. “I often think about distortions in our perception of reality, (which is) probably why people keep sending me those is-it-cake videos.”

      The artist is currently working toward a solo exhibition later this year at R & Company, and you can explore more on her website and Instagram.

      “Exploded Chair” (2019), maple and acrylic, 16 x 16 x 35 inches

      “Woodnanas” (2024) wood, steel, polyester resin, and epoxy clay

      “Wood Chair in Ash” (2024), oil paint, epoxy clay, plywood, MDF, and wood. Beetles: epoxy, wire, 16.5 x 16.25 x 34.75 inches

      Detail of “Wood Chair in Ash”

      “Root Chair” (2023), found driftwood and walnut stain, 29 x 30 x 34 inches

      “Wood Stool”

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    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      The Dog Did It! Stephen Morrison’s Trompe-l’œils Brim with Canine Character

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      “Housework Won’t Kill You, But Why Take a Chance” (2024), oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches. All images courtesy of Stephen Morrison and Hashimoto Contemporary, shared with permission

      The Dog Did It! Stephen Morrison’s Trompe-l’œils Brim with Canine Character

      January 16, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      To say that Stephen Morrison’s work is inspired by dogs would be an understatement. Through sculptural assemblages and paintings of puppy faces tucked in foliage or morphing from household items, Morrison evokes the timeless love for our pets.

      “I think I’ve always been a bit of a hedonist and kind of set up to love the life of a dog, of doing whatever you want when you want to do it,” Morrison recently told Hyperallergic in an interview. “That’s why making work with dogs feels so natural because it’s deeply a part of my character.”

      “Every Direction at Once” (2025), oil on panel, 20 x 16 inches

      Morrison also draws inspiration from his beloved pit bull mix, Tilly, who was the ring bearer at his wedding and died three years ago. Her curious visage lives on in the artist’s idiosyncratic compositions, bringing expressive life to everything from birdhouses to table lamps.

      In the artist’s forthcoming solo exhibition at Hashimoto Contemporary, Morrison continues to channel canine personalities in Dog Show #4: House Broken.

      Trompe-l’œil paintings portray the supports on the backs of canvases, teeming with botanicals, stuffed animals, magazine clippings, and fruit. Likewise, a series of sculptures made from epoxy clay, resin, paper, and oil paint appear like assemblages of seemingly disparate items.

      In “Clump Spirit #5 (Study),” for example, a puppy’s face emerges from the front of a violin hanging from a hook, and “Clump Spirit #1 (Living Room)” displays a happy dog on a TV screen, stacked high with other objects that also feature distinctive eyes and snouts. Everything appears in a state of joyful yet barely contained disarray.

      “Clump Spirit #1 (Living Room)” (2024), television, silicone, textile, resin, and epoxy clay, 12 x 21 x 12 inches

      “This show reflects on the chaotic messiness of home life, inspired by the lively and dysfunctional environment I grew up in,” Morrison says. “Our house was filled with dancing, yelling, slapdash crafting, and a constant swirl of half-finished projects. Amid all the noise, there was an odd harmony—moments where the chaos seemed to hum along just right, as if disorder itself had a rhythm.”

      Dog Show #4: House Broken runs from January 18 to February 8 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Build a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul” (2024), oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

      “Clump Spirit #4 (Study)” (2025), epoxy clay, paper, resin, and oil paint, 26 x 10 x 5 1/2 inches

      “The Council of Plastic Limbs” (2025), oil on panel, 24 x 36 inches

      “Clump Spirit #3 (Bedroom)” (2025), epoxy clay and oil paint, 15 x 8 x 7 inches

      “Thank You for Your Business” (2025), oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches

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    • 125 Shares189 Views

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      Bruno Pontiroli’s Absurd Portraits Highlight Quirky Behavior and Zoological Buffoonery

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      “Les enjambées sauvages II” (2024), 100 x 81 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Corey Helford Gallery, shared with permission

      Bruno Pontiroli’s Absurd Portraits Highlight Quirky Behavior and Zoological Buffoonery

      October 28, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      You’ve probably heard expressions like “going around in circles” or “running like a rabbit,” but chances are you haven’t pictured them quite like Bruno Pontiroli’s scenes of zoological mayhem.

      In oil paintings that nod to 19th-century wildlife illustrations, Lyon-based artist (previously) evokes common phrases like “la vie en rose,” akin to the English saying: “to see life through rose-colored glasses.” And in “Le conflit intérieur,” or “interior conflict,” a tiger and a grizzly bear duke it out despite being joined together.

      “Le conflit intérieur” (2024), 100 x 81 centimeters

      Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques, Pontiroli’s solo show opening soon at Corey Helford Gallery, highlights the artist’s continued fascination with defying natural order. His compositions fuse animals into single beings, add absurdly long legs, or extend numerous extra appendages from a single creature to illustrate the often farcical quirks of human behavior.

      Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques runs from November 2 to December 7 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Copains comme cochons” (2024), 50 x 60 centimeters

      “La vie en rose” (2024), 61 x 46 centimeters

      “Portrait d’un tocard” (2024), 60 x 81 centimeters

      “Tourner en rond” (2024), 50 x 40 centimeters

      “Courir comme un lapin” (2024), 30 x 40 centimeters

      “Le pli de génie II” (2024), 97 x 78 centimeters

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    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Dressed to the Canines: Helga Stentzel Styles Playful Clothesline Illusions

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      All images courtesy of Helga Stentzel, shared with permission

      Dressed to the Canines: Helga Stentzel Styles Playful Clothesline Illusions

      October 25, 2024

      ArtPhotography

      Grace Ebert

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      The cat’s pajamas take on new meaning in Helga Stentzel’s fashionable menagerie. Working in what she calls “household surrealism,” the London-based artist styles cheeky illusions from socks, sweatshirts, and even onesies that, once draped over a washline, appear like a cow grazing in a pasture or a sloth hanging lazily from a branch. Her latest projects roam from the snowy mountains of Austria to the River Thames to the brightly colored buildings of the island city of Burano in the Venetian Lagoon.

      Stentzel is currently collaborating with Portmanteau, a Helsinki-based performance company on a production with her chic compositions. She has select prints available in her shop, and keep an eye on Instagram for new clothesline creatures.

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    • 138 Shares179 Views

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      In ‘Hidden Portraits,’ Volker Hermes Reimagines Historical Figures in Overwhelming Frippery

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      “Hidden van Mierevelt IV” (2022), from “Portrait of a Man in a White Frill” (1620s) by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt

      In ‘Hidden Portraits,’ Volker Hermes Reimagines Historical Figures in Overwhelming Frippery

      October 18, 2024

      ArtBooksHistory

      Kate Mothes

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      Engulfed in their own finery, the subjects of Volker Hermes’ portraits epitomize a bygone era. From the Italian High Renaissance to French Rococo, his digital reinterpretations playfully hide the faces of wealthy and aristocratic sitters.

      Hidden Portraits: Old Masters Reimagined, a new book forthcoming this month, gathers a quintessential selection of Hermes’ works into one volume. Highlighting the artist’s wry commentary on luxury, social status, and fame, the selection delves into the history of portraiture through a humorous lens.

      “Hidden Wright of Derby” (2023), from “Portrait of Dorothy Beridge, née Gladwin” (1777) by Joseph Wright of Derby

      Hermes expands upon the ornate silk gowns, brocade, and lace ruffs that characterized elite fashion through the centuries (previously). An enormous bow cocoons a woman in “Hidden Wright of Derby,” for example, elaborating on a portrait of a wealthy woman painted by Joseph Wright of Derby, now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

      In striking profile, strings of pearls and a green, helmet-like hood envelop Bianca Maria Sforza, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, in “Hidden de Predis,” the 15th-century inspiration for which can be viewed at the National Gallery of Art.

      Explore more of Hermes’ work on his website, and snag a copy of Hidden Portraits on Bookshop.

      “Hidden de Predis” (2023), from “Portrait Bianca Maria Sforza” (1493-95) by the workshop of Ambrogio de Predis

      “Hidden Titian II” (2021), from “Portrait of a Man with a Quilted Sleeve” (1511) by Titian

      “Hidden de Bray” (2022), from “Portrait of a Young Woman” (1667) by Jan de Bray

      “Hidden Cornelius Johnson” (2023), from “Portrait of Thomas, 1st Baron Coventry” (1631) by Cornelius Johnson

      “Hidden de Keyser” (2019), from “Portrait of a Gentleman” (c. 1626) by Thomas de Keyser

      “Hidden Pourbus VIII” (2023), from “Portrait of a Nobleman” (1593) by Frans Pourbus the Younger

      “Hidden Anonymous (Munich Court Painter)” (2023), from “Portrait of a Young Lady” (1623), by an unknown artist

      Cover of ‘Hidden Portraits: Old Masters Reimagined,’ featuring “Hidden Jacometto” (2019), from “Portrait of a Young Man” (1480s) by Jacometto Veneziano

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