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      Folk Traditions, Quotidian Items, and Spiritual Symbolism Merge in Haegue Yang’s Sensory Sculptures

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      “Sonic Intermediates – Triad Walker Trinity” (2020), powder-coated steel and handles, casters, nickel and brass-plated bells, metal rings, plastic twine, turbine vents, artificial plants, pine cones, and foam. Photo by Nick Ash. Image courtesy of kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York. All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission

      Folk Traditions, Quotidian Items, and Spiritual Symbolism Merge in Haegue Yang’s Sensory Sculptures

      March 6, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      “Abstraction is not a…simplified way of thinking: it’s a leap—a leap into a dimension that cannot otherwise be understood,” says Haegue Yang, whose multimedia installations and sculptures explore a wide array of material associations, immersing the senses. Series such as Light Sculptures and Sonic Sculptures defy genres, often combining ready-made, mass-produced items with industrially created substances.

      At the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Yang’s solo exhibition Lost Lands and Sunken Fields engages viewers in a “dialectic of contrasts: light and dark, aerial and grounded, buoyant and heavy, spare and dense, interior and exterior,” a statement says. The show follows the artist’s first major survey in the U.K. at London’s Hayward Gallery, which embarked on a collage-forward celebration of work created during the past 20 years.

      “Frosted Scales Mermaid Queen – Mesmerizing Mesh #218” (2023), Hanji, washi, and origami paper on alu-dibond, framed, 24 3/8 x 24 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York

      Working between Seoul and Berlin, Yang hybridizes folk customs and craftsmanship, everyday items, and vernacular techniques in pieces that combine sculpture, installation, collage, text, video, wallpaper, and sound. “Sonic Intermediates – Triad Walker Trinity,” for example, coats steel frames in tiny bells, metal rings, plastic twine, and more, which evoke vaguely animalistic forms that move around on casters.

      Time and geography collapse in an abstracted visual language that merges the modern and the pre-modern, art history and literature, and themes of displacement, migration, forced exile, and global diasporas. Her works “link various geopolitical contexts and histories in an attempt to understand and comment on our own time,” says a statement from kurimanzutto, which represents the artist.

      The gallery also presents a concurrent exhibition titled Arcane Abstractions, including two-dimensional collage works complemented by an archival display of pieces by Mexican artisans. Yang continues to investigate cultural heritage and ritualistic symbolism through materials as she forwards “a proposal to live our lives today with a holistic view of mobility and technology, respect for spirituality, as well as contemplation on the resilient adaptability of both nature and humans,” says a statement. 

      Arcane Abstractions continues through April 5 in Mexico City, and Lost Lands and Sunken Fields runs through April 27 in Dallas.

      “Airborne Paper Creatures – Flutterers” (2025), birch plywood, wood stain, stainless steel components, Hanji, washi, origami paper, marbled paper, honeycomb paper balls, beads, metal bells, plastic crown flowers, parandy, Punjabi earrings and ornaments, stainless steel chains, split rings, steel wire ropes, and swivels, 47 3/4 x 22 x 25 1/2 inches, 21 3/4 x 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches, and 36 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches (three parts). Photo by Studio Haegue Yang. Image courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center

      Detail of “Airborne Paper Creatures – Flutterers.” Image courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center

      Installation view of ‘Haegue Yang: Leap Year’ (2024). Photo by Mark Blower. Image courtesy of the artist and the Hayward Gallery, London

      Installation view of ‘Haegue Yang: Leap Year’ (2024). Photo by Mark Blower. Image courtesy of the artist and the Hayward Gallery, London

      “Aztec Underwater Wanderer – Mesmerizing Mesh #214” (2023), Hanji and washi on alu-dibond, framed, 24 3/8 x 24 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York

      “Radial Tousled Epiphyte” (2025), birch plywood, wood stain, acrylic board, powder-coated stainless steel wall mount, stainless steel components, Hanji, and marbled paper, 54 3/4 x 54 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Photo by Studio Haegue Yang. Image courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center

      Detail of “Radial Tousled Epiphyte.” Image courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center

      “Sonic Clotheshorse–Dressage #3” (2019), powder-coated aluminum frame, mesh and handles, casters, brass-and nickel- plated bells, split rings, 60 1/4 x 22 x 30 3/4 inches, and “Sonic Clotheshorse–Dressage #4” (2019), powder-coated aluminum frame, mesh and handles, casters, brass-and nickel-plated bells, and split rings, 50 1/4 x 19 1/4 x 33 3/4 inches. Installation view of ‘Haegue Yang: Emergence’ at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, 2020. Photo by Craig Boyko, AGO

      “Aqua-Respirating Soul Sheet – Mesmerizing Mesh #263” (2024), Hanji, washi, and origami paper on alu-dibond, framed, 24 3/8 x 24 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York

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      Minimal Blades Flutter in the Breeze in a Shoreline Installation on China’s Chaishan Island

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      Photo by Tian Fangfang. All images courtesy of GN Architects, shared with permission

      Minimal Blades Flutter in the Breeze in a Shoreline Installation on China’s Chaishan Island

      February 28, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Grace Ebert

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      On an abandoned pier on Chaishan Island’s shore, an elegant installation rocks in the wind. Completed in 2023 by GN Architects, “The Seaside Pavillion” rests on a coastal trail frequented by tourists and locals alike.

      The dynamic construction features dozens of elastic-wrapped blades that, when caught by a breeze, flit and flutter, echoing both the movement of the tide and creating a semi-shaded space for respite. “During the day, the leaves are closed,” the designers say in a statement. “In the morning and evening, when the tide starts to rise, the wings open and dance under the drive of the buoy, forming a romantic and magical scene.”

      Once a fishing community, Chaishan today is mainly a tourist destination. Only 100 elderly residents still live on the island as many have left for larger cities. “The Seaside Pavillion” was commissioned by the Zhoushan government’s “Hello, Island” initiative to attract more people to move to the sparsely populated area.

      While appearing delicate, the blades are designed to be resilient and to withstand typhoons. Fishing ropes provide their structure, while a rubber and steel armature creates a strong, hardy base. When a tropical cyclone threatens the island, caretakers can tie the blades down to prevent damage.

      You can find more from GN Architects, whose projects span installations, landscapes, interiors, and more, on its website. (via designboom)

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

      Photo by Liang Wenjun

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      A Monumental Immersive Installation by ENESS Prompts Joy and Togetherness

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      “Forest Dancer.” All images courtesy of ENESS, shared with permission

      A Monumental Immersive Installation by ENESS Prompts Joy and Togetherness

      February 24, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      A nine-meter-tall passageway made of eight individual arches enticed visitors into ENESS’s latest installation (previously). Last month at Quoz Arts Fest 2025 in Dubai, Forest Dancer comprised a monumental entry and an immersive exhibition of illuminated inflatable forms inside a contemporary building.

      With mushroom-like proportions, pixellated patterns, and a slew of changing hues, ENESS’s work encompasses a central character surrounded by psychedelic trees, mountains, insects, and boulder-like bean bags.

      “As artists, we work in many contexts—inside galleries and museums, in (the) public realm and even creating small art pieces for the home,” said ENESS founder Nimrod Weis. “This approach of ‘art is everywhere’ means that we responded to the inspiring architecture by creating an artwork that is at once a conversation with the built form and an installation in its own right.”

      This year’s festival was curated around the theme of an Arabic proverb meaning “a hut holds a thousand friends,” inspiring creative responses that center bringing people of all ages together and promoting interactivity.

      A statement says, “The entire exhibition, spanning over 600 square meters, is an ode to the power and importance of creativity in the face of online obsession, geopolitical upheaval, and the rise of dark forces taking us far from the soulfulness of art, human connection, and gentle contemplation,” says a statement.

      Find more on ENESS’s website.

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      Fantastical Figures Illuminate Urban Buildings in Amanda Lobos’ Murals and Installations

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      “Ventura” (2024), Festa da Luz, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. All images courtesy of Amanda Lobos, shared with permission

      Fantastical Figures Illuminate Urban Buildings in Amanda Lobos’ Murals and Installations

      February 20, 2025

      ArtDesignIllustration

      Kate Mothes

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      Vibrant contrasts, eye-opening patterns, and mischievous creatures are just a few of the characteristics of Brazilian artist Amanda Lobos’ beguiling scenes. Based in Vila Velha, about an eight-hour drive up the coast from Rio de Janeiro, Lobos works extensively across a range of mediums, from graphic and product design to murals and public installations.

      A large-scale inflatable work titled “Ventura” was installed last year on the top of a building in the city of Belo Horizonte. Lobos calls upon the philosophy of Indigenous Brazilian environmentalist and philosopher Ailton Krenak, who posits that humankind should live in harmony with nature rather than trying to control it.

      Mural for Festival Nalata (2023), 5 x 8 meters. Av. Faria Lima nº822, São Paulo, Brazil

      Lobos’ all-seeing “Ventura,” which translates to “fortune,” perches on a corner of a tall building and oversees its domain, double-faced with two eyes on each side and one of its legs curled up casually on the ledge.

      This work “is about the agony and dilemma of returning a star to the sky,” Lobos says in a statement, describing “Ventura” as “condemned to the duality of the fantastic and the real.”

      Much of the artist’s work is intentionally left open to interpretation. “I believe that what I want to communicate to viewers is already embedded in my work visually, allowing them to interpret it however they wish—that’s the beauty of it!” Lobos tells Colossal. “I don’t like to be too literal or overly serious with my concepts; I enjoy the creative process and the freedom it gives me.”

      In vivid murals, Lobos applies a similar juxtaposition of mystery and play, as coy characters dance within colorful panels or long walls illuminate the joys of learning. An expansive mural at a school in the Jardim Limoeiro neighborhood of Serra celebrates science, art, curiosity, and play.

      MC.Arte mural for the Penélope Municipal Early Childhood Education Center in Jardim Limoeiro, Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil (2023). Photo by Ana Luzes

      “My favorite thing about painting murals—besides seeing them come to life on a large scale from an initial sketch on paper or a 30-centimeter canvas—is the process itself,” Lobos tells Colossal. She adds:

      Executing the piece and watching it unfold is truly special. The feeling of applying paint with no “Ctrl+Z” is humbling, and working on such a large surface teaches you to embrace mistakes and adapt in new ways. Every wall is a fresh learning experience.

      Lobos is soon heading to Mexico to paint her first mural outside of Brazil looking forward to collaborating with two other artists on a pair of murals for the Movimento Cidade festival in August.

      We’ve shared a handful of public art projects here, but you can head over to Behance or Instagram to see a wide range of the designer’s vibrant product collaborations and commissions.

      Three illustrated tarot cards created for the publishing company TAG Livros, referencing iconic authors

      “Ventura”

      “Tropical Transformation” mural for brand activation of Devassa beer at the Casa7 event venue, Vitória, Espirito Santo, Brazil

      Six illustrated tarot cards created for the publishing company TAG Livros, referencing iconic authors

      Interior mural for CASACOR Espírito Santo

      MC.Arte mural in progress for the Penélope Municipal Early Childhood Education Center

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      Matt Bua’s ‘Repurposed City’ in Upstate New York Just Hit the Market

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      The interior of Matt Bua’s cabin in Catskill, New York. Photo by Photo by Kevin Witte Productions. All images courtesy of Matt Bua, shared with permission

      Matt Bua’s ‘Repurposed City’ in Upstate New York Just Hit the Market

      February 13, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      On nearly 27 wooded acres outside the town of Catskill, New York, artist Matt Bua has been hard at work on a creative compound like no other. For two decades, he has constructed an artist-built environment from salvaged materials comprising numerous living spaces and work areas. Recently listed for sale for $269,000, the off-grid property known as “B-Home” could be yours.

      Bua’s project originated with the idea to “build one of every type of dwelling we could with materials that were easily at hand,” the artist tells Colossal. From repurposed vinyl records, bottles, and reclaimed wood, a sprawling “repurposed city” emerged as painted signs, sculptures, and one-of-a-kind structures popped up over time.

      Bua describes his approach as “intuitive building,” working in response to the natural terrain, found materials, and vernacular structures of the northeast. He wrote a book titled Talking Walls, which focuses on the region’s tens of thousands of miles of historic stone walls and considers history and material culture merge in the ways we understand “place.”

      Bua lived in Brooklyn when he purchased the property. “All I wanted to do was go up there and build,” he recently told Artnet. He was inspired by self-sustaining communities like Drop City in Colorado, an artists’ commune formed in 1960 with a reputation for remarkable hand-built homes. Incidentally, he also used to maintain Catskill’s quirky Catamount People’s Museum, an installation of an enormous bobcat made from scraps of wood.

      Along with a cohort of friends who have contributed freestanding artworks and functional structures over the years, Bua approached “B-Home” as a collaborative experiment “informed by the needs and desires of our surrounding community.”

      Learn more about Bua’s work on his website.

      All images courtesy of Matt Bua, shared with permission

      Map of “B-Home” More

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      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

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      “Spectrum. An Afterthought” (1975–2014), synthetic fabric, neon lamps, colored filters, steel, aluminum, plywood, and plastic,
      40 x 105.6 x 53.9 meters. Photo by Antanas Lukšėnas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      ‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

      February 10, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      From immersive fabric installations and sculptures to photography, landscape design, and architecture, the work of Aleksandra Kasuba (1923-2019) merges myriad ideas about how we experience the world around us. The intersection of technology and nature enchanted the late Lithuanian artist, and she often experimented with a variety of materials and the effects of light, hue, and tension to explore relationships between ourselves and notions of shelter and place.

      The first major exhibition of her work in Europe, Imagining the Future at Carré d’Art—Musée d’Art Contemporain, explores the incredible breadth of Kasuba’s artistry.

      “Shell Dwellers III” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Born to an aristocratic family, Kasuba enrolled in art school in 1941, focusing primarily on sculpture and textiles. She married artist Vytautas Kašuba, with whom she fled Lithuania in 1944 in the wake of the Nazi occupation of the country. They landed in a displaced-persons camp in Germany where they stayed until making their way to New York in 1947, and her experience as a refugee and an immigrant significantly affected her work.

      In the U.S., Kasuba found employment in crafts and design and began laying the foundations for her future artistic practice, which merged applied and functional arts with abstraction. Her interdisciplinary practice took shape in earnest the 1950s and 1960s and was deeply influenced by tenets of modernism and the era of space exploration, which cast humanity’s existence on Earth in a new light.

      Mid-20th century scholarship on vernacular architecture also inspired Kasuba, and she was moved by a visit to Bernard Rudofsky’s 1964 exhibition Architecture Without Architects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He took a broader view of global architecture than the field typically covered and emphasized the ingenuity and beauty of structures built by Indigenous cultures.

      Rudofsky suggested that modernism—particularly modern architecture—had lost touch with the real needs of society, and he urged viewers to pay attention to artistic, idiosyncratic, culturally rich local styles free from elitist design rules.

      “Rock Hill House” (2002). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Kasuba’s artistic practice blended with daily life in her own living spaces, too, from her New York City home in the 1970s to Rock Hill House, a sculptural dwelling in the New Mexico desert she completed between 2001 and 2005.

      The convergence of sculpture and environmental design also fascinated the artist, spurring unique material combinations in large-scale public interventions and spatial installations. Concerned with how we move through places and are affected by our surroundings, she was also commissioned to create numerous public wall installations using materials like brick, marble, and granite.

      Kasuba explored the relationships between transparency, color, and light in works like “Spectrum,” privileging organic shapes and an immersive passageway made from stretched nylon. Her Space Shelters series, composed of fabric in curving forms without ninety-degree angles, exemplifies her desire to harmonize nature, people, and technology.

      Imagining the Future continues through March 23 in Nîmes, France. Learn more on the museum’s website.

      “Dreaming III” (1963), white marble, 103 x 91 centimeters. Photo Antanas Luksenas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Live-In Environment, 43W90, NYC” (1971–1972). From the digital archive of Aleksandra Kasuba. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Rock Hill House” (2005). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

      Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier

      “Shell Dwellers VI” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba

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      Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

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      Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York. All images courtesy of the artists, foundations, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, shared with permission

      Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

      February 6, 2025

      ArtDesignHistory

      Kate Mothes

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      Whether a self-taught artisan or a contemporary art titan, one can make artwork just about anywhere. As the saying goes, the only limit is your imagination. And when art and life intersect, sometimes the distinction between the two disappears.

      As the National Trust for Historic Preservation can tell you, homes and studios from rural Kansas to the hubbub of Manhattan have been the locus of eclectic, quirky, and innovative ideas that illustrate how creativity and daily existence are one and the same.

      Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California

      Last month, the NTHP announced the addition of 19 new property members to its Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program. Comprising locations that range from houses and workspaces to quarries and hand-assembled fantasylands, the new spaces bring the total number of network participants to 61 across the U.S.

      Colossal readers might be familiar with one of last month’s additions, the Kosciusko, Mississippi, home of L.V. Hull (1942–2008), which was included in the National Register of Historic Places last summer. The designation was the first to honor the residence of an African American woman visual artist, and it was also the first time a home art environment by any African American was on the list.

      Women feature prominently in this year’s announcement, including Pope’s Museum in Ochlocknee, Georgia, which is distinguished as the oldest surviving artist-built environment by a woman in the U.S. A self-taught maker, Laura Pope Forester (1873–1953) created elaborate exterior installations, including murals and other works that pay tribute to women’s achievements, military veterans, and literary figures. The crochet-like white facade is composed of sewing machine parts.

      Additional places include the homes of groundbreaking women artists Louise Bourgeois and Carolee Schneemann, along with remarkable creations like Grandma Prisbey’s Bottle Village in Simi Valley, California, and Mary Nohl’s unique environment in Fox Point, Wisconsin.

      Plan your visits on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios website.

      Pope’s Museum, Ochlocknee, Georgia

      Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation, New York City

      Spiral House Park, Saugerties, New York

      “Enchanted Garden” and entrance to the “Troglodyte Cavern” at Valley of the Moon, Tucson, Arizona

      Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin

      Interior of the Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin

      Dog Mountain, Home of Stephen Huneck Gallery, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

      Interior of Reuben Hale House, West Palm Beach, Florida

      Interior of Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York

      Interior view of Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California

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      Ernesto Neto Crochets an Enormous Snake to Slither Inside Le Bon Marché

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      All images © Stephane Aboudaram | we are content(s), shared with permission

      Ernesto Neto Crochets an Enormous Snake to Slither Inside Le Bon Marché

      January 31, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      “If Adam and Eve had not eaten the Divine Apple, they would still be in paradise, wouldn’t they? And us? Where would we be?” asks Ernesto Neto in relation to his latest project.

      At Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris, the Brazilian artist (previously) presents his signature crocheted installations. A 28-foot snake coils up through the atrium for “Le La Serpent,” a monumental project evoking the creation myth of Adam, Eve, and the snake.

      Rather than view the story from the perspective of sin, Neto chooses to see the animal as a life-giving force that transcends the Abrahamic story. Utilizing both male and female articles, the title positions the serpent as exceeding gender and instead as a joyful, spiritual force that can connect mind and body. The artist notes that many cultures, from Mesoamerica to Cambodian mythology to ancient Greek, viewed the serpent as god. Given that the Lunar New Year recently ushered in the Year of the Snake, the project also has a timely tie to Eastern traditions.

      Although Neto frequently incorporates bold colors into his installations, the yarn in this project uses white to celebrate Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, the founders of Le Bon Marché who encouraged artists to use the color in their works in the 19th century.

      A collaborative, meditative space awaits visitors on the second floor. Neto composed a song that plays throughout the room, while a large tee stands at the center. Dried leaves, turmeric, and cumin fill the trunk, adding an earthy, spiced scent to the air. The chalkboard-style walls are designed for visitors to draw and leave notes for future viewers.

      “I want to remind people that they have a body—that they can feel it,” the artist said. “Scents activate memory and help us reconnect with our own essence.”

      If you’re in Paris, see “Le La Serpent” through February 22.

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