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    Roméo Mivekannin’s Cage-Like Sculptures of Museums Reframe the Colonial Past

    Photos by Gerret Schultz. All images courtesy of the artist and Galerie Barbara Thumm, shared with permission

    Roméo Mivekannin’s Cage-Like Sculptures of Museums Reframe the Colonial Past

    June 24, 2025

    ArtHistorySocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    Known for bold, chiaroscuro paintings that reimagine European art historical masterworks in his own likeness, Roméo Mivekannin is interested in the Western, colonial gaze on Africa and the power of archives to reveal underrepresented or untold stories. Born on the Ivory Coast, Mivekannin splits his time between Toulouse, France, and Cotonou, Benin. His practice interrogates visibility, appropriation, and power dynamics through direct and unflinching pieces spanning acrylic painting, installation, and sculpture.

    At Art Basel last weekend, in collaboration with Galerie Barbara Thumm and Cécile Fakhoury, Mivekannin presented a large-scale installation titled Atlas, comprising a series of metal buildings suspended from the ceiling. Modeled after institutional buildings—in this case, museums that house enthographic collections—the artist draws attention to the colonialist practices and ethical gray areas that permeate these spaces and their histories.

    Often founded upon controversial or dubiously-acquired personal collections of European urban elites, larger museums historically emphasized what was seen as “primitive” or “exotic,” exhibiting a skewed view of world cultures framed by a colonialist mindset. The British Museum, for example, was established in 1753 upon the death of Sir Hans Sloane, whose collection of more than 80,000 “natural and artificial rarities” provided the institution’s foundation. His wealth—and his collection—was amassed in part through enslaved labor on his sugar plantations in Jamaica.

    Another well-known example of problematic collections include thousands of Benin Bronzes, housed in European institutions like the British Museum and others. British forces acquired many of these elaborately decorated plaques through pillage and looting in the late 19th century. Today, some museums have agreed to repatriate the bronzes to redress this historical indignity (the British Museum is still in discussions).

    As a student of both art and architecture, Mivekannin taps into the way certain structures and built environments are designed to convey prestige and dominance. He is also currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the National Superior School of Architecture of Montpellier (ENSAM).

    In Atlas, the structures take on the form of bird cages suspended from chains. Both elements symbolize captivity, likening ethnographic collections that often include human remains to what the Atlas exhibition statement describes as “human zoos.” In this context, the cages “serve as a reminder of the historical practices that sought to control and exploit ‘the Other.’”

    Mivekannin bridges past and present in this installation, inviting viewers to walk around the museums within a space that shifts the power dynamic. The work encourages viewers “to confront uncomfortable truths about colonial legacies and their ongoing impact on our contemporary society.”

    The artist scales down the museums’ palatial details to a diminutive size, displayed low, taking into consideration a kind of meta experience of the exhibition itself. In Mivekannin’s portrayal, the structures are both the cages and the caged.

    A show of the artist’s paintings, Black Mirror, is currently on view at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy, through July 27. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

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    In ‘Big Bad Wolf,’ Sculptor Kendra Haste Contends with Conservation and Rewilding

    All images courtesy of Iron Art Casting Museum Büdelsdorf, shared with permission

    In ‘Big Bad Wolf,’ Sculptor Kendra Haste Contends with Conservation and Rewilding

    June 23, 2025

    ArtNature

    Kate Mothes

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    From a simple material, Kendra Haste brings us face-to-face with striking sculptures of wild animals. Known for her use of galvanized wire to create life-size portraits of everything from calm elephants to alert deer to a family of boars, the British artist is fascinated by what she describes as the “essence and character” of each creature.

    The artist’s solo exhibition, Big Bad Wolf at the Iron Art Casting Museum Büdelsdorf, is Haste’s first in Germany and continues her exploration of wildlife through eleven recent works that bridge the animals’ world and ours. Haste says, “I try to capture the living, breathing model in a static 3D form and convey its emotional essence without slipping into sentimentality or anthropomorphism.”

    If you’ve visited the Tower of London in the past fifteen years, you also may have seen Haste’s permanent display of sculptures inspired by the Royal Menagerie, technically the city’s first zoo. The building housed a collection of animals between the 1200s and 1835, many of which were gifted to kings and queens.

    Haste’s life-size animals are installed near where they were kept and nod to real denizens, like an elephant sent by the King of France in 1255 and what was presumably a polar bear shipped from Norway around the same time. The works were initially slated for a 10-year exhibition but now permanently on view in the much-loved historic attraction.

    In Big Bad Wolf, Haste’s first solo museum exhibition, she delves into conservation, sustainability, and the controversial concept of rewilding. That animals that wander through the museum, including wolves, a stag, a hind, a white-tailed eagle, lynx, and wild boars, are all native to Northern Germany. While some are endangered, others are bouncing back, and Haste taps into a regional yet universal comprehension of our delicate relationship with nature and how our actions affect it.

    “This is about how we see the natural world—how we’ve tried to shape it, and what it might mean to let it return,” Haste says. “Wire, like cast iron, holds a tension between strength and fragility. That balance runs through every piece in this exhibition.”

    Big Bad Wolf continues through November 2 in Büdelsdorf. See more of Haste’s work on Instagram.

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    Candy-Colored Sculptures by Poh Sin Studio Ornament Aquatic Life

    Detail of “Lacebud.” All images courtesy of Poh Sin Studio, shared with permission

    Candy-Colored Sculptures by Poh Sin Studio Ornament Aquatic Life

    June 17, 2025

    ArtDesignNature

    Grace Ebert

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    In Specimen Garden, Pamela Poh Sin Tan translates the ambiguous ecologies of her large-scale public works into freestanding sculptures. Tan, who works under Poh Sin Studio, frequently fuses principles of art and design, and for this series of coral-inspired forms, she embellishes sand-coated laser-cut steel with small chalcedony stone beads.

    “Inspired by the ethereal elegance of natural systems—coral, roots, jellyfish, diatoms—these works reflect my fascination with the subtle, intelligent structures of the natural world,” she says.

    “Fanora”

    Drawing on the ornamentation traditions of her Chinese-Malaysian heritage, the artist fuses contemporary techniques with timeless themes of fragility, strength, and beauty. “Each piece feels like a living fragment of a surreal coral garden—plant-like in posture, reef-like in texture, and jewel-like in detail,” she says. “Together, they form a quiet ecosystem of imagined species suspended between nature and artifice.”

    Keep up with Poh Sin Studio on its website and Instagram.

    “Melona”

    “Lacebud”

    Detail of “Melona”

    Detail of “Fanora”

    “Aurelia”

    Detail of “Aurelia”

    Detail of “Fanora”

    “Ploomp”

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    Caio Marcolini Weaves Delicate Metal Mesh into Spawning Cellular Sculptures

    All images courtesy of Caio Marcolini, shared with permission

    Caio Marcolini Weaves Delicate Metal Mesh into Spawning Cellular Sculptures

    May 9, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Caio Marcolini’s fascination with organic systems began simply enough. It was “the trail left by the sea on the sand, the intertwined roots of trees within the forest, (and) the flowers falling from trees” that he found enchanting. But then, when his first child was born in 2021, he began investigating how these same winding, looping, knotted patterns appeared inside the body.

    What resulted is a series of roving sculptures woven with thin strips of brass, copper, and iron wire. Hollow tubes emerge from delicate bell-like forms secured to a wall, while occasional, long drips drop from the upper area and dangle mid-air.

    Trained as a goldsmith, Marcolini incorporates jewelry-making techniques and industrial design principles into his painstaking, entirely hand-powered process. Using a mallet, dowels, and various manual tools, the Brazilian artist creates a perfectly uniform mesh that he then shapes into supple, rounded forms. “I rarely draw—just small sketches—and most of the time, I imagine a shape using initial parameters,” he says. “The compositions are made in an exploratory way, fluid and organic, as I weave the structure and experiment on the studio wall. I can say it’s a very intuitive process.”

    As the artist sees it, these individual, linked metal pieces are like single cells or DNA that repeat again and again, spawning new forms. While distinct in shape, the sculptures are still malleable, transparent, and abstract. The works resemble the circuitous systems found in the human body, but also the creatures found in forests and oceans, and occupy a sort of ambiguous, hybrid space.

    Marcolini titles his collections with words like colony, system, captured, and bilateral. Referencing the relationship between single components and the larger whole, each body of work becomes a sort of community of organisms that seem to take on a life of their own. Rather than impose a particular interpretation, the artist leaves the exact form of the works open-ended, as if they might morph into new life at any moment.

    Not Every Repetition is a Return, Marcolini’s solo exhibition, is on view through May 23 at Galeria Lica Pedrosa in São Paulo. Find more of his work on his website and Instagram.

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    More Than 200,000 Rivets Secure the Ultra-Thin Aluminum Facets of ‘The Orb’ by Marc Fornes

    Photos by © Younes Bounhar / Doublespace Photography. All images © Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY, shared with permission

    More Than 200,000 Rivets Secure the Ultra-Thin Aluminum Facets of ‘The Orb’ by Marc Fornes

    April 2, 2025

    ArtDesign

    Kate Mothes

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    From geometric, white panels riveted together into an undulating sphere, Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY’s newest public installation invites visitors to immerse themselves in a luminous experience on Google’s Charleston East Campus in California.

    Designed as a physical embodiment of innovation and creativity, “The Orb” invites us into a 10-meter-tall, 26-meter-wide labyrinthine form made of ultra-thin aluminum. “Edged yet edgeless, surfaces curve, branch, split, rejoin, and split again,” the studio (previously) says. “This extreme curvature—achieved through cutting-edge computational design—enables the surfaces to be entirely self-supporting despite being just three millimeters thick.”

    “The Orb” comprises 6,441 individual components connected with more than 217,000 rivets. During the day, a pattern of holes speckles sunlight across the pavilion and onto the ground. At night, the structure is illuminated, casting deep shadows that contrast the bright details.

    Fornes’ mission, hybridizing elements of art and architecture, is to spark “the joy wandering, the joy of marveling.”

    Find more on THEVERYMANY website.

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    Splashes of Stainless Steel by Zheng Lu Embrace Philosophy, History, and Technology

    “Undercurrent” (2023), stainless steel, 340 x 410 x 630 centimeters. All images courtesy of Zheng Lu and Galerie Sept, shared with permission

    Splashes of Stainless Steel by Zheng Lu Embrace Philosophy, History, and Technology

    February 20, 2025

    ArtNature

    Kate Mothes

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    Composed of highly polished stainless steel, the sculptures of Zheng Lu (previously) appear suspended in space and time. Whether secured atop a pedestal, installed in a public park, or hanging in midair, each piece strikes a fine balance between motion and stillness and fluidity and fixedness.

    The Beijing-based artist is deeply influenced by traditional Chinese philosophy and calligraphy. The energy, or qi, that courses through the universe shapes his work and is known to facilitate health, stability, and harmony in all aspects of life. Thousands of Chinese characters borrowed from historic texts additionally coat many of his sculptures, calling upon the past as a way to interface with the present.

    “Undercurrent,” stainless steel

    Lu is also increasingly interested in the burgeoning relationship between human artistry and artificial intelligence. “The advancement of technology will inevitably blur the boundaries between tools and creators, but the essence of creation remains rooted in human nature,” the artist tells Colossal. Viewed as a tool rather than a stand-in for human creativity, he is interested in how machine learning prompts us to more carefully consider authorship.

    Through a creative approach that alternates between human and machine, Lu likens his process to “a relay race, with the artwork itself as the baton.” He continues:

    I pass the baton to the computer, and it passes it back to me, each of us shaping the piece in turn. The final outcome is not entirely predictable. The existence of the world is defined by balance, and none of us can escape this principle. Hence, I embrace this method both in my life and work, where the process of creation is akin to the growth of life.

    Lu is represented by Galerie Sept, and you can find more on the artist’s website.

    Installation view of “Undercurrent”

    “Water in Dripping Vortex,” stainless steel

    “Whatever Journey it Takes” (2024), stainless steel, 560 x 540 x 240 centimeters

    “Water in Dripping Circulation,” stainless steel

    “Colosseum Fantasy” (2024), stainless steel, 120 x 100 x 242 centimeters

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    Timo Fahler’s Stained-Glass Sculptures Question Symbols and Curtailed Freedoms

    “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door” (2023), chain-link fence, steel, stained glass, lead, and aluminum, 48 x 38 x 6 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Sebastian Gladstone Gallery, shared with permission

    Timo Fahler’s Stained-Glass Sculptures Question Symbols and Curtailed Freedoms

    February 5, 2025

    ArtSocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    The creation of stained glass can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Rome, but we most often associate it with its popularity in Western Christianity, as in the biblical narratives adorning chapels and cathedrals. For Timo Fahler, this tradition forms the foundation of a multimedia practice influenced by Mesoamerican codice imagery, national symbols, and motifs found in older European churches.

    Stained glass is a “storytelling medium in which I get to draw from everything I experience, everything I study, read, believe in, and even distrust,” Fahler tells Colossal. “We are floating in a unique era of questioning reality, the last gasp of the living generation before automation integrates itself via AI, ChatGPT, and digital interface.” He views his practice as depicting this era and even, in a way, immortalizing it.

    “topos haliaíetos for the bald eagle; topos chrysaetos for the gold eagle/Mexico” (2023), steel, cast iron, stained glass, lead, tin, and obsidian, 27 x 41 x 2 inches

    Fahler first worked with lampworking glass while studying ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute, which sparked an ongoing interest in the medium. Recently, he began incorporating it into what he calls “rebar drawings,” which form the foundation of much of his work. “I was curious about letting the unpredictability of light become a part of the ‘materials’ I work with,” the artist says.

    Many of Fahler’s sculptures are framed or supported by heavy-duty metals like rusted steel, iron fences, and gates. Stained glass hovers a few inches from the wall, casting colorful shadows. For his most recent works, Fahler places barriers atop the glass to consider not only the viewer’s relationship to the image but also the implications of people being barred from freedoms and knowledge. “I draw from a lot of different sources—historical, mythological, and fantastical—all of which encompass my ‘heritage,’” the artist says.

    In a piece titled after the poem “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, which is carved in bronze on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, Fahler uses a gate to frame a detail of Lady Liberty’s arm constructed of tiny glass squares soldered to the facets of a chain-link fence. Historically a potent symbol of welcome, amnesty, and inclusiveness, the statue in this context references how today, new immigrants’ access is more troubled and often blocked.

    Serpents, dragons, eagles, and landscapes merge with realistic portraits and references to historical moments and national emblems, like Mexico’s crest featuring a golden eagle on a cactus with a snake in its talons. The image centers on the nation’s flag, representing the resilience, bravery, and spirit of the Mexican people. Echoing his representation of the Statue of Liberty, the icon is barricaded, merging with iron bars.

    “I against i” (2024), found fence, steel, stained glass, grisaille, glass, and lead, 53.5 x 53 x 7 inches. Photo by Nick Massey

    Fahler is currently working on a solo presentation with Sebastian Gladstone this autumn. He and his family just moved to Amsterdam, where he shares he’s beginning from a “zero-point/clean canvas” in a new studio, and he plans to explore ideas around the complexities of sovereignty, expatriation, and a quickly evolving global society.

    “The world is changing so quickly that we cannot collectively understand, let alone keep up with it!” he says. “I’m excited to be working on all of that and look forward to the body of work that depicts it.”

    Find more on Fahler’s website and Instagram.

    “two-headed serpent” (2023), mirror steel, cast iron, stained glass, copper, and lead, 30 x 45 x 4 inches

    “fever dream” (2024), found gate, steal, stained glass, grisaille, and lead, 32 x 84 x 6 inches. Photo by Nick Massey

    “twin serpents” (2024), steel, stained glass, lead, and rebar, 70 x 64 x 64 inches. Photo by Nick Massey

    “Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099)” (2023), fence, steel, stained glass, and lead, 64 x 59.5 x 3.5 inches

    “copper zen mountain” (2023), rebar steel, stained glass, lead, and copper, 30 x 40 x 6 inches

    “code switching” (2024), found chain-link fence, steel, stained glass, and lead, 64 x 48 x 8 inches

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    Flowers and Butterflies Stitch Messages of Hope into Crumpled Metal and Corroded Barrels

    Detail of “MEADOWS.” Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė. All images courtesy of Severija Inčirauskaitė, shared with permission

    Flowers and Butterflies Stitch Messages of Hope into Crumpled Metal and Corroded Barrels

    January 24, 2025

    ArtSocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    On the sides of rusted barrels or crushed steel spheres, Lithuanian artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė (previously) applies delicate reminders of resilience. Using cotton thread, the artist cross-stitches vibrant flowers and butterflies onto facets of corroded metal, merging materials that appear to have little in common.

    Where metal is rough, strong, and utilitarian, embroidery is tender, soft, and decorative. Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė taps into these diametric characteristics in her continuing examination of war. A large metal ball titled “OFFSIDE,” for example, represents the world’s cumulative conflicts. “It is like a huge disaster with a small embroidered butterfly that is like a small, fragile sign of hope,” she says.

    “Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)” (2023), metal and cotton thread. Photo by Modestas Ežerskis and Ineta Armanavičiūtė

    The small nation of Belarus separates Lithuania from Ukraine, where the impacts of the ongoing Russian assault reverberate across the region. “The war is very close to us,” the artist tells Colossal, “so we can’t relax and just think about life.” Incorporating insects and blooms, steeped in symbolic references to compassion, generosity, and care, Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė suggests that despite humans’ destructive actions, hope perseveres.

    Find more on the artist’s Instagram.

    “Offside” (2024), metal, and cotton threads. Photo by Enrika Samulionytė

    Detail of “Offside.” Photo by Enrika Samulionytė

    “OFFSIDE” (2024)

    “MEADOWS” (2023), metal barrels and cotton, 360 x 40 x 20 centimeters. Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė

    Detail of “MEADOWS.” Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė

    “Timeless Fragility” (2022), oil barrel lid and cross stitch, 60 centimeters diameter. Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė

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