mosaics

Image courtesy of Wally Dion

Colossal’s Top Articles of 2024

December 10, 2024

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Throughout 2024, we were awed by archaeological finds, vibrant paintings, striking sculptures, remarkable photography, immersive installations, and so much more. It’s tough to choose only 10 top articles for the year!

Lucky for us, dear Colossal readers, you’ve helped pick the best. Below, dive into our most-read stories on the site during the past twelve months, and find hundreds more in the archive.

“Untitled (after François Gérard)” (2023), oil on canvas, 100 x 80 centimeters. Images © Ewa Juszkiewicz, courtesy of Almine Rech

Ewa Juszkiewicz’s Reimagined Historical Portraits of Women Scrutinize the Nature of Concealment

From elaborate hairstyles to hypertrophied mushrooms, an array of unexpected face coverings feature in Ewa Juszkiewicz’s portraits. Drawing on genteel likenesses of women primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, the artist superimposes fabric, bouquets of fruit, foliage, and more, over the women’s faces.

Image courtesy of Greg Jensen

A Rare Cross-Section Illustration Reveals the Infamous Happenings of Kowloon Walled City

At its height in the 1990s, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong housed about 50,000 people. Its population is unremarkable for small cities, but what set Kowloon apart from others of its size was its density. For a now out-of-print book titled Kowloon City: An Illustrated Guide, artist Hitomi Terasawa drew a meticulous cross-sectioned rendering of the urban phenomenon to preserve its memory.

Image © Isak Finnbogason

Remarkable Drone Footage Captures a New Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

In January, photographer and drone pilot Isak Finnbogason captured stunning footage of an eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in December, documenting the nearly two-mile-long lava vent on the first day it was active. 

“Water Lilies in Bloom” (2023), oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Erin Hanson

Landscapes Radiate Light and Drama in Erin Hanson’s Vibrant Oil Paintings

In vivid pinks, blues, and greens, radiant landscapes emerge in Erin Hanson’s impressionistic oil paintings. The artist is based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where the rolling hills and surrounding mountain ranges cradle miles of vineyards.

Image © Richard Johnson

Framed by Frozen Lakes, Richard Johnson’s ‘Ice Huts’ Capture Wintertime Communities in Canada

Every year, Ontario’s 279-square-mile Lake Simcoe draws more people for its ice fishing than any other lake in North America, attracting upwards of 4,000 huts each year. The colorful villages caught the eye of Toronto-based architectural photographer Richard Johnson (1957-2021), who captured hundreds of the structures, from the artistic to the ad-hoc, in a series of bold portraits taken between 2007 and 2019.

Image courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture / AFP Photo

Archaeologists Discover an Extraordinary 2,100-Year-Old Mosaic Near the Colosseum

Early this year, we shared news that the Italian Ministry of Culture had a remarkable find in the heart of Rome. In the late Republican era, a luxurious townhouse had been laden with designs made from shells, glass, white marble, and Egyptian blue tiles. A large “rustic” mosaic dating to the last decades of the 2nd century B.C.E.—a little over 2,100 years ago—was likely inspired by the decorative styles of Near East monarchies.

‘The Whole Booke of Psalmes.’ London: Company of Stationers, 1643. Image courtesy of The Grolier Club

Spanning Seven Centuries, ‘Judging a Book by its Cover’ Celebrates an Enduring Art

The Grolier Club’s exhibition, Judging a Book by its Cover, highlighted some of the most unique editions within its collection, including a pigskin- and brass-bound Jewish Antiquities and the Jewish War created for a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria around 1473—the oldest in the club’s library. The collection also features several religious texts, like the miniature book of psalms shown above, made by women at the Royal Exchange in London with a variety of silk and gold threads.

Image courtesy of Wally Dion, shared with permission

Vivid, Translucent Quilts by Wally Dion Stitch Together Indigenous Culture and Making Traditions

For many rural and economically strapped communities throughout history, quilting was a necessity. Tattered clothing and blankets were cut up and refashioned into new blankets, their patchwork styles evidence of the fabrics’ earlier uses. For Indigenous people, though, quilts “hold a particularly important cultural value,” says artist Wally Dion, “appearing as gifts, ceremonial objects, and celebratory markers.”

“লয় [Loy]” (2019), Arjunpur Amra Sabai Club, Kolkata. Photo by Vivian Sarky. Image courtesy of Asim Waqif

Immersive Bamboo Installations by Asim Waqif Whirl and Heave in Monumental Motion

In his monumental, swirling structures, Delhi-based artist Asim Waqif merges tenets of architecture and sculpture into sweeping site-specific compositions. Using natural materials like bamboo and pandanus leaves, he often incorporates found objects, scaffolding, sound elements, cloth, and rope.

“Animal in the Wind” (2014), clay, 36.7 x 20.8 x 30 centimeters. Image courtesy of JiSook Jung

From Fire to Wind, JiSook Jung’s Ceramic Sculptures Animate the Elements

JiSook Jung has long been drawn to clay for its inherent malleability. “Clay has the advantage of being able to quickly mold an image in my head into a visual form because it is soft and plastic,” the Seoul-based artist tells Colossal. “In that sense, I think clay is an intuitive and instinctive material.”

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