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    Through Surreal Paintings, Shyama Golden Reincarnates a Mythic Narrative

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    “Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth” (2025), oil on linen, 42 x 80 inches. All images courtesy of PM/AM, shared with permission

    Through Surreal Paintings, Shyama Golden Reincarnates a Mythic Narrative

    April 26, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    When Shyama Golden would find herself disappointed as a child, her parents would often respond with “too bad, so sad, maybe next birth.” Invoking reincarnation and the possibilities of an alternative life, this phrase continues to reinvent itself in Golden’s practice.

    On view next month at PM/AM, Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth presents a collection of lush paintings filled with surreal details, earthly textures, and a recurring blue-faced character. As with earlier series, the artist invents a vast, magical narrative that flows through each of the works, this time as a four-act performance.

    “Bevis Bawa Garden, 1936” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches

    The mythical storyline unfolds with a collection of diptychs comprised of a large-scale scene and a close-up companion offering another perspective. These pairings visualize a sort of alternative past for the artist as she explores the inexorable twining of personal agency and larger forces like fate and collective experiences that shape our identities.

    In Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth, Golden opens with her blue-faced alter ego named Maya, a rendition of the Sri Lankan folklore tricksters known as yakkas. Dressed in a fur suit, the character lies in the roadway, her chest split open to reveal a bright red wound. A bag of oranges is littered nearby.

    The counterpart to this titular work is a self-portrait of the artist barefoot, posed against the rocky roadside. She stands atop cracked pavement while oranges spill blood-red juice on the ground. Introspective yet invoking the universal, the pair grasps at the tension between unexpected violence and death, whether metaphoric or real, and the ability to find resilience in the face of adversity.

    Golden’s series continues to unravel as a series of contrasts. She considers fame, erasure, and where freedom resides within the two, along with the notion of sole creative geniuses mistakenly thought to operate outside the whole. And in “Mexican Texas, 1862,” the artist tackles the porous, if not arbitrarily drawn, boundaries that tie us to states and nations and ultimately, change over time.

    “Stories of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 36 inches

    In addition to her oil paintings for this exhibition, Golden is collaborating on an animated video project with her husband, the director Paul Trillo, who will build an AI model trained exclusively on Golden’s paintings. Given the hesitation by many artists about the role of artificial intelligence and intellectual property, the pair is interested in confronting the issue from the perspective of influence and the myth of the lone genius. Golden writes:

    Many artists who are canonized are actually working in a style that they didn’t invent but that was part of a movement arising out of their time and location. AI is deeply unsettling to artists in the West because we romanticise the artist as a singular figure, who is only influenced by one to three other clearly defined artists, giving them a lineage of artistic inheritance and perceived value.

    Golden also ties this idea to “the clout needed to command a price for our work,” which she suggests is simply another narrative device in the act of self-mythologizing.

    If you’re in London, Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth runs from May 23 to July 1. Find more from Golden on her website and Instagram.

    “Mexican Texas, 1862” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches

    “A Myth of My Own Creation” (2025), oil on linen, 66 x 48 inches

    “You Seeing What I’m Seeing” (2025), oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches

    “The Sound of One Bird Colliding” (2025), oil on linen, 24 x 30 inches

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      in Art

      In Luminous Portraits, Florence Solis Invokes Feminine Power Amid Constraint

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      “Makahiya IX” (2025),
      acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. All photos by Julieta Christy Sarmiento, courtesy of The Mission Projects, shared with permission

      In Luminous Portraits, Florence Solis Invokes Feminine Power Amid Constraint

      April 22, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      When touched, the hypersensitive makahiya plant folds its minuscule leaflets inward, protecting itself from any potential threat.

      Florence Solis draws on this defensive response in an ethereal collection of portraits. Beginning with digital collages that meld figures and delicate, organic ornaments, the Filipino-Canadian artist translates the imagined forms to the canvas. Shrouded in dainty, beaded veils or entwined with botanicals, each protagonist appears bound and concealed, their bodies and faces obscured by hair or grass.

      “Sirena” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

      As Solis sees it, the figures may be restricted, but they’re also able to find strength and transformation. “Filipino women, much like the makahiya, have been taught to yield, to soften, to take up less space,” she says. “And yet, beneath this quietness lies an undeniable force—one that persists, adapts, and reclaims space in its own way.”

      Working in saturated, often single-color palettes, Solis renders figures who appear to harness magical powers. She references Filipino folklore and the belief in the power of the everyday to lead to the divine, painting women rooted in tradition and myth, yet determined to see their transformation through.

      The vivid portraits shown here will be on view at EXPO CHICAGO this week with The Mission Projects. Find more from Solis on Instagram.

      “Sa Lupa (On Ground)” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

      “Totem” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

      “Makahiya VIII” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Makahiya VII” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

      “Alay (Offering)” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

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    • 150 Shares122 Views

      in Art

      Formidable Bronze Crowns by Marianna Simnett Conjure Myth and the Sublime Feminine

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      “Megaera” (2023), bronze and velvet, 59 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches. All images courtesy of Marianna Simnett and SOCIÉTÉ, Berlin, shared with permission

      Formidable Bronze Crowns by Marianna Simnett Conjure Myth and the Sublime Feminine

      April 15, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      For Marianna Simnett, sticking to one medium or theme defies her interpretation of what art can be. She fights the natural proclivity of galleries, collectors, and art enthusiasts to typecast her practice as one thing. “Trying to shed those expectations every time—trying to do something different—it’s exhausting but so worth it,” she says in an interview for Art Basel. “Now the signature is that people don’t know what to expect, and that’s the best outcome possible.”

      Among myriad strains of her practice—which include filmmaking, sculpture, installation, painting, and performance—a collection of bronze crowns created between 2022 and 2024 command our attention. Situated on top of bespoke velvet cushions, Simnett’s Crowns are cast in an alloy that would make the elaborate headpieces burdensome or even painful to wear, yet the meticulously formed arches, band, and spikes manifest as delicate mammals and birds.

      “Hydra” (2023), bronze and velvet, 55 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

      “Simnett uses vivid and visceral means to explore the body as a site of transformation,” says a statement from SOCIÉTÉ, which represents the artist. “In psychologically charged works that challenge both herself and the viewer, Simnett imagines radical new worlds filled with untamed thoughts, strange tales, and desires.”

      Named for powerful female figures from ancient lore like Discordia, the Greek goddess of strife, or Lilith, a she-demon in Jewish and Mesopotamian mythology, Simnett’s Crowns examine the power, ferocity, and sublimity of allegorical female figures. One can imagine that only supernatural beings could wear these pieces and feel comfortable.

      Simnett’s sculptures were first shown in her exhibition OGRESS in 2022. “In fairy tales and folklore, the ogress is a voracious monster who deceives men and torments children in her quest to ravish them whole,” says an exhibition statement. Simnett wielded “the ogress’ insatiable hunger as a radical force,” illuminating the role of women in myth and legend, especially the symbolic tension between embracing and fearing those who are different.

      Simnett’s solo exhibition Charades opens at SOCIÉTÉ on May 1, coinciding with Berlin Gallery Weekend. Explore a wide range of the artist’s multimedia work on her website and Instagram.

      “Laverna” (2023), bronze and velvet, 55 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

      Detail of “Laverna”

      “Discordia” (2023), bronze and velvet, 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 16 inches

      “Maniae” (2022), bronze and velvet, 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 16 inches

      “Lilith” (2024), bronze and velvet, 57 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

      Detail of “Lilith”

      “Astraea” (2023), bronze and velvet, 55 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

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    • 138 Shares168 Views

      in Art

      In Mythic Paintings, Anna Ortiz Conjures the Uncanny of the Borderlands

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      “Sayula” (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches. All images courtesy of Anna Ortiz, shared with permission

      In Mythic Paintings, Anna Ortiz Conjures the Uncanny of the Borderlands

      April 3, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      For Anna Ortiz, the borderlands are a rich source for the uncanny. The Mexican-American artist (previously) was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, but visited her family in Guadalajara often. There, she was immersed in her ancestral landscape and introduced to her family’s history as artists—her grandfather painted portraits, while her aunt was a professional sculptor.

      These formative experiences offered a contrast to her life in the Northeast and the dichotomous relationship between the two continues to influence her thinking and practice today.

      “Al Otro Lado de Texcoco” (2025), oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inches

      For her upcoming solo exhibition at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Ortiz conjures a surreal borderland that suspends time. Awash in saturated color palettes of pink, blue, and green, the paintings in Prophecy Here and Gone reference Aztec histories and how their influence continues to shape the landscape.

      In the diptych “Al Otro Lado de Texcoco,” for example, a gleaming lake peeks through dense clusters of cacti. Nested at the base of the volcano La Malinche, the body of water greeted the Aztecs when they moved to what’s now known as Mexico City. When the Spanish arrived, they drained the lake in a failed attempt to farm the land.

      Ortiz tells Colossal that she frequently paints pairs as a way to consider unfulfilled destinies and paths not chosen. Twin agaves appear in “Pareja,” while “Tula” depicts a couple of totemic sculptures that appear to be standing guard. Flat butterflies grace their chests, a reference to the statues found at the capital of the Aztecs’ ancestors, the Toltecs. The artist similarly incorporates doubling through reflections, as a majestic jaguar is mirrored in the aquatic foregrounds of several paintings.

      World-building and offering an entry point into ancient prophecies is key to this body of work. Interested in the ways civilization and the landscape interact and shape one another, Ortiz shares that “loss is a central theme…I was once very close to my Mexican heritage, and I lost it. I grew up fluent in Spanish but because of family strife, I lost that fluency.”

      “Tula” (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

      Ortiz’s paintings both honor the ancient peoples and cultures that once occupied the land and present an alternative universe in which their myths and prophecies had different outcomes. Vibrant and uncanny, the works portray the “lives we were unable to live but (that) happened without us,” she adds. 

      Prophecy Here and Gone is on view from April 5 to May 10 in Miami. Find more from Ortiz on her website and Instagram.

      “Agaves Bailando” (2024), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inches

      “Reflejada” (2025), oil on canvas, 40 x 48 inches

      “Sacrificio” (2023), oil on canvas, 48 x 40 inches

      “Pareja” (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches

      “Gemelos Amaranto” (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inches

      “En Orbita” (2025), oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches

      “Cihuacoatl” (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

      “Nahual” (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inches

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    • 200 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii

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      Overview of a large fresco inside an excavated banquet gall in Pompeii. Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii

      March 4, 2025

      ArtHistoryScience

      Kate Mothes

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      When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., the enormous explosion buried the city of Pompeii in an astonishing 19 meters of ash and debris. (A recent study concludes that in the neighboring town of Herculaneum, the blast was so intense that it vitrified a young man’s brain.) Since excavations of the area began in 1748, discovery after discovery has revealed lavish, poignant, and complex details about what life was like nearly 2,000 years ago in the Roman port town.

      When Vesuvius buried everything, the ash provided an extraordinarily protective covering for delicate frescos and structures, like an expansive fresco recently excavated in a banquet hall that “sheds light on the mysteries of Dionysus in the classical world,” says a statement from Italy’s Ministry of Culture.

      Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      The large-scale painted frieze archaeologists are calling “house of Thiasos” shows the procession of Dionysus, god of wine, along with satyrs and bacchantes—also known as maenads—who are portrayed simultaneously as dancers and hunters.

      In the center of the composition, a woman is accompanied by Silenus, an elderly companion and tutor to Dionysus, holding a torch. The woman “indicates that she is an initiand,” the Ministry of Culture says, “a mortal woman who through a nocturnal ritual is about to be initiated into the mysteries of Dionysus, the god who dies and is reborn and who promises the same to his followers.”

      Spanning three walls of a building—the fourth had been open to a garden—in the so-called Regio IX district, the painting depicts a frieze known as a “megalography,” derived from the Greek for “large painting” and comprising a cycle of paintings with nearly life-size figures. Archaeologists date the fresco to around 40 to 30 B.C.E., nearly 100 years old already by the time Vesuvius erupted.

      Archaeologies typically categorize Roman and Pompeiian painting into four chronological periods or styles: incrustation (structural), architectural, ornamental, and intricate. Each style adapted elements of the previous period to generate new motifs and trends.

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      The new banquet hall example is thought to be indicative of the second style in which figures or tableaux are framed within faux architectural niches and trompe-l’œil compositions. Curiously for art historians, all of the figures are depicted on pedestals “as if they were statues,” the Ministry of Culture says, “while at the same time their movements, complexion, and clothing make them appear very alive.”

      Investigations into the Regio IX district, which covers approximately 3,200 square meters, began two years ago. So far, the excavation of the entirely buried block has revealed two atrium houses—already partially explored in the 19th century—plus two workshop houses, some residential rooms of a large domus, a black hall with scenes from the Trojan saga, and a shrine with a rare blue background. More than 50 new rooms have been identified, and there is plenty more yet to uncover.

      As archaeologists gradually chip away at the ancient pile of volcanic detritus, new finds like a food stand and a primitive pizza continue to awe and inspire our understanding of ancient Roman life. The site is open for public visits, and you can explore more on the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s website.

      Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

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