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Cotton thread and foraged leaves converge in a study of strength and vulnerability.
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“I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that our perceived reality is shaped by our minds and reflecting our inner world,” Blancke says.
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Detail of “Solarium.” All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission
Glass Flora and Fauna Flutter in the Delicate Work of Kate Clements
November 13, 2025
ArtNature
Kate Mothes
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Combining painted panels with delicate planes of kiln-fired glass, Kate Clements explores the nature of fragility. Glass is “a material defined by its capacity to hold tension,” she tells Colossal. “It can break, shatter, or shift at any moment. That awareness of impermanence has long been an undertone throughout my work: a nervous hum beneath the surface.”
Clements works with a granular substance called frit, which she composes into forms like leaves, insects, and birds directly onto a kiln shelf. When fired, these colorful drawings fuse into wafer-thin panels, which she then applies to painted panels or suspends in installations. Often incorporating patterns evocative of wallpaper and motifs that suggest architectural structures or niches, she plays with relationships between rigidity and fluidity and the artificial and the organic.
“Solarium” (2022), kiln-fired glass, hardware, and paint on panel, 63 x 83 inches. Photo by Will Preman
“The material has become almost an extension of my hand and my body through mark-making and scale,” Clements says, sharing that the process is quite meditative. “It’s about precision and intuition coexisting—knowing how to shape the material and when to let the glass move on its own terms in the kiln.”
The versatility of the medium, balanced with its inherent changeability, continues to fascinate Clements—especially the tension between control and risk. Like any material fired in a kiln, it has the potential to react in surprising ways or transform differently than expected. And once assembled into large-scale works through a process the artist likens to collage, the thin panels appear very delicate, like sugar sculptures, as if they could crumble or break with the slightest touch.
“Earlier pieces leaned into that unease,” Clements says. “I was drawn to the way glass can induce anxiety—the uneasy power of beauty that could, at any instant, turn on its head. That instability felt like a mirror of the world around us: alluring, dangerous, and unpredictable all at once.” More recent works build upon this sensitivity while emphasizing the ethereal qualities of the translucent medium, suspending delicate panels from the ceiling to create more solid, architectural forms.
Clements’ sculpture titled “Acanthus,” reminiscent of a gleaming triumphal arch, is on view at the Nelson Atkins Museum in the group exhibition Personal Best through August 9, 2026. New work is also in NOCTURNES, a solo show in the art gallery of Kansas City Community College, which continues through November 14. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Siren” (2025), kiln-fired glass, paint, and hardware, 54 x 33 inches
Detail of “Siren”
“False Principles” (2022), kiln-fired glass, paint, and pins, 101.5 x 83 inches. Photo by Will Preman
Detail of “False Principles”
“Verdant” (2022), kiln-fired glass, hardware, and paint on panel, 100 x 84 inches. Photo by Will Preman
Detail of “Verdant”
“Orpiment I” (2025), kiln-fired glass, paint, and hardware, 48 x 30 inches
Detail of “Orpiment I”
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“LoFi Girl” (2024). All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission
Stéphanie Kilgast’s Book ‘Utopia’ Chronicles Ten Years of Vibrant, Post-Apocalyptic Sculptures
September 22, 2025
ArtBooksNature
Kate Mothes
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In Stéphanie Kilgast’s vibrant yet poignant pieces, a speculative future without humans gives rise to unusual relationships. “In my artwork, humanity is absent, leaving behind its legacy of objects, buildings, and trash,” the artist says. She continues:
Flora and fauna are taking over. Animals, mushrooms, lichens, plants, and corals are inhabiting every nook and cranny, thus creating new habitats. This symbiosis between the object and the growing environment reflects the balance and respect that humanity has lost, and that I symbolically recreate in my work by expressing hope, joy, and the beauty of nature in an explosion of color.
Kilgast’s lighthearted, vivd, post-apocalytpic sculptures often include objects we tend to find discarded along the side of the road, like aluminum cans or glass bottles. Uncanny habitats also emerge around outmoded items like VHS tapes, portable CD players, or alarm clocks, which people rarely have a need for anymore thanks to smartphones or streaming services.
“Cycle” (2025)
The artist has also recently announced a new book, Utopia, which chronicles the last ten years of her work. The volume brings together a decade of sculptures, paintings, and sketchbook pages, complemented by essays and a complete catalogue of her pieces.
Utopia will print if at least 150 pre-orders are made by October 3. Dibs your copy today via Dashbook. Orders are anticipated to ship in December. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Front view of “Plastic Play” (2022)
“Alice Following the White Rabbit” (2023)
“Chemical Candy Dragonfly” (2024)
“Snapshot” (2024)
“Moving Pictures” (2024)
“Copper” (2024)
Rear view of “Plastic Play” (2022)
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“Flying Lesson (Dusk).” All photos by Matt Wenc. Images courtesy of the artist and Vertical Gallery, shared with permission
Surreal Narratives Unfurl Between Animals in Laura Catherwood’s Dreamy Paintings
September 15, 2025
ArtIllustrationNature
Kate Mothes
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Curious foxes, sleepy fawns, and daring mice are just a few of the woodland creatures that populate Laura Catherwood’s dreamy drawings and paintings. Working primarily in graphite and oil, she situates recognizable animals into unexpected and fantastical situations in illustrations that “explore the inner emotional landscape while simultaneously soothing the viewer,” she says.
It often takes a moment to comprehend the scope of each of Catherwood’s scenarios. A pair of spotted frogs in “Rue,” for example, is not what it seems at first, as two heads emerge from one body, and their long tongues are both pierced with a fishing hook. And in “Inexhaustible,” a toad with an unusual, bowl-like back full of water provides a tiny oasis for a troupe of flying fish.
“Inexhaustible”
Catherwood is interested in the power of illustration to channel feelings, questions, and experiences that may be challenging or revolve around grief. Her scenarios are surreal and even a little cryptic, yet we’re invited to witness intimate, affecting, and enigmatic narratives that prompt curiosity and wonder.
A couple of these works are currently on view alongside Jerome Tiunayan and Joseph Renda Jr. in The Scenic Route at at Vertical Gallery, which runs through September 27 in Chicago.
Catherwood is also currently working on a series of nine small murals as part of a public outreach project about invasive species, plus a small body of work related to species found in Upstate New York, where she’s soon moving. And she’s also preparing for two solo exhibitions next year. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Rue”
“Stirring”
“Listen”
“Flying Lesson (Dawn)”
“The Bridge”
“Hard to Find”
“Everything Happens for the First Time”
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Kerry Miller, “A Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera” (2013), mixed media, 10 1/4 x 16 1/8 × 3 1/8 inches. Photo courtesy of Kerry Miller. All images courtesy of Phaidon, shared with permission
‘Butterfly’ Explores 4,000 Years of Our Fascination with Lepidoptera in Art and Science
September 9, 2025
ArtBooksNatureScience
Kate Mothes
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Since time immemorial, we have been awed by the ornate patterns, metamorphosis, and migrations of butterflies and moths. Their uncanny life stages and spectrum of vibrant colors and textures—both as caterpillars and as adult insects—endlessly inspire wonder.
Butterfly: Exploring the World of Lepidoptera, a new book forthcoming from Phaidon on October 1, celebrates these distinctive winged creatures throughout art history and science. From portrayals in 4,000-year-old Egyptian artworks to pioneering entomological studies during the Enlightenment to contemporary explorations, the volume surveys our enduring fascination with the insects.
John Abbot, “Black and Blue Admirable Butterfly and Chestnut-coloured Butterfly” (c.1774–1841), etching from watercolor, 15 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches. Image courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library
So far, scientists have documented about 20,000 species of butterflies in the world, but there are likely more. And in the order of Lepidoptera, which includes moths, estimates of the total number of species range from a staggering 180,000 to 265,000. The largest is known as Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, with a wingspan that can reach up to one foot. And when it comes to moths, a similarly sized wingspan can be found on a Southeast Asian species known as the Atlas Moth.
Artists have long captured the likeness of butterflies in a range of media as a way to symbolically represent transformation, rebirth, beauty, and purity. More than 250 entries fill Butterfly, including sculptures, photography, paintings, illustrations, textiles, and more, which tap into the myriad ways in which these marvelous bugs pollinate not only our fragile ecosystems but our imaginations, too.
Pre-order your copy now in the Colossal Shop.
Ralph Martin, “Old World Swallowtail Wing” (2018), photograph, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of Ralph Martin / BIA / Nature Picture Library
Rebecca Coles, “British Masters 01” (2017), recycled art books and entomology pins, 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of TAG Fine Arts
Anonymous, Atlas Moth (c.1615), gouache on paper, 7 x 4 3/4 inches. Image courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Wardell Milan, “Sunday, Sitting on the Bank of Butterfly Meadow” (2013), chromogenic print, 39 7/8 x 60 inches. Image © Wardell Milan, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York
Katsushika Hokusai, “Peonies and Butterfly” (1833–4), woodcut print, ink, and color on paper, 10 × 14 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of Minneapolis Institute of Art
Cat Johnston, “Moth Creature” (2024), cloth, fur, paint, and epoxy clay Image © Cat Johnston
Martin Frobenius Ledermüller, “Butterfly Wing Scales” (c.1764), watercolor and ink on paper, 10 x 8 inches. Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library; Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
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Installation view of ‘Mika Rottenberg: Vibrant Matter’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca (2025).
Photo by Damian Griffiths. All images © Mika Rottenberg, courtesy of Hauser & Wirth, shared with permission
Glowing Plastic Spores Spring from Invasive Vines in Mika Rottenberg’s ‘Vibrant Matter’
September 2, 2025
ArtNature
Grace Ebert
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When a virulent material enters an ecosystem, it can wreak havoc on existing life. Bittersweet vines in Upstate New York, for example, were brought to the region in the second half of the 19th century to combat erosion and for their sinuous, woody beauty. Native to eastern Asia, these largely poisonous plants quickly became invasive, smothering other specimens and even uprooting trees.
For Mika Rottenberg, there’s another substance that would fall into this category: plastic. Like the bittersweet vines that have decimated forest populations near her studio, plastics have infiltrated innumerable systems, from the oceans to our homes to deep within our own bodies.
“Lampshare (bx 1.4)” (2025), milled reclaimed household plastic, plant, resin, and electric hardware, 36 x 33 x 34 inches. Photo by Pete Mauney
In a video from Hauser & Wirth, Rottenberg discusses how these two materials became the basis for a new body of work. On view at the gallery’s Menorca location, Vibrant Matter is the Argentinian artist’s first solo show in Spain and presents a series of glowing fungi sculptures that meld these two toxins.
“I’ve always been interested in collaborating with the forces of nature, thinking about an artwork as something you grow and harvest,” Rottenberg says. As she began to think about the “footprint of the studio,” she turned her focus to the invasive vines in the nearby forest and laundry jugs and other disposables sourced from dumpsters and local recycling centers.
Illuminated spores sprout from pedestals and dangle from the gallery ceiling, their vibrant, plastic tops adding a surreal veil to the largely organic forms. These Lampshares, as the artist calls them, question humanity’s enduring inclination toward toxicity, even when incorporating such pernicious materials into our lives ultimately puts us in danger.
Rottenberg has long been interested in consumption and the rampant nature of capitalism. Along with several video installations, the sculptural works in Vibrant Matter prompt questions about agency and the necessity of regeneration.
“I am interested in these human-made systems where the starting point is to have no clue what is really going on and to try to impose a certain logic on things, and the madness of that,” she adds.
Vibrant Matter is on view through October 26. Find more from Rottenberg on Instagram.
Installation view of ‘Mika Rottenberg: Vibrant Matter’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca (2025). Photo by Damian Griffiths
“Lampshare (with plant 2)” (2025), milled reclaimed household plastic, plant, resin, and electric hardware, 16 x 14 x 12 inches. Photo by Pete Mauney
Installation view of ‘Mika Rottenberg: Vibrant Matter’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca (2025). Photo by Damian Griffiths
“Lampshare (chandelier #5)” (2024), milled reclaimed household plastic and bittersweet vines, resin and electric hardware, 45 x 12 x 12 inches. Photo by Sarah Muehlbauer
Installation view of ‘Mika Rottenberg: Vibrant Matter’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca (2025). Photo by Damian Griffiths
“Lampshare” (2025), milled reclaimed household plastic and plant, batteries, resin, and electric hardware, 18 x 30 x 11 inches. Photo by Pete Mauney
Installation view of ‘Mika Rottenberg: Vibrant Matter’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca (2025). Photo by Damian Griffiths
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“Aspect of Summer,” oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Corey Helford Gallery, shared with permission
Atmospheric Oil Paintings by Martin Wittfooth Illuminate Nature’s Timeless Cycles
August 29, 2025
ArtNature
Kate Mothes
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In large-scale, elaborate oil paintings of powerful, glowing creatures, Martin Wittfooth explores the timeless cycles and forces of nature in a celebration of the sublime. Known for his enigmatic and atmospheric depictions of wild animals in dystopian settings, the artist blends traditional European painting techniques with critical contemporary concerns surrounding the human impact on the environment.
Wittfooth’s new solo exhibition, Deus Ex Terra at Corey Helford Gallery, features 19 new oil paintings on canvas, linen, or wood panels. Some take the form of tondos 18 to 24 inches in diameter, while others assume vast proportions, like “Duel,” a diptych that spans 12 feet wide. The stallion also appears as a regular embodiment of elemental forces, like in “Aspect of Fire” or “Aspect of Air,” in which silhouettes of powerful horses made of molten rock or clouds of steam rear up into towering positions.
“Aspect of Earth,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches
The show’s title, Deux Ex Terra, loosely translates to “god out of the earth.” It’s a nod to the ancient Greek and Roman phrase deux ex machina, which describes a dramatic or literary device in which a character or a “god” is introduced into the plot to solve a seemingly insolvable conflict. During a play, the character would be introduced via a crane, hence the “machine.” Wittfooth flips this notion back to nature and the elemental forces of the earth—weather, orbits, the seasons, life, water—to explore cyclical, self-sustaining rhythms.
“The Hermetic maxim, ‘As above, so below; As within, so without,’ has echoed through centuries of philosophical, mystical, and artistic inquiry,” the gallery says. “In Deus ex Terra, this principle serves as a guiding thread, illuminating the ways nature repeats its patterns across scale and time: in the branching of rivers and the veins of leaves, in the spiral of galaxies and the coiling of shells, in the cyclical turning of seasons and the rhythms of breath and heartbeat.”
In earlier work, Wittfooth concentrated on the strained relationship between humans and nature, with its effects revealed in the form of piles of plastic or shorn tree trunks. In his current work, he reflects on the instinctive and enduring facets of nature—the “ancient rhythms that prevail despite our human tumult,” the gallery says. “In a time of deep cultural and ecological upheaval, these paintings offer an invitation to acknowledge, to remember, and perhaps to heal.”
Deus Ex Terra opens tomorrow and continues through October 4 in Los Angeles. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Aspect of Fire,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches
“Parallelism 5 (Jellyfish 1),” oil on wood, 24 inches diameter
“Aspect of Spring,” oil on canvas, 56 x 58 inches
“Duel,” oil on panel, diptych, 36 x 144 inches
“Aspect of Winter,” oil on canvas, 50 x 57 inches
“Parallelism 4 (Snail),” oil on wood, 18 inches diameter
“Aspect of Air,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches
“Aspect of Autumn, “oil on canvas, 46 x 64 inches
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Hugh Hayden, “The End.” Photo by Thomas Clark. All images courtesy of the artists and The Clark Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, shared with permission
Six Acclaimed Artists Interpret Ecology and the Landscape for ‘Ground/work 2025’
August 21, 2025
ArtNature
Kate Mothes
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Across the expansive 140-acre grounds of The Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, six contemporary artists have been invited to create site-specific works engaging with the property’s meadows, trails, and woods, while highlighting their individual practices.
Sculptures by Yō Akiyama, Laura Ellen Bacon, Aboubakar Fofana, Hugh Hayden, Milena Naef, and Javier Senosiain dot a variety of sites, from manicured parkland to open fields to groves of trees.
Laura Ellen Bacon, “Gathering My Thoughts.” Photo by Joe Aidonidis
Bacon, whose ethereal sculptures made of malleable twigs seem to move, has installed the nine-by-five-foot “Gathering My Thoughts” in a wooded area. Made from willow sourced from Ohio, the piece appears to writhe like a living, growing form.
Hayden has constructed a larger-than-life ribcage—species unknown—made of locally sourced hemlock punctuated by dozens of branches that poke out in every direction. Partly camouflaged amid the trees, the work invites us to consider themes of ecological vulnerability, extinction, and the climate crisis. Following the exhibition, the piece will be allowed to decompose on-site, mirroring the way animal remains also eventually vanish back into the earth.
Fofana’s installation of two botanical forms, titled “Bana Yiriw ni Shi Folow (Trees and Seeds of Life),” is the artist’s first public art piece. He draws upon his spiritual belief in the divinity of nature, incorporating rolls of African cotton dyed with indigo, representing seeds, into a curling metal frame.
Other works include Senosiain’s vibrant sea creature, installed in a pond, along with Akiyama’s conical monolith evocative of scorched wood and Naef’s marble slabs that merge with the negative spaces of a fallen tree.
Aboubakar Fofana, “Bana Yiriw ni Shi Folow (Trees and Seeds of Life).” Photo by Thomas Clark
Curated by independent scholar Glenn Adamson, the exhibition provides the opportunity to experience contemporary art in a natural setting. Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark Art Institute, says:
The Clark’s campus becomes an accomplice, of sorts, in helping us to see and appreciate each artist’s particular vision and the interconnection between art and nature. With this edition of Ground/work, our guest curator…has intentionally blurred the line that traditionally separates the consideration of art and craft, urging us to appreciate the art that is inherent in all forms of craft.
Ground/work 2025 continues through October 2026, with free access day or night, 24/7, on The Clark’s campus. Plan your visit on the museum’s website.
Hugh Hayden, “The End” (detail)
Javier Senosiain, “Coata III.” Photo by Thomas Clark
Yō Akiyama, “Oscillation: Vertical Garden.” Courtesy of the artist and Joan B Mirviss LTD. Photo by Thomas Clark
Laura Ellen Bacon, “Gathering My Thoughts” (detail). Photo by Joe Aidonidis
Aboubakar Fofana, “Bana Yiriw ni Shi Folow (Trees and Seeds of Life)” (detail). Photo by Thomas Clark
Milena Naef, “Three Times Spannin.” Photo by Thomas Clark
Yō Akiyama, “Oscillation: Vertical Garden” (detail). Courtesy of the artist and Joan B Mirviss LTD. Photo by Thomas Clark
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