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    Delightful Nighttime Landscapes Nestle into Stacked Wooden Boxes in Allison May Kiphuth’s Dioramas

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    Art

    #animals
    #dioramas
    #found objects
    #miniature
    #mixed media
    #nature
    #sculpture
    #watercolor

    February 3, 2021
    Grace Ebert

    All images © Allison May Kiphuth, shared with permission
    Allison May Kiphuth (previously) shrinks the expansive landscapes found throughout the eastern United States into picturesque dioramas brimming with natural life. Through layered watercolor and ink renderings, the Maine-based artist creates a mix of quiet forest scenes and ocean habitats often under a dark, nighttime sky. She then stacks the outfitted wooden boxes, blending the marine and land-based pieces in varying positions that create new ecosystems with every combination.
    Although Kiphuth derives much of her subject matter from the area around her home, she shares that experiencing new scenes is essential to her practice. “I haven’t been outside of Maine in over a year, and while this landscape is usually so expansively beautiful to me, without the contrast of other landscapes for perspective, it’s been feeling incredibly small,” a feeling that’s amplified by her living and working from a tiny home that’s just 8 x 20 feet.
    The artist has a solo show slated for August at Antler Gallery in Portland, and limited edition prints of the piece above are available from Nahcotta. Get a glimpse into Kiphuth’s process and views of the scenery she references in her works on Instagram.

    “Bond,” watercolor, paper, and pins in antique box, 4 x 6 x 2 inches
    “Defense,” watercolor, paper, and pins in antique box, 4.625 x 7 x 3.75 inches
    Left: “Den” (2019), watercolor on layers of hand-cut paper, sealed with encaustic, 6 x 6.5 x .5 inches
    “Nightlight 2,” Watercolor, paper, thread, and pins in antique box, 6.25 x 4.875 x 3.25 inches
    “Observation” (2019), watercolor on layers of hand-cut paper, sealed with encaustic, 6 x 6 x .5 inches
    “Defense” in progress

    #animals
    #dioramas
    #found objects
    #miniature
    #mixed media
    #nature
    #sculpture
    #watercolor

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      Mysterious Marine Ecosystems Populate Rich Paintings by Robert Steven Connett

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      Art

      #animals
      #climate change
      #fish
      #nature
      #painting
      #plants

      January 27, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Devouring Star Jelly.” All images © Robert Steven Connett, shared with permission probes the ocean depths for
      Whether rendered as a snapshot of the ocean floor or a few drops of water under a microscope, the densely inhabited paintings by Robert Steven Connett (previously) are brimming with vitality. The Los Angeles-based artist probes the planet’s bodies of water, unveiling a range of flora and fauna that populate the mysterious and sometimes psychedelic ecosystems with exacting detail.
      From jellyfish and seaweed to microbes, the organisms memorialize Earth’s dwindling biodiversity. The onslaught of news concerning the climate crisis informs how Connett understands the urgency of his works—they evoke Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations but diverge from the German biologist’s drawings in color palette and foreboding elements—which serve as both earnest studies of aquatic creatures and  “a tribute to life as it was before the great extinctions began.”
      Even so, Connett shares that he focuses on the immense beauty and his curiosity about the natural world.  “I don’t want to sully the pictures I paint with death and ugliness,” he says. “I’m afraid the news of the real world will supply plenty of that.” He explains further:
      In the shadow of a withering planet, I create worlds that are lush and thriving. I hope my work can encourage and uplift those who are disheartened by the climate crisis. However, creating a memory of a time when our world was stable is not enough. We all must do everything we can to lessen the causes of the crisis.
      Original works, prints, and other products featuring Connett’s meticulous environments are available in his shop, and you can follow his latest projects on Instagram.

      “Hydroza”
      “Flower Mimic”
      “Sea Fauna”
      “Space Plankton”
      “Space Plankton 2”

      #animals
      #climate change
      #fish
      #nature
      #painting
      #plants

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      A Pulsating Light Room of Multi-Layered Glass by Claudia Bueno to Premiere at Meow Wolf Las Vegas

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      Art

      #drawing
      #glass
      #installation
      #light
      #nature
      #plants
      #sound

      January 8, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Step into Claudia Bueno’s aquarium-style installation at Meow Wolf’s new space in Las Vegas and experience the slow, oscillating movements of natural life. “Pulse” is comprised of countless white line drawings that are meticulously intertwined and superimposed on 60 glass panels. When illuminated, they mimic scores of nautilus spirals, coral, vines, and botanics that sway and throb in glowing masses.
      “This is what ‘Pulse’ is, a way of creating animated volumes using layers of drawings that build up. I have been refining this technique for the last six years, understanding how these forms can also have a moving quality when the light system is applied,” the Venezuela-born artist says, noting that the idea for the project grew out of a visit to Yellowstone National Park.

      [embedded content]
      During the course of eight months, a team of women painstakingly painted the glass panels at Bueno’s Idaho studio. “The repetitive/meditative quality of the work lent itself to provide a very special healing space for us as we drew fine lines for hours and openly shared and supported each other,” she says. No matter the scale of the project, Bueno begins with a single dot that she duplicates, expands into lines, and eventually into intricately developed patterns, which she explains:
      It seems like it doesn’t matter what size, materials, and tools I am working with, the same kinds of patterns manage to manifest themselves over and over, building on each other, gaining both complexity and simplicity at the same time… It has been an interesting brain challenge to visualize a stack of 2D drawings that then become 3D and move. It’s my own version of a non-digital, hand-drawn time-lapse or animation.
      Although much of the installation’s work is complete, Bueno shares that she’s creating smaller sculptures, jewelry, and other works to coincide with the larger project. “Pulse” is set to premiere at Meow Wolf’s satirical sendup of consumerism, Omega Mart, which the Santa Fe-based arts group (previously) will open within Area 15 in early 2021. Until then, find more of Bueno’s light-based works on her site and Instagram.

      #drawing
      #glass
      #installation
      #light
      #nature
      #plants
      #sound

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      Symmetrical Typewriter Sculptures by Artist Jeremy Mayer Merge the Organic and Manufactured

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      Art

      #metal
      #nature
      #sculpture
      #typewriters

      November 16, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Untitled II” (2020), typewriter parts and aluminum, 65 x 65 x 12 inches
      “There’s nothing unnatural about mechanical components,” Jeremy Mayer says. For decades, the artist has harbored a fascination with the repetitive, complex patterns of single-cell organisms and the delicately rendered illustrations of Ernst Haeckel, an attraction that manifests in his latest sculptures.
      Spanning up to 65 inches, Mayer’s metal artworks are comprised of old typewriter parts mounted around a laser-cut aluminum frame with only the original screws, nuts, pins, and springs holding the mirrorlike pieces together. Formed around a central, circular element, the multi-unit assemblages splay outward. Each of the six points—which evoke starfish, despite having one extra arm—often resemble trilobites, pincers, and other creatures and organic elements, merging the manufactured and natural.
      “The form and function are based upon our knowledge of the living world around us. I’m interested in making the machine look like a living thing, drawing inspiration from the relationships that the early designers of the typewriter had with nature,” he says.

      “Untitled I” (2020), typewriter parts and aluminum, 60 x 60 x10 inches
      Mayer purchases between 10 and 15 typewriters each year, which he sources from repair shops, thrift stores, and yard sales around the San Francisco Bay Area. “The more broken the better,” he writes. In the past, he’s gravitated toward the smaller components of the metal machines to assemble birds, skulls, and other figurative sculptures. After transporting the bulky leftovers from studio to studio for years, he gathered enough duplicate parts to construct the symmetrical sculptures.
      The ongoing series was born out of a residency at Mumbai-based manufacturer Godrej & Boyce, during which Mayer was asked to create works from leftover typewriters. During his six months, he built mandala-like sculptures and a 13-foot-tall kinetic lotus that explored the connections between industry and biological forms.
      Mayer finished the first sculpture of this most recent series at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns and almost has completed five since. He has plans for ten in total, and you can follow their progress on Instagram.

      “Untitled III” (2020), typewriter parts and aluminum, 60 x 60 x 14 inches
      “Untitled III” (2020) (detail), typewriter parts and aluminum, 60 x 60 x 14 inches
      “Untitled I” (2020) (detail), typewriter parts and aluminum, 60 x 60 x10 inches
      “Untitled II” (detail) with Cleo Mayer
      Studio with “Untitled IV” in progress

      #metal
      #nature
      #sculpture
      #typewriters

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      A Colorful Geometric Mural of a Cityscape Visualizes Humans’ Impact on Nature

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      Art

      #cityscapes
      #climate change
      #flowers
      #murals
      #nature
      #public art
      #street art

      November 2, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Love of Nature” in Chelyabinsk, Russia. All images © Vitaly Tsarenkov, shared with permission
      Artist Vitaly Tsarenkov, who works under the moniker SY, depicts the threat of ecological catastrophe through a new mural featuring geometric flora, fauna, and objects typically found in bustling city centers. Created for the Urban Morphogenesis festival in Chelyabinsk, Russia, “Love of Nature” is a vertical rendering of the human impact on nature, with color-blocked trucks, road cones, and towering buildings near the top and a fire, flowers, and tufts of grass occupying space at the bottom.
      Based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Tsarenkov says the 50-meter-high mural conveys that each person has the agency to protect the planet’s resources. “It’s impossible to stop all harmful factories at once, but to make the first step towards the clean Earth is not difficult and within everybody’s power just by taking the trash away after recreation in nature,” he writes on Instagram.

      #cityscapes
      #climate change
      #flowers
      #murals
      #nature
      #public art
      #street art

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      Overflowing with Flora and Fauna, Collaged Paper Installations Comment on Earth’s Dwindling Biodiversity

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      Art

      #animals
      #found photographs
      #installation
      #nature
      #paper
      #plants

      October 21, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Intimate Immensity” (2016). Photograph by Trevor Good. All images © Clare Börsch, shared with permission
      Sprawling across paint-chipped walls and tiny alcoves, the collaged installations of artist Clare Börsch mimic overgrown jungles and whimsical forest scenes. Layers of flora, fauna, and the occasional gemstone or human figure comprise the amorphous paper artworks as they transform spaces into fantastical ecosystems.
      In a note to Colossal, Börsch shares that she began her artistic practice as a way to translate her dreams, which are often lucid and informed by memories and a strong tie to nature, into physical objects that others could immerse themselves in. “Growing up in Brazil, I had the ocean, rivers, and jungles that always existed in stark contrast to the industrial cities (I lived in Sao Paulo). So my earliest and most formative memories are of lush, humming tropical ecosystems —and the encroaching industrial landscapes of Brazil’s cities,” she says.
      The Berlin-based American artist sources her many of the vintage photographs from open source archives, including the Biodiversity Heritage Library (previously), Pixabay, and Unsplash. Some of the botanical elements she draws or photographs herself before cutting around the organic elements and assembling them in new, sometimes bizarre, compositions.

      Jungle installation commissioned by Book A Street Artist Berlin for Riem Arcaden in Munich. Photograph by the artist
      Despite the vibrancy and lively qualities of the three-dimensional collages, Börsch uses her artworks to reflect on the ongoing climate crisis and destruction of biodiversity, commentary that’s laced with themes of decay and death. She explains:
      This came into focus for me when I made a series of collages and then later realized that many of the species in the vintage illustrations had already gone extinct. Humanity has wiped out 68% of all our planet’s biodiversity since 1970, so working with vintage illustrations can be very heartbreaking as much of the diversity in these gorgeous old naturalist prints has been wiped out by human activity.
      Since then, Börsch has been collaborating with scientist Louisa Durkin, of the Nordic Academy of Biodiversity and Systematics Studies, to identify ways the artworks can spark awareness and dialogue about environmental issues. “I often say that I do not want my art to be a funerary dirge for everything we could have saved,” she says.
      In recent months, Börsch has been working on a commissioned series that will culminate in a forthcoming book, titled Why Do Tigers Have Whiskers? And Other Cool Things About Animals, which is scheduled for release by Thames & Hudson in May 2021. Follow the artist on Instagram to see her latest projects, including an immersive installation commenting on regenerative approaches to tackling problems of biodiversity, which she plans to unveil in early November. (thnx, Elsie!)

      “Intimate Immensity” (2016)
      “Intimate Immensity” (2016)
      Jungle installation commissioned by Book A Street Artist Berlin for Riem Arcaden in Munich
      Photograph by Kolja Raschke
      “Intimate Immensity” (2016). Photograph by Trevor Good
      Photograph by Kolja Raschke
      Photograph by Kolja Raschke

      #animals
      #found photographs
      #installation
      #nature
      #paper
      #plants

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      Antidote: Organic Lifeforms Rendered with Prussian Blue Create Vivid Ecosystems by Yellena James

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      Art

      #acrylic
      #coral
      #flowers
      #gouache
      #ink
      #nature
      #painting

      October 6, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Yellena James, courtesy of Stephanie Chefas Projects, shared with permission
      Using a combination of acrylics, gouache, and ink, Yellena James cultivates brightly-hued ecosystems ripe with lines, patterns, and nature-based motifs. The Portland-based artist paints organic forms that resemble both marine species like coral and kelp in addition to full-bloom flowers, creating brilliant, labyrinth-like ecosystems. Although Prussian blue ink has been a mainstay in James’s practice for years, she recently discovered that the specific color serves as a remedy for certain toxic metal poisonings. This realization spurred the series shown here, which is aptly named Antidote. Each work features the vibrant hue in some capacity.
      If you’re in Portland, check out James’s solo show at Stephanie Chefas Projects through October 10. To see the artist’s works in progress, head to Instagram, and try your hand at similar drawings with James’s book, Star, Branch, Spiral, Fan: Learn to Draw from Nature’s Perfect Design Structures. (via Supersonic Art)

      #acrylic
      #coral
      #flowers
      #gouache
      #ink
      #nature
      #painting

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      Subjects Undertake Futile Pursuits in Satirical Paintings by Artist Toni Hamel

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      Art

      #flowers
      #humor
      #nature
      #painting
      #satire

      September 16, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Loves Me Loves Me Not” (2020), oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches. All images © Toni Hamel, shared with permission
      Based in Oshawa, a suburb of Toronto, artist Toni Hamel (previously) is concerned with human morality—or lack thereof. In her subtly hued artworks, Hamel portrays subjects in the midst of futile and trivial pursuits: children pluck stars from the night sky, a couple attempts to reconstruct a flower after its petals have fallen, and a young family literally watches wet paint dry. Many of the satirical pieces consider socially accepted anthropocentrism and the relationship people have with the surrounding environemnt.
      Since 2017, Hamel has been adding to High Tides and Misdemeanors, an ongoing series that is intentionally political. “It confronts us with the repercussions of our actions and denounces the current thinking models. In this age of alternative realities, ‘fake news’ and a culture that is increasingly more self-absorbed and superficial, I feel that it’s even more important for me to carry on reporting what I must,” she writes.
      Explore more of Hamel’s visual commentaries on culture and politics on Instagram.

      “The Harvest” (2020), oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches
      “The Prototype 1” (2020), oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches
      “The Spill” (2020), oil on canvas, 12 x 10 inches
      “Family Night In Kodachrome” (2020), oil on panel, 12 x 12 inches
      “The Replacement” (2019), oil on canvas, 14 x 18 inches
      “Ikebana 1” (2019), oil on canvas, 18 x 18 inches
      “Ikebana 3” (2020), oil on canvas, 18 x 18 inches

      #flowers
      #humor
      #nature
      #painting
      #satire

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      Hundreds of Collaged Photographs Form Rich, Botanical Worlds by Artist Catherine Nelson

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      Art
      Photography

      #collage
      #digital
      #environment
      #nature

      August 21, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Pachira,” 59 x 59 inches.  All images © Catherine Nelson, shared with permission
      A decade ago, Catherine Nelson compiled hundreds of photographs of barren, snow-covered landscapes and autumnal forests for her project Future Memories 2010. The Australian artist, who lives and works between Ghent and Amsterdam, recently revisited that series to create a new body of work with similar world-building techniques. “With the tumultuous events of 2020 still unfolding and the undeniable links to the destruction of the natural world by mankind, it felt timely to return to the themes from that series, which talk about our planet and the importance of protecting what we have,” she says.
      Composed of photographs captured during three years and across four continents, Future Memories 2020 spans “from the lush, tropical flora of Costa Rica and Far North Queensland and the fertile, volcanic mountains of the Azores, to the rolling hills of the Greenland tundra,” Nelson writes. Many of the orb-like digital assemblages feature thick brush and foliage around the outside, while the less-populated centers appear to bulge out. The organic spheres hover effortlessly against a cloudy backdrop, highlighting the rich colors and incredible diversity of every environment. Each piece serves as a reminder that “it is in the flourishing variety of the local that the fate of the world resides,” the artist says.
      Nelson’s work is on view through September 22 at Michael Reid in Sydney and will head to Gallerysmith in Melbourne early next year. Those unable to experience the complexly assembled worlds in person can see more on her site.

      “Cubali,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Sarapiqui,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Terra Nostra,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Tortuguero,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Tropic,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Tundra,” 59 x 59 inches
      “Cartago,” 59 x 59 inches

      #collage
      #digital
      #environment
      #nature

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