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    Monumental Murals by Agostino Iacurci Vibrantly Reimagine Urban Facades

    “Cardi (1571-2021)” (2021), wall painting, dimensions variable. Borgo Universo, Aielli. Photo by Domenico d’Alessandro

    Monumental Murals by Agostino Iacurci Vibrantly Reimagine Urban Facades

    April 21, 2025

    ArtDesign

    Kate Mothes

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    Murals by Agostino Iacurci bring drab buildings to life in bold jewel tones, playful patterns, color blocks, and symmetry. Whether painting directly onto bricks and plaster or designing immense fabric sheaths to cover construction scaffolding, the artist’s vibrant compositions enliven street corners and urban thoroughfares.

    Iacurci often emphasizes geometric patterns, flora, classical vases, and niches that hold symbolic objects or figures. You might enjoy checking out Gingko Press’s Mural Masters, a survey of the next generation of street artists, and see more on Iacurci’s website and Instagram.

    “Landscape n.1” (2021), wall painting, 27.7 x 7.1 meters. Las Vegas, Nevada. Commissioned by Life is Beautiful

    “Disegno d’esame” (2021), enamel on wall, dimensions variable. Pascucci Elementary School, Santarcangelo di Romagna. Photo by Francesco Marini

    “Grüne Oase” (2024). Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Photo by Ivan Murzin

    “COINCIDENCES.” Ensorinstituut, Oostende, Belgium. Produced by The Crystal Ship

    Detail of “COINCIDENCES”

    “Landscape n.2” (2021), print on PVC scaffold sheet, 17 x 14 meters. Pastificio Cerere, Rome. Photo by Carlo Romano

    “Landscape n.3” (2021). Pinacoteca Civica, Foggia. Photo by Domenico d’Alessandro

    “L’antiporta” (2021), paint on wall, dimensions variable. Biblioteca Ugo Tognazzi, Pomezia. Curated by Marcello Smarrelli and Pastificio Cerere for Sol Indiges. Photo by Lorenzo Palmieri

    Detail of “L’antiporta”

    Detail of “Cardi (1571-2021).” Photo by Domenico d’Alessandro

    Detail of “Disegno d’esame.” Photo by Domenico d’Alessandro

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    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

    “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 223 x 280 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Gallery, London, shared with permission

    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

    April 14, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    As if splashed onto the wall with a monumental brush, Anne von Freyburg’s installations visualize fabric and fiber as gestural splotches of paint. Colors bleed into one another and drips extend to the floor in what the London-based Dutch artist describes as “textile paintings.”

    Drawing on 17th and 18th-century European painting traditions like the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age and the stylized exuberance of Rococo, von Freyburg reframes relationships between craft and fine art.

    “Fantasia (After Boucher, Venus and Cupid)” (2022), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 144 x 195 centimeters

    References to Rococo artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher play prominently in von Freyburg’s solo exhibition, Filthy Cute, at Saatchi Gallery. Tapping into “the clichés of heterosexual romance and societal expectations of women…she explores the pressures women face, particularly the expectations of being ‘caretakers’ and ‘pleasers,’” says a statement. Von Freyburg turns her attention to themes of compassion, freedom, and women as sovereign individuals.

    Filthy Cute celebrates sensuality and the feminine while highlighting unexpected associations between materials. The artist’s abstract compositions often reference florals that are blurred, dripping, and verging on complete abstraction. Glossy fabrics in a range of colors swirl without fully mixing, resulting in sensual shapes that are beguiling and strange.

    Von Freyburg describes one undergirding theme as “commodity fetishism,” tapping into the 17th-century fashion for Dutch floral still lifes and the infamous economic speculation bubble that characterized Tulip Mania between 1634 and 1637.

    The show continues through May 11 in London, running concurrently Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture, which also includes work by von Freyburg. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

    “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 350 x 250 centimeters

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    “Kabloom (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 230 x 130 centimeters

    “Tuttifrutti (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 235 x 135 centimeters

    Detail of “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)”

    Installation view of ‘Filthy Cute’ at Saatchi Gallery, London

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    Geometric Scaffolding Structures Geoffrey Todd Smith’s Gouache-and-Ink Portraits

    “Harmonizing With an Architect” (2025), gouache and ink on paper, 42 1/2 x 60 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Western Exhibitions, shared with permission

    Geometric Scaffolding Structures Geoffrey Todd Smith’s Gouache-and-Ink Portraits

    April 10, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    From the center of a gridded structure made of striped orbs and oblong shapes are two elements redolent of eyes. Seeming to peer out from the largely abstract composition, these facial features are augmented by forms that mimic ears, noses, and mouths all nested within the vivid patterns.

    The work of Chicago-based artist Geoffrey Todd Smith, these ambiguous portraits rendered in gouache and ink reference masks or mirrored reflections, revealing a distant figure without a defined identity. “To be honest, I keep thinking of them as evolving forms,” he tells Colossal. “I try to find new things in them when I look at them. I’m not entirely sure I want to figure them out because I probably won’t want to make them if I understand them.”

    “Picture of Dorian Greige” (2024), gouache and ink on paper, 24 x 22 inches

    Continually drawn to abstraction and geometry, Smith is known for his mesmerizing works that infuse elaborate, often zigzagged motifs with simple structures. Vibrant spheres seem to spill across the paper, creating trippy, symmetric compositions bursting with energy.

    The artist departs from pure abstraction in this new body of work as he incorporates humanoid components amid his interlocked shapes. Geometry still provides a scaffolding, though. He adds:

    If there is a break from logic, that sense of order can quickly collapse, creating tension, sort of like removing the bottom pieces in a game of Jenga. Either way, geometry helps me construct a sort of game board to which I respond with more decorative or ornamental decisions. Even the decorative hand-drawn elements play an optical and structural role. They either assert or interfere with order, depending on how I manipulate them.

    These ornamental additions are the product of a slow, introspective process. Smith prefers not to mix colors and instead layers materials to achieve a particular palette.

    “Medieval Knievel” (2025), gouache and ink on paper, 33 x 29 inches

    “The mark from a gel pen is so immediate and relatable. I like that they were marketed to teenagers because nobody feels quite as deeply as they do at that age,” he says. “I think of the intensity and rigor of my marks as mysterious emoting or like writing a gut-wrenching, abstract love letter.”

    If you’re in Chicago, you can see Smith’s solo show Assembly at Western Exhibitions through April 12. Otherwise, find more of his work on his website and Instagram.

    “Frock Of Regals” (2023), gouache and ink on paper, 22 x 30 inches

    “King Cobralabra” (2024), gouache, acrylic and ink on paper, 24 x 22 inches

    “Beastmaster General” (2024), gouache and ink on paper, 24 x 22 inches

    “Mixed-Message Magician” (2025), acrylic, gouache, and ink on paper, 37 1/2 x 29 inches

    “Chicago Armadillo” (2023), acrylic, gouache, and ink on paper, 30 x 22 1/4 inches

    “Atom Bomb Boom Box” (2023), acrylic, gouache, and ink on paper, 30 x 22 1/4 inches

    “Molotov Pineapple” (2023), acrylic, gouache, and ink on paper, 22 1/4 x 30 inches

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    In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West

    “Gored Cowboy” (2024-25), oil on linen, 84 x 68 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and HARPER’S, New York, shared with permission

    In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West

    April 10, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Set against mountains, desert plains, and the cobalt blue skies one finds at high elevations, Chloe West’s striking oil paintings merge Dutch Golden Age iconographies with both mythic and everyday motifs of the American West.

    West was born and raised in Wyoming, the peaks and pastures of which continue to influence her hyperrealistic figurative works. In her current solo exhibition, Games of Chance at HARPER’S, the artist draws on European portraiture and still life traditions in a series of self-portraits and tableaux challenging stereotypes of the West as a frontier molded by machismo.

    “Cowboy Philosopher” (2024-25), oil on linen, 84 x 68 inches

    “Cowboy Philosopher,” for example, portrays the artist in direct confrontation with the viewer, seated beside a mountain lion skull at a table covered with a celestial tapestry. The painting evokes Salomon Koninck’s “A Philosopher” (1635) and works by other Flemish artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who often depicted alchemists and scholars in their studies accompanied by skulls, devices, and documents.

    West subverts our understanding of cowboy culture as predominantly masculine, juxtaposing her own body with bones, small weapons, and fabric backdrops that establish a tension between life and death, folklore and daily life, and the sacred and the profane. Animal bones, thorns, and knives nod to memento mori, a reminder of the impermanence of life, while also invoking the supernatural and a sense of cyclical time. Casting deep, dark shadows, the glaring sun reveals all.

    Portraying herself in western wear, West bonds to the continuum of the landscape and its customs and narratives while considering the way European attitudes and actions like Manifest Destiny shaped our understanding of the region. The artist taps into legend, history, and magical realism to blur distinctions between the past and contemporary experience. “Ultimately, throughout Games of Chance, West confronts the idealization of frontier heroism, dismantling its pre-established boundaries and expanding upon the legacy it left behind,” the gallery says.

    Games of Chance opens today and continues through May 10 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

    “Hand with Opossum Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches

    Detail of “Gored Cowboy”

    “Trapper’s Still Life” (2024-5), oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

    “Pearled Back” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 46 inches

    “Portrait with Capped Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 48 inches

    “Pocketknife” (2024), oil on linen, 16 x 12 inches

    “St. Veronica at the Geyser Basin” (2024-25, oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

    “Hand with Thorn” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24h x 20w in

    Detail of “Cowboy Philosopher”

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    ‘And Then There Was Everything’ Unearths the Allure of Natural Motifs at Joy Machine

    Jeremy Miranda

    ‘And Then There Was Everything’ Unearths the Allure of Natural Motifs at Joy Machine

    April 9, 2025

    ArtNaturePartner

    Joy Machine

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    Joy Machine is thrilled to announce its second exhibition, And Then There Was Everything, featuring works by Paul S. Briggs, David Cass, Laura Catherwood, Yellena James, Jeremy Miranda, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, and Anna Ortiz. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 18.

    And Then There Was Everything takes its name from the opening line of Richard Powers’ novel The Overstory, which beckons readers into a winding, interconnected narrative tuned into the intimations of the trees. Powers writes that “a good answer must be reinvented many times, from scratch,” a sentiment each artist uniquely investigates through painting, ceramic sculpture, and collage. Iterating on natural motifs, these artists tap into our personal and collective psyches to unearth the recurring messages within.

    Paul Briggs, “Effloresce (Series)” (2025), black stoneware, white cone 6 glaze

    Rendering the familiar unfamiliar has long been a way to investigate the overlooked and to surface hidden emotions, and each artist presents seemingly common subject matter as an invitation to pause and look inward.

    In Briggs’ leafy vessels, repeating motifs are key to achieving equanimity. The artist uses a technique he calls “hand-turning” and works in a “very assertive but tender process.” From a single ball of clay, he pinches small, dynamic fronds surrounding the vessel walls as he finds a meditative balance in both his mind and the sculptures themselves.

    Although working at an intimate scale, Cass zooms outward as he paints undulating waves on antique tins, matchboxes, pulleys, and more, a collection of 14 of which are installed at Joy Machine. Visible swipes of paint delineate the horizon in some pieces, while others are entirely awash in curved lines. Interested in conveying the effects of a heating planet and rising waters, Cass uses repurposed, human-made containers representative of physical constraints as metaphors for our collective limits to adapt.

    In James’ alluring canvases, dense ecosystems spill from edge to edge. Striving for a perfect balance that becomes “a sort of compulsive meditation,” the artist paints delicate, otherworldly environments evocative of both land and sea. Catherwood similarly lingers in uncertainty as she renders hybrid creatures with fantastic motifs. Painted with soft, tender brushstrokes, the arresting beings become welcome companions to explore life’s mysteries and adjust to its cycles.

    Anna Ortiz, “Reflexión” (2024), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches

    Ortiz, too, conjures the uncanny in “Reflexión,” a desert landscape dotted with a pair of agave plants underneath an eclipse reflected on Lake Texcoco. The saturated, limited color palette renders the time of day ambiguous and helps establish a surreal borderland in which the now-dried lake still exists. Mixing memory and imagination, Ortiz draws on her own ancestral connections and positions the twin agaves as a way to consider unfulfilled destinies. 

    Miranda and Molina grapple with similar questions as they utilize recollections of moments and spaces. Observation is at the heart of Miranda’s works, and he harnesses the ethereal qualities of light to cast familiar spaces anew. In his hands, a nondescript pocket of forest or humble bonfire becomes dreamlike, prompting questions of perspective and how we understand our relationships to the settings that surround us.

    For Molina, a flutter of yellow butterflies and a mirrored parrot are symbols of connection and care. The brightly colored insects accompany a portrait of the artist’s mother as a child in “Mother Our Castles Will Not Be Made of Sand,” while “To Misericordia” conjures a place long gone. A poem inscribed in the work reads, “… And do you know that glitter and gold have gone out of fashion, and that your parrot no longer remembers himself?,” which references Molina’s great-grandmother’s pet and the ways companions give shape to the self.

    And Then There Was Everything is on view from April 18 to June 7. RSVP to the opening reception here.

    Jeffly Gabriela Molina, “Mother Our Castles Will Not Be Made of Sand” (2020), watercolor on Arches 300 Lb, 23 x 23 inches

    David Cass, “Pulley I – Rockport, ME” (2023-24), oil on marine pulley, 23 x 11.5 x 8 centimeters

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    Sebas Velasco’s Dreamy Oil Paintings Illuminate Cinematic Urban Landscapes

    “Somewhere in Time,” oil on canvas, 195 x 195 centimeters. All images courtesy of Sebas Velasco and the History Museum of Bosnia and Heregovina, shared with permission

    Sebas Velasco’s Dreamy Oil Paintings Illuminate Cinematic Urban Landscapes

    April 9, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Sebas Velasco (previously) has long been drawn to the landscapes and cultures of the Balkans and former Yugoslavian countries in southeastern Europe, where he has spent the past decade traveling and researching for his large-scale paintings and murals.

    The Morning Will Change Everything at the History Museum of Bosnia and Heregovina marks the Spanish artist’s first institutional exhibition. Inspired by the title of a song by Sarajevo-based band Indexi, the show continues Velasco’s exploration of urban landscapes and themes of relationships and passing time.

    “Wherever I May Roam,” oil on canvas, 195 x 195 centimeters

    Rendered in oil on wood or canvas, Velasco’s paintings depict figures, architecture, and old cars illuminated by street lamps or headlights in a realistic yet dreamlike world. Taking cues from photography through the use of cinematic lighting effects and portraiture, he often juxtaposes contrasting elements like grassy meadows with brutalist high-rises or derelict cars with wildflowers.

    Whether glowing under an orange street light or spotlit against a fuzzy smattering of brake lights and apartment windows, Velasco’s subjects are relaxed, poised, and unhurried. One can imagine the din of car horns, music, and other city noises in the background, yet Velasco emphasizes brief, self-assured interactions as if momentarily, time is at a standstill.

    Nighttime plays a starring role in Velasco’s compositions, which tap into dualities of the known and unknown, revelations and secrets, individuality and anonymity, and the quotidian and the extraordinary. He conjures “gateways to complex socio-economic narratives,” the museum says, emphasizing the power of humanity amid ever-evolving identities and the tumult of globalization.

    Find more on Velasco’s website and Instagram.

    Detail of “Wherever I May Roam”

    “Golf II,” oil on wood, 41 x 27 centimeters

    “The Morning Will Change Everything,” oil on wood, 120 x 120 centimeters

    “Agata,” oil on wood, 81 x 65 centimeters

    Detail of “Agata”

    “Yugo 45 III,” oil on wood, 24 x 35 centimeters

    “Interior Night Sarajevo II,” oil on wood, 46 x 33 centimeters

    Velasco working on a painting in his solo exhibition at the History Museum of Bosnia and Heregovina

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

    “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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    Drawing on Religious Renaissance Art, Marc Padeu’s Paintings Monumentalize the Quotidian

    “The Dreamers” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 230 x 360 centimeters. All images © Marc Padeu, courtesy of Larkin Durey, London, shared with permission

    Drawing on Religious Renaissance Art, Marc Padeu’s Paintings Monumentalize the Quotidian

    April 3, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Foregrounding vibrant patterns, swathed in bright fabrics, and illuminated by the sun, the figures in Cameroonian artist Marc Padeu’s paintings are imbued with beguiling gravitas. His large-scale works stem from a fascination with the power of narrative, connecting the Western art historical canon—especially Renaissance titans like Caravaggio—with contemporary experiences of life in Cameroon.

    Padeu was trained by the church as a fresco painter. He draws on dramatic biblical stories to juxtapose momentous religious and spiritual accounts with quotidian moments that emphasize Black joy, leisure, family, and fraternity.

    “Au baptême 2” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 300 centimeters

    Through the immediacy of acrylic, Padeu renders figures in everyday yet memorable scenes, whether gathered outdoors to relax, witnessing a baptism, or solemnly coexisting amid vivid surroundings.

    Many of Padeu’s paintings take inspiration from Renaissance compositions, like “La réunion syndicale,” which bears hints of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” (1495-1498) or Caravaggio’s “The Supper at Emmaus” (1601). Portrayed nearly life-size, the artist’s tableaux immerse us in rites of passage and moments of togetherness.

    Find more on the artist’s Instagram.

    “La réunion syndicale” (2021), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 280 centimeters

    “La bague de Roxane” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 280 centimeters

    “All the light on me” (2021), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 338 centimeters

    “La Balançoire 2” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 230 centimeters

    “Au pique-nique” (2022), acrylic on canvas, 220 x 200 centimeters

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