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Keita Morimoto Lingers in the Artificial Light of Urban Nights
by Aurelia Butler 12 March 2025, 22:02
“Green Room” (2025),
acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 194 x 3 centimeters. Photos by Shin Inaba, courtesy of Keita Morimoto and Almine Rech, shared with permission
Keita Morimoto Lingers in the Artificial Light of Urban Nights
March 12, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Cities are constantly in flux, but Keita Morimoto (previously) invites us to linger in their transitions a little longer. The artist renders corner stores, vending machines, and lampposts that illuminate spaces that might otherwise go unnoticed. Either unoccupied or inhabited by just one or two people, Morimoto’s scenes are dimly lit but not eerie and invoke the environments most of us engage with for just a moment.
“The anonymous, liminal spaces in my paintings echo the feeling of never fully belonging,” Morimoto says in a statement. “I’m drawn to the way emotions can transform a familiar setting into something entirely different, revealing deeper truths about the human experience.”
“Crossroad” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 130 x 3 centimeters
In a new body of work titled To Nowhere and Back, the artist continues his explorations into the interplay of light and shadow. Drawing on the sights of New York City and Tokyo, he considers how we find connection in a world that’s constantly changing. He shares:
My work reflects a lifetime of navigating conflict, loneliness, and the desire to escape within urban environments. When I moved from Osaka to Canada at 16, I experienced a profound sense of isolation, as though severed from everything familiar. Over time, some connections emerged, but it was always accompanied by subtle discomfort. Returning to Japan in 2021 brought a similar disorientation—moments when even my birthplace felt unfamiliar, as if reality itself had shifted.
Rather than translate streets he’s wandered down directly onto the canvas, Morimoto paints with a cinematic quality. This pulls the viewer from the familiar and makes even the most ordinary sidewalk appear intriguing. Zeroing in on light sources further supports this vision, and artificial bulbs become beacons amid scenes shrouded in darkness. The artist considers how these machines create “a robotic harmony in Japanese urban life” and paints them as characters in their own right.
To Nowhere and Back runs from March 14 to April 26 at Almine Rech in Tribeca. Find more from Morimoto on Instagram.
“Last Call” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 116.7 x 91 x 2.8 centimeters
“Evening Embers” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 130.3 x 3 centimeters
“Forgotten Path” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 259 x 4 centimeters. Photo by Osamu Sakamoto
“Waiting Hour” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 116.7 x 91 x 2.8 centimeters
“No Destination” (2025), acrylic on panel, 27.3 x 22 x 2 centimeters
“Evening Embers” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 130 x 3 centimeters
“Stairs to Nowhere” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 130 x 3 centimeters
“The Way Back” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 194 x 3 centimeters
“Missed Calls” (2025), acrylic and oil on linen, 145.5 x 112 x 3 centimeters
“Gathering” (2025), acrylic on panel, 27.3 x 22 x 2 centimeters
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Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.
by Aurelia Butler 11 March 2025, 21:14
“Flowers in a Glass Vase” (1704), oil on canvas, 33 × 26 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts. All images shared with permission
Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.
March 11, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Many of us are familiar with titans of the Dutch Golden Age like Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and more. Yet fewer of us have probably heard of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), renowned during her lifetime for her original style but under-acknowledged through the centuries in the canon of Western art history.
Co-organized by the Toledo Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, the first major U.S. exhibition of the artist’s work, Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art, introduces audiences to the breadth of her remarkable paintings.
“Posy of Flowers, with a Beetle, on a Stone Ledge” (1741), oil on canvas, 7 7/8 × 9 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of Kunstmuseum Basel
During her seven-decade career, Ruysch was the first woman admitted to the Confrerie Pictura, The Hague painters’ society, and she was appointed court painter in Düsseldorf to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. She rose to become one of the highest-paid artists of her day. In a foreword for the exhibition catalog, the directors explain that “Ruysch achieved fame across Europe in her lifetime, but her oeuvre was little studied by art historians in subsequent centuries. She has never been the subject of a major exhibition—until now.”
Art historians consider Ruysch to be among the most talented still life artists of the era, and by the time she died at 86, she had produced hundreds of paintings. Nature into Art includes more than 90 international loans, including 48 of her most significant works.
The artist was born in The Hague, The Netherlands, to parents with backgrounds in science and design. Her father was a professor of botany and anatomy, and her mother was the daughter of an architect. The artist began painting when she was around 15, copying flower and insect specimens from her father’s collection.
As her artistic faculty grew, Ruysch taught her father and her sister Anna how to paint. She merged modern scientific observation with an incredible aptitude for capturing light, composition, and form, and she typically dated her paintings when she signed them, giving art historians a clear record of stylistic shifts and subject matter over time.
“Flowers and Fruit in a Forest” (1714), oil on canvas, 38 × 48 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of Städtische Kunstsammlungen & Museen Augsburg
Ruysch’s success during her lifetime is attributed to both her unmistakable talent and the 17th-century Dutch fondness for flowers and gardening. Still life paintings of floral arrangements and tables heaping with food highlighted the beauty of nature and the gifts of plenty. The vanitas genre also sprung from the style, interpreting memento mori, Latin for “remember you must die,” into subtle, well-versed visual cues.
Motifs like skulls, insects, rotting fruit, or wilting flowers were symbolic reminders of the futility of pleasure, power, or wealth after death. For example, in Ruysch’s “Posy of Flowers, with a Beetle, on a Stone Ledge,” beetles and flies crawl over a spray of peonies and wildflowers that will soon wilt, and water droplets signify purity and the fleetingness of life.
Nature into Art runs from April 12 to July 17 in Toledo, traveling on to Boston afterward, where it opens on August 23.
“Flowers” (1715), oil on canvas, 29 2/3 × 23 3/4 inches. Photo by Photo: Nicole Wilhelms, courtesy of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen—Alte Pinakothek Munich
Illustration from ‘Observations of a Surinam Toad,’ graphite on paper, 8 x 11 in. Image © The Royal Society, London
Anna Ruysch (Dutch, active from 1685, died after 1741), “A Still Life of Flowers on a Marble Table Ledge” (1685), oil on canvas, 13 × 11 3/4 inches. Photo by Erin Croxton, courtesy of a private collection and Birmingham Museum of Art
“Flower Still Life” (about 1716-20), oil on canvas, 29 3/4 × 23 7/8 inches. Image courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art
Rachel Ruysch and Michiel van Musscher (Dutch, 1645–1705), “Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750)” (1692), oil on canvas, 30 × 25 inches. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns
by Aurelia Butler 11 March 2025, 17:14
“American Crow” (2025),
acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. All images courtesy of Vasilisa Romanenko and Arch Enemy Arts, shared with permission
Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns
March 11, 2025
ArtNature
Grace Ebert
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Beauty and nature’s resilience are at the core of Vasilisa Romanenko’s work. The Connecticut-based artist paints faithful depictions of common yet dignified birds amid clusters of fruits and flowers, exploring the power of opulence in times of upheaval.
A stately crow poses amid rust-colored roses, a great blue heron poses amid clusters of tangerines and lilies, and a small warbler perches amid pink poppies. Referencing the defiantly decorative works of English textile designer William Morris (1834–1896), Romanenko embraces the entrancing nature of decadent patterns.
“Great Blue Heron” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 inches
“I want my work to feel like an escape from everyday life, like taking a moment to be still and appreciate nature,” she says about her solo exhibition, BIRDS & BLOOMS, at Arch Enemy Arts. Enveloped by flora at full bloom, the winged subjects exude a sense of calm and strength as they perch and prepare for their next flight.
BIRDS & BLOOMS is on view through March 30 in Philadelphia. Find more from Romanenko on her website and Instagram.
“Northern Mockingbird” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14 inches
“Black-capped Chickadee” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 5 x 7 inches
“Orange-crowned Warbler” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 5 x 7 inches
“Dark-eyed Juncos” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 inches
“Palm Warbler” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches
“Brewer’s Blackbird” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 inches
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Through LEGO Compositions, Katherine Duclos Grounds Chaos in Color
by Aurelia Butler 7 March 2025, 18:19
“The fairies will find us if we leave a trail.” All images © Katherine Duclos, shared with permission
Through LEGO Compositions, Katherine Duclos Grounds Chaos in Color
March 7, 2025
Art
Jackie Andres
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Katherine Duclos begins each artwork with a color palette and no plan. Placing modular LEGO bricks one by one, the Vancouver-based artist intuitively builds each dense composition, commencing a repetitive process in which she introduces paint before rearranging again.
Duclos’ most recent solo show, aptly titled The light and color we carry, reinforces the overarching significance of color within the artist’s practice. She created her recent collection during a great shift as she moved to a new home with her family. The neurodivergent artist held onto color as a grounding force, creating connections between the specific hues and lights she would miss in her previous home.
Detail of “Temper your touch please” (2024)
A statement from the Vancouver Art Gallery reads:
Times of transition and upheaval are particularly difficult for autistic families, and Katherine’s need to order her world became more intense as her home became more chaotic and the future seemed unclear. To better prepare herself for the changes, she focused on regulatory work that enabled her to feel a sense of control and order amidst the chaos.
Having disabilities with spatial processing and rotating images causes Duclos to run into some obstacles with the diagrams and instructions that accompany the traditional LEGO kit. “I never enjoyed Lego until my son handed me four flat pieces stuck together when he was 5 and said, ‘I thought you’d like these colors next to each other.’ That was my light bulb moment,” she says. Made to hang at any orientation, each vibrant amalgamation encourages movement and fluctuation despite the stiff, blocky nature of the material.
Duclos is creating work in preparation for a forthcoming solo exhibition in January next year. Keep tabs on her work via Instagram and the artist’s website.
“Fireflies and lilacs” (2024)
“Let your sad light be a beacon (Raincouver)” (2024)
Detail of “I will ahead of you and scaffold the light so you can see the path forward” (2024)
“Sometimes the asymmetry is so subtle it’s subversive” (2024)
“You can make your own plans, the day will make itself” (2024)
“Temper your touch please” (2024)
“I will ahead of you and scaffold the light so you can see the path forward” (2024)
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David Surman’s Gestural Paintings Question How We Understand Animal Emotion
by Aurelia Butler 7 March 2025, 15:21
“Bathers At K’gari” (2024), oil on canvas, 100 x 120 centimeters. All images courtesy of David Surman and Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, shared with permission
David Surman’s Gestural Paintings Question How We Understand Animal Emotion
March 7, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Now based in London, David Surman was raised in a small coastal village in southwest England. The bucolic scenery and access to animals left an indelible impact on the artist, who plumbs his memory and draws on a vast array of art historical references in his paintings.
Surman’s most recent body of work is on view in his solo exhibition at Rebecca Hassock Art Gallery. In comparison to previous collections, After the Flood is less abstract but similarly gestural, as sweeping brushstrokes delineate a bull’s sinewed musculature or the curled mane of a bashful horse.
“Clarion Call” (2024), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters
Interested in the ways we project our experiences and ideologies onto the natural world, Surman renders recognizable subjects in a manner that reflects our tendency to ascribe human emotion and feeling to other species. “I like painting animals because they short-circuit people’s interpretive routines and get them looking at paint without the self-consciousness they might bring to abstract painting,” he said in a 2023 interview, adding:
The creatures that I paint are caught up in our human problem, which is the separation from the world caused by consciousness. The way in which my animals look at the viewer deliberately sets up a feeling of intensity, perhaps troubled engagement, a kind of accusation or affection. But in every case, the creature possesses a trace or residue of conscious agency.
In “Old Stew Head,” for example, viewers encounter a deeply troubled fox grasping a limp fish in its jaws. The dog in “Bathers At K’gari” is similarly anxious as it carries a young pup under a bright blue sky.
After the Flood continues in London through March 29. Find more from the artist on his website and Instagram.
“Old Stew Head” (2025), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters
“Icarus And Daedalus” (2024), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters
“Kelpie Of Loch Ailort” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters
“The Explorers” (2025), oil on canvas, 100 x 120 centimeters
“Leo The Lion (Art For Art’s Sake)” (2025), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 centimeters
“Ostracon” (2025), oil on canvas, 160 x 140 centimeters
“A Frog In An Endless Pond” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 centimeters
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Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii
by Aurelia Butler 4 March 2025, 19:08
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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Ruby Sky Stiler Reassesses Women’s Role in Art History in Geometric Portraits
by Aurelia Butler 27 February 2025, 15:44
“Artist with Green Palette” (2024), canvas, acrylic, pencil, and jade adhesive on panel, 44 x 34 inches. All images © Ruby Sky Stiler, courtesy of the artist and alexander Gray Associates, New York, shared with permission
Ruby Sky Stiler Reassesses Women’s Role in Art History in Geometric Portraits
February 27, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Up close, the irregularly gridded, geometric backgrounds of Ruby Sky Stiler’s paintings evoke patchwork or the patterns of agricultural landscapes seen aerially. Intricate patterns intersect in each rectangle, hinting at floral or decorative motifs that, when viewed from further away, appear almost topographical. Merging with this groundwork are boldly delineated women who often directly return the viewer’s gaze.
Reassessing the history of Western art, Stiler positions women in what she has previously described as “the empowered role as The Artist.” Rather than muses or objectified subjects, she imbues her figures with qualities of control, liberty, and leisure.
“Woman with Children in Blue” (2024), canvas, acrylic, pencil, and jade adhesive on panel, 44 x 50 inches
Recently on view at Frieze LA with Alexander Gray Associates, Stiler’s paintings continue to reenvision 20th-century abstraction, especially the predominantly male Cubist movement that burgeoned around 1907 and 1908. She turns the tables on the historically gendered dichotomy in fine art, transferring the role of women as subjects of paintings to that of creator.
In works like “Women with Children in Blue,” Stiler portrays nude figures in repose or with children, emphasizing another potent definition of women as creators and caregivers. Through mosaic-like compositions, she challenges art historical tropes and reasserts more inclusive, contemporary definitions of gender roles in art.
Stiler employs a meticulous graphite transfer process to apply patterned outlines to her pieces, nodding to textile design—a craft tradition also historically trivialized in the art world as “women’s work.” Pastel acrylic hues fill out bodies and backgrounds, while bold outlines evocative of minimalist Bauhaus design clarify bodies and objects.
Stiler is currently preparing a solo exhibition with Alexander Gray Associates scheduled for November. Explore more on her website and Instagram.
“Two Women in Sienna and Umber, with Red Outline” (2024), canvas, acrylic, pencil, and jade adhesive on panel, 44 x 50 inches
“Blue Woman” (2024), canvas, acrylic, pencil, and jade adhesive on wood panel, 18 x 15 1/2 inches
“Seated Blue Figure (with turquoise and red outline)” (2024), canvas, acrylic, graphite, and jade adhesive on panel, 44 x 34 inches
The artist transfers graphite patterns onto canvas
Stiler displays preparatory sketches in her studio
Swatches are labeled for use in a painting
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In ‘Chimera,’ Erin Milez Lovingly Chronicles the Everyday Chaos of Parenthood
by Aurelia Butler 27 February 2025, 10:00
“The Years Are Short” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 24 x 30 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, shared with permission
In ‘Chimera,’ Erin Milez Lovingly Chronicles the Everyday Chaos of Parenthood
February 27, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Mundane tasks like washing the dishes, eating dinner, or getting some shuteye take on wild and chaotic proportions in Erin Milez’s uncanny paintings. She portrays characters and a home that reflects her own experiences of starting a young family.
Repetitive motifs and overactive hands—their connection to a body often unclear—cultivate a sense of routine, perform chores, and provide affection. “They go about their daily routines like the seasons, repeating on an accelerated 24-hour cycle,” Milez says.
“Hot & Cold” (2024), oil on panel, 24 x 18 inches
The artist draws on the physically and emotionally transformative experience of parenthood in her solo exhibition Chimera at Monya Rowe Gallery. The title reflects the name of a fire-breathing monster in Greek mythology that was part-lion, part-goat, and part-dragon. The term “chimera” is also sometimes used to describe a grotesque beast or a figment of the imagination. Milez says:
I see my feeling of metamorphosis reflected in various places: in Lucy Jones’ explanation of matrescence and becoming chimeras, “never being singular again,” even on a genetic level; in Tetsuya Ishida’s work, though his embodies a more hopeless and dehumanized transformation in laboring tasks; in Nightbitch where Amy Adams is transformed into a dog because of the primal and physical demands of creation and mothering.
Tetsuya Ishida, for example, is known for portraying humans merged with machines and banal objects in surreal, alienating scenes. Milez also references the physicality and strength depicted WPA-era works, like the laborers’ bodies in murals by Diego Rivera or Stanley Spencer. The latter was known for large-scale depictions of everyday workers like Port Glasgow shipbuilders on the River Clyde, who people rhythmic, heaving scenes of the round-the-clock toil.
In Milez’s paintings, quotidian scenes are reframed into elaborate juggling acts. In many cases, the scenes themselves literally frame the activity, like the green tiled sink in “Hot & Cold” that mirrors a material form with clasped hands. In “Receptacle,” numerous hands, handles, and objects swirl around an unwieldy trash bag, and stuffed wooden compartments overflow with nostalgia in “The Years Are Short.”
“Life & Death II” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Milez illuminates the emotional rollercoaster of parenthood, invoking its discomforts, uncertainties, disorganization, and above all, devotion. In “Goodnight, Lion,” a sleepless mother squishes into a crib to help her chld sleep, evoking wildlife in a zoo.
“Occupying a space somewhere between chaos and nurture, Milez observes the complicated and continually changing dynamics between family members and self,” says a statement for Chimera. “Milez is not afraid to portray the seemingly monstrous, but it is never gratuitous and always mitigated by beauty and reality.”
Chimera continues through March 29 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Goodnight, Lion” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 24 x 30 inches
“Receptacle” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
“Life & Death I” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
“Not Lazy Susan” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
“Heavy Mama” (2024), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
“Variables” (2025), oil, acrylic, and flashe on canvas, 16 x 12 inches
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painting

More stories

Keita Morimoto Lingers in the Artificial Light of Urban Nights

Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns

Through LEGO Compositions, Katherine Duclos Grounds Chaos in Color

David Surman’s Gestural Paintings Question How We Understand Animal Emotion

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

Ruby Sky Stiler Reassesses Women’s Role in Art History in Geometric Portraits

In ‘Chimera,’ Erin Milez Lovingly Chronicles the Everyday Chaos of Parenthood

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