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    An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago

    Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, , born Querétaro
    Mexico, 1975, “In the name of progress,” (2017), mixed media, 69 5/8 x 26 x 24 inches. Photo by Photo by Lisa Lindvay
    . All images courtesy of Intuit Art Museum, shared with permission

    An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago

    May 23, 2025

    ArtSocial Issues

    Grace Ebert

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    Built on the traditional homeland of the Sauk, Fox, and Potawatomi peoples, Chicago is a city of immigrants. Just 13 years after the city was incorporated in 1837, more than half of its residents were born overseas, having flocked to the region from across Europe and Asia alongside tens of thousands of others. Today, Chicago is home to 1.7 million immigrants, totaling 18 percent of the population.

    The inaugural exhibition at the newly renovated Intuit Art Museum celebrates this history by bringing together 22 artists with ties to the city. Comprised of 75 works across mediums, Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago highlights those who worked in the Midwest and established their practice outside the traditional art world models.

    Carlos Barberena, born Granada, Nicaragua, 1972, “Exodus” (2019), linocut on HW Rives paper, edition of 25, 24 x 19 inches

    Intuit is a longstanding champion of self-taught artists. Established in 1991, the museum has recognized the incredible creative contributions of those operating outside the mainstream due to economic, societal, or geographic reasons.

    One such artist is Henry Darger, who worked as a hospital custodian by day and produced an enormous collection of drawings, watercolor paintings, and cut paper works only discovered after his death. While Darger’s works now sell for prices in the high six figures, his story is unique. Historically, self-taught artists don’t often attain the critical or financial recognition of their traditionally trained peers.

    Catalyst comes at a particularly relevant moment in the U.S., as immigrants are under increasing threat. Spotlighting works with a wide array of topics and approaches, the exhibition creates a sort of contemporary tapestry of those shaping Chicago’s cultural landscape since the mid-20th century. The show intends to highlight “artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued,” a statement says.

    Included are four impeccably detailed paintings by Drossos P. Skyllas (1912-1973), an Ottoman-born artist known for his enchanting hyperrealistic portraits. Charles Barbarena works with a similar devotion to precise mark-making in his portraiture. The Nicaraguan artist creates linocuts that frame instances of trauma and adversity with elaborate floral motifs, his depictions of people continually harnessing compassion and resistance.

    Drossos P. Skyllas, born Kalymnos, Ottoman Empire (now Greece), 1912-1976, “Greek Bishop” (c. 1967), oil on canvas, 65 x 41 1/2 inches

    Found object and mixed-media sculpture features prominently, too. The soaring miniature cathedral by Charles Warner, for example, interprets the sacred spaces of his childhood in Prussia through hand-carved wood and pastel paint. There’s also the figurative assemblage of Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, who sculpts a rendition of the Statue of Liberty. With a torso of unidentifiable hands caked in soil and detritus at her feet, Piloto’s “In the name of progress” complicates the symbol of freedom.

    Catalyst is on view through January 11, 2026.

    Charles Warner, born Prussia (now Poland), 1884-1964, “Cathedral III” (c. 1955) mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm

    Charles Warner, born Prussia (now Poland), 1884-1964, “Cathedral III” (c. 1955) mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm

    Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson

    María Enríquez de Allen, American, born Allende, Mexico, 1907-1999, “Untitled (New life goat skull)” (1997), mixed media, 8 ¾ x 7 x 10 ½ inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay

    Marion Perkins, American, born Marche, Arkansas, 1908-1961, “Untitled (Wire head)” (c. 1955), steel wire, 19 x 12 x 13 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay

    Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa, American, born Lubomierz (Poland), 1915-1995, “Untitled” (1994), oil on board in carved pyrography frame with glass jewels, 33 x 24 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay

    Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson

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    ‘Wonder Women’ Celebrates the Dazzling Figurative Work of Asian Diasporic Artists

    Dominique Fung, “Bone Holding Fan” (2021). All images courtesy of the artists and Rizzoli, shared with permission

    ‘Wonder Women’ Celebrates the Dazzling Figurative Work of Asian Diasporic Artists

    May 15, 2025

    ArtBooksSocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    In February 2020, curator and gallery director Kathy Huang met artist Dominique Fung—a month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. Their conversations, which continued throughout quarantine, served as an impetus for what would become Huang’s Wonder Women exhibitions at Jeffrey Deitch.

    During their chats, Huang and Fung lamented “the uptick in violence against Asian American communities, particularly against women and the elderly,” Huang says in the introduction to her forthcoming book, Wonder Women: Art of the Asian Diaspora.

    Mai Ta, “mirror image” (2022)

    The two also found it difficult to pinpoint when the last major exhibition had been staged that thoughtfully presented Asian artists, and neither could think of an instance where women and nonbinary artists had been the focus. Both of Huang’s exhibitions and her new book are the fruit of that desire to highlight the remarkable spectrum of figurative work being produced within the Asian diasporic community today.

    A response to racism against Asians exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Huang conceived of the shows that went on view in 2022 in New York and Los Angeles as a means to highlight the incredible, groundbreaking work made especially by women and nonbinary artists.

    Forthcoming from Rizzoli, Wonder Women shares a similar title to a poem by Genny Lim, which follows experiences of Asian women through the lens of a narrator who observes their everyday routines and considers how their lives relate to hers.

    Huang expands on this view in her approach to showcasing the work of forty artists, each represented through at least four pieces and a personal statement. These artists “subvert stereotypes and assert their identities in places where they have historically been marginalized,” Rizzoli says.

    Sally J. Han, “At Lupe’s” (2022)

    Artists like Sasha Gordon or Nadia Waheed explore identity through sometimes fantastical self-portraiture, while others highlight family, community, and colonial or patriarchal systems in the West. Some address Asian myths, legends, and visual culture, like Fung’s exploration of antique objects or Shyama Golden’s otherworldly scenes in which hybrid human-animals interact with nature or urban spaces.

    Wonder Women will be released on May 20. Order your copy from the Colossal Shop.

    Shyama Golden, “The Passage” (2022)

    Chelsea Ryoko Wong, “It’s Mah Jong Time!” (2022)

    Nadia Waheed, “Bolides/ 852” (2022)

    Cover featuring a painting by Sasha Gordon

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    Esaí Alfredo’s Oil Paintings Merge Mysterious Narratives with ‘Miami Vice’ Noir

    “Near the Military Base” (2025), oil on canvas, 72 x 96 feet. All images courtesy of the artist and Spinello Projects, shared with permission

    Esaí Alfredo’s Oil Paintings Merge Mysterious Narratives with ‘Miami Vice’ Noir

    May 15, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    In an iconic 1979 episode of Saturday Night Live, Steve Martin and Bill Murray shuffle onstage dressed like tourists. Peering out beyond the camera—and thus behind us—they repeatedly ask, “What the hell is that?” Stoking our curiosity and never divulging what “that” really is, yet preventing us from ever seeing it either, the answer is left entirely to our imaginations. Beyond the duo’s characteristic absurdity, we’re enticed to consider the endless possibilities of the unknown, just out of frame.

    For Miami-based artist Esaí Alfredo, the confines of the cinematic screen and a sense of wonder play central roles in large-scale, enigmatic oil paintings. Male figures stand facing the distant horizon, observing dark plumes of smoke or, in some cases, events only they can see.

    “The Wait” (2025), oil on canvas, 50 x 72 inches

    Alfredo draws inspiration for his palette from Miami Vice, specifically the rich pastels and glowing contrasts evocative of the show’s stylized, 1980s New Wave aesthetics. Bright pink and teal complement the deep blacks of nighttime.

    “I allow myself to play with colors and lighting situations that appear surreal or impossible,” he tells Colossal, sharing that the choice of hues serve as tools for telling stories. He adds, “My biggest influences in terms of color have been old movies, science fiction, theater, and the cinematography of films by Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock.”

    Alfredo also likens his paintings to screenshots or freeze frames, as if plucked from an enigmatic, longer narrative. His sketchbook contains countless renderings, including drawings of settings and characters akin to storyboards for a movie.

    Once he translates a basic sketch into a color study, Alfredo translates the idea to photographic compositions involving real people and various objects. “Once I have all my reference photos ready, I compose an image on my iPad to see how the painting will turn out. The rest is painting,” he says, leaving enough room for the inevitable improvisation.

    “La Playa Lucia” (2025), oil on canvas, 10 x 20 inches

    A suite of new paintings titled STARLESS that Alfredo recently exhibited with Spinello Projects at EXPO CHICAGO are “snapshots of a larger story I’m still uncovering,” he says. Otherworldly magentas and teals envelop figures in a variety of natural landscapes, beneath a sky devoid of celestial objects. Instead, mysterious objects fall from above, and the characters react to the phenomena with wonder, fear, and confusion. “I love capturing those moments when we feel powerless and can only observe for a moment before taking action,” he says.

    Find more on Alfredo’s website and Instagram.

    “The Theme Park” (2025), oil on canvas, 72 x 96 inches

    “Moon” (2025), oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

    “The Everglades” (2025), oil on canvas, 72 x 96 inches

    “Antonio” (2025), oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches

    Detail of “Near the Military Base”

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    Adrian Landon Brooks and Jaime Molina Assemble Enigmatic Narratives in ‘No Man’s Land’

    Adrian Landon Brooks. All images courtesy of the artists and Preacher, shared with permission

    Adrian Landon Brooks and Jaime Molina Assemble Enigmatic Narratives in ‘No Man’s Land’

    May 6, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Within the compartments of reimagined wooden crates or carved sculptures that open on to reveal inner forms, Adrian Landon Brooks and Jaime Molina explore the possibilities of found materials in mixed-media sculptures and paintings. The artists’ duo exhibition No Man’s Land at Preacher Gallery highlights their kindred yet unique approaches.

    Brooks brings found materials to life through collaging and layering, using bold lines, color, and pattern to suggest sacred symbols and merge a sense of newness with age. Molina carves his “cuttys” from hunks of timber, pounding swaths of nails to suggest the hair and beards of solemn male figures.

    Jaime Molina

    An enigmatic narrative undercurrent runs through No Man’s Land, as both artists draw on folk art and craft to explore geometry and assemblage techniques. Cloaked figures and animal-human hybrids nod to the metaphysical in Brooks’ pieces, while Molina’s pensive figures tap into the mysterious of consciousness.

    The show highlights how Brooks and Molina have created “a shared world that feels both ancient and brand new—a thoughtful mix of mysticism, memory, and hand-hewn craft,” the gallery says.

    No Man’s Land opens on May 8 and continues through May 29 in Austin. Find more on the gallery’s website.

    Adrian Landon Brooks

    Jaime Molina

    Adrian Landon Brooks

    Jaime Molina

    Adrian Landon Brooks

    Jaime Molina

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    Explore an Incredible 108-Gigapixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer’s Most Famous Painting

    All images courtesy of Hirox, Tuur, and The Mauritshuis

    Explore an Incredible 108-Gigapixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer’s Most Famous Painting

    May 5, 2025

    ArtPhotographyScience

    Kate Mothes

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    One of the inimitable joys of visiting an art museum is being able to view paintings up close—to see their textures, frames, and the way the surface interacts with the light. But even if you had the opportunity to step past security wires and get within inches of an original canvas, you’d still never be able to see the work quite like the new, 108-gigapixel scan of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665).

    The Mauritshuis has documented its most famous acquisition in unprecedented detail with the help of lens company Hirox, which has produced a video microscope capable of capturing the tiniest speck of paint with astonishing clarity. The outfit was also involved in an earlier reproduction of the same painting, creating an image composed of 10 billion pixels.

    This high-tech collaboration brings a 17th-century masterpiece to life with an interactive site inviting visitors to examine every micro detail. The new image is more than ten times as large as its predecessor—108 gigapixels translates to 108 billion pixels. A standard computer screen ranges from around four to six million pixels in its entirety. As Kottke notes, the resolution is very high, too, at 1.3 microns per pixel. (A millimeter is 1,000 microns.)

    Hirox, in tandem with a company called Tuur, produced a beautiful video and virtual tour. A three-dimensional tool for exploring the topography of the surface highlights Vermeer’s mastery of light, like reflections in the sitter’s eyes, the folds of her head scarf, and the minimal dabs of white paint on the titular pearl.

    This virtual exploration offers art historians and enthusiasts alike a chance to experience “Girl with a Peal Earring” like never before, regardless of where you are. But if you’re in The Hague, it’s also on view in the permanent collection of The Mauritshuis.

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    In ‘I’m Listening,’ Barry McGee Celebrates Positivity in Amid Distress and Overwhelm

    Installation view of ‘I’m Listening’ at Perrotin, Paris, 2025. Photos by Claire Dorn. All images © Barry McGee, courtesy of the artist and Perrotin, shared with permission

    In ‘I’m Listening,’ Barry McGee Celebrates Positivity in Amid Distress and Overwhelm

    April 30, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    “Barry McGee lives in San Francisco—he was born there and he lives there,” critic and curator Richard Leydier opens in an essay accompanying the artist’s current solo exhibition, I’m Listening, at Perrotin. “This fact is important because his art would be profoundly different had he chosen to move to another American city.”

    McGee draws inspiration from the West Coast subculture he grew up within, surrounded by skaters, surfers, and street artists. He has long been interested in marginalized communities, societal outcasts, and those seen as subversive.

    The artist is a key figure of the Mission School, which emerged in the early 1990s through the work of a number of artists who were connected to the now-defunct San Francisco Art Institute. Other influential artists include Margaret Kilgallen (1967-2001), Ruby Neri, Claire Rojas, and more, all of whom explore the intersections between urban realism, graffiti, American folk art, and “lowbrow” aesthetics undergirded by social activism.

    McGee adopted monikers like “Twist” and “Lydia Fong” in his own graffiti writing and also explored painting and printmaking, which he still taps into in his expansive, multidisciplinary practice. He explores “dynamic panel assemblages, complex patterns reminiscent of op art, and immersive installations that explore the human condition,” the gallery says.

    I’m Listening erupts with color, pattern, and texture through a bounty of sculptures, paintings, prints, and assemblages that reimagine everyday objects. Surfboards are cloaked in optical geometric patterns in acrylic paint, and McGee’s signature grimacing, cartoonish faces appear on collages or in place of labels on glass bottles.

    “I focus on everything that is shitty on our little planet right now,” McGee says. Expressions of disgust or surprise are paired with playfulness, though. He adds, “I also celebrate all these incredible things that humans invent to stay positive and healthy.” I’m Listening continues through May 24 in Paris.

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    Metaphysical Portals Emerge Within Forests in Eli McMullen’s Otherworldly Paintings

    “Inner Escape” (2025), acrylic on panel, 16 × 20 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Thinkspace Projects, shared with permission

    Metaphysical Portals Emerge Within Forests in Eli McMullen’s Otherworldly Paintings

    April 30, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Roaming the metaphysical spaces between dreams and reality, Eli McMullen draws on the familiarity of suburban and wooded landscapes to bid us into dreamlike worlds. Plumbing the interplay of perception and imagination, his acrylic paintings invite us into moments of wonder and transcendence.

    The Richmond, Virginia-based artist’s forthcoming solo exhibition, Sleep Walk at Thinkspace Projects, explores relationships between nostalgia, spirituality, nature, and psychological phenomena. He celebrates “fleeting moments that feel suspended in time, glimmers that quietly urge to be searched,” the gallery says.

    “Desire Path Finder” (2025), acrylic on panel, 16 × 20 inches

    Sleep Walk welcomes viewers into nighttime forest scenes that glow with geometric light forms, altar-like architecture, and prismatic reflections. Titles like “Desire Path Finder,” “Liminal Bridge,” and “Kismet Gateway” highlight the essence of links, portals, metamorphoses, and in-between spaces.

    The show runs May 3 to 24 in Los Angeles. See more on McMullen’s website and Instagram.

    “Dream Weaver” (2025), acrylic on panel, 20 × 24 inches

    “Embers Rest” (2025), acrylic on panel, 18 × 24 inches

    “Draped Shrine” (2025), acrylic on panel, 11 × 14 inches

    “Liminal Bridge” (2025), acrylic on panel, 16 × 20 inches

    “Fractal Grove” (2025), acrylic on panel, 11 × 14 inches

    “Kismet Gateway” (2025), acrylic on panel, 16 × 20 inches

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    From Miniature to Massive, Boundless Landscapes Spill Out of Frame in Barry Hazard’s Paintings

    “Whirlwind” (2023), 7 x 9 x 1.5 inches. Images © the artist, shared with permission

    From Miniature to Massive, Boundless Landscapes Spill Out of Frame in Barry Hazard’s Paintings

    April 28, 2025

    Art

    Jackie Andres

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    Confined within tiny, ornate frames until inevitably spilling over the edge, Barry Hazard’s expansive landscapes are “spaces for reflecting, contemplation, and surrendering to something larger and more timeless than us,” he says.

    Inspired by vast notions such as the relationship between humans and nature and ecological conflict, Hazard (previously) translates broad themes into miniature works. The Brooklyn-based artist employs tiny frames, wood panel, and acrylic to depict a multitude of scenes from mudslides and flower farms to glaciers and snowy roads. With so much contained in such small compositions, Hazard describes his process as “a simple way to rapidly engage in an artistic process, with an ultra-manageable scale.”

    “Flower Farm” (2024), 6 x 5 x 7 inches

    Last year for New York’s Upstate Art Weekend, the artist expanded upon his miniature work, delving into a project on the opposite end of the scale of proportions. “Walk-In Painting” culminates Hazard’s carpentry and muralist experience, uniquely activating his otherwise tiny paintings. Viewers are able to step into a rolling scenery teeming with vibrant blooms, tufts of bushes, and sweeping mountains in the distance, creating an experience that is “both fictional and non-fictional,” the artist explains.

    Hazard has also ventured into the realm of batch production through the technique of resin casting. While the artist typically uses more traditional materials for his small works, he has been able to create a sizable amount of gifts for friends and family by creating numerous blank casted bases before painting each by hand.

    Find more work on the artist’s website, and take a look into his process on Instagram.

    “Mudslide” (2024), 9 x 7 x 2 inches

    “Walk-In Painting” (2024), 8 x 10 x 7 feet

    “Purple Plain” (2023), 1 x 1.5 inches

    “Sunset Glacier” (2023), 9 x 8 x 2 inches

    “Flood Zone” (2024), 8 x 7 x 3 inches

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