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Lisa Congdon Translates the Healing Power of Making from Collage to Painting
by Aurelia Butler 31 July 2025, 17:58
“Otherwise,” acrylic on wood panel framed in hemlock, 18 × 24 inches. All images courtesy of Chefas Projects, shared with permission
Lisa Congdon Translates the Healing Power of Making from Collage to Painting
July 31, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Late last year, as she was recovering from two knee replacements, Lisa Congdon (previously) was unable to commute to her Portland studio. Typically an avid biker, the artist found the recovery process difficult both physically and emotionally, and she began to work in a sketchbook as a way to cope and create while home. Images cut and collaged with paper filled the pages and soon became the basis for a new body of work.
The Way Through, on view at Chefas Projects, presents 40 paintings that emerge from this period. Translating the distinctive scissor cuts to wood panel, Congdon captures the irregularities of the original paper pieces. “Ultimately, I recognized that the collection of collages was a sort of magic and decided to see what new work could be created based on their wonky, improvisational, pure form,” she says.
“Tangerines,” acrylic on wood framed in hemlock, 12 × 9 inches
The result is a collection of vibrant works that often feature singular objects: a blue bowl of tangerines, for example, or a thumbtack and bottle of Elmer’s glue. In each piece, Congdon transforms the mundane into a bright, colorful object of reverence and play.
In addition to the paintings, The Way Through includes a collection of limited-edition serigraphs with the artist’s signature bold style and affirmations. If you’re in Portland, stop by to see the exhibition through August 16.
“Outre,” acrylic on wood panel framed in hemlock, 24 × 18 inches
Installation view of ‘The Way Through’
Installation view of ‘The Way Through’
“Souvenirs,” acrylic on wood framed in hemlock, 20 × 16 inches
Installation view of ‘The Way Through’
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More than 70 Iconic Works by Kerry James Marshall Shape a Major Survey in the U.K.
by Aurelia Butler 31 July 2025, 14:36
“Untitled” (2009), acrylic on PVC panel, 155.3 x 185.1 centimeters. Yale University Art Gallery, Purchased with the Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund and a gift from Jacqueline L. Bradley, B.A. 1979. © Kerry James Marshall. ‘Kerry James Marshall: The Histories’ is organized by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris. All images courtesy of the Royal Academy of Arts, shared with permission
More than 70 Iconic Works by Kerry James Marshall Shape a Major Survey in the U.K.
July 31, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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Drawing upon art historical sources, contemporary culture, and comics, Kerry James Marshall vibrant paintings boldly challenge the past. Through often monumental portraits of Black figures, the Chicago-based artist (previously) delves into themes of race, identity, legacy, and representation to bridge history and the present and imagine a better future.
In the largest survey of the artist’s work ever presented outside of the U.S., the Royal Academy of Arts hosts Kerry James Marshall: The Histories. Organized in collaboration with Kunsthaus Zurich and the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, the exhibition opens next month and features more than 70 works that span the artist’s career thus far. The show also includes a monumental oil painting commissioned for the Chicago Public Library titled “Knowledge and Wonder,” which is on loan for the first time.
“School of Beauty, School of Culture” (2012), acrylic and glitter on unstretched canvas, 274.3 x 401.3 centimeters. Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; Museum purchase with funds provided by Elizabeth (Bibby) Smith, the Collectors Circle for Contemporary Art, Jane Comer, the Sankofa Society, and general acquisition funds, 2012.57. Photo by Sean Pathasema. © Kerry James Marshall. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
The Histories is organized into 11 groups of works made between 1980 and the present, inviting viewers through a thematic and stylistic journey. The exhibition opens with “The Academy,” painted in 2012. A male model in a life drawing class stands in front of a patterned backdrop and looks directly at the viewer, giving the iconic raised fist of the Black Power movement.
Marshall has long been guided by his early encounters with European art in museums and books, where he recognized a stark lack of Black figures. By the 1980s, he focused on the idea of visibility, creating the seminal piece “A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self,” which emphasizes his interest in confronting stereotypes.
Typically working in series or cycles, Marshall often touches upon epochal social and political paradigms of the past, like slavery and the Middle Passage, Black Power and the Civil Rights movement, and the historical omission of people of color from Western painting traditions. His works often highlight daily African American experience and elevate everyday activities and interactions, like gathering at the barber shop, making a painting, relaxing at the park, or hanging out on the porch. Marshall posits that the past can be a tool with which to hew the future.
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories opens on September 20 and continues through January 18 in London. Plan your visit on the RA’s website.
“The Academy” (2012), acrylic on PVC, 182.9 x 154.9 centimeters. Collection of Dr. Daniel S. Berger, © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
“Knowledge and Wonder” (1995), oil on canvas, 294.6 x 698.5 centimeters. City of Chicago Public Art Program and the Chicago Public Library, Legler Regional Library, © Kerry James Marshall. Photo by Patrick L. Pyszka, City of Chicago
“Vignette #13” (2008), acrylic on PVC panel, 182.9 x 152.4 centimeters. Susan Manilow Collection. © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
“Untitled (Policeman)” (2015), acrylic on PVC panel with plexiglass frame, 152.4 x 152.4 centimeters. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Mimi Haas in honor of Marie-Josée Kravis, 2016. © Kerry James Marshall. Photo courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence
“Untitled (Porch Deck)” (2014), acrylic on PVC panel, 180.3 x 149.9 centimeters. Kravis Collection, © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, London
“De Style” (1993), acrylic and collage on canvas, 264.2 x 309.9 centimeters. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Ruth and Jacob Bloom. © Kerry James Marshall. Photo: © Museum Associates/LACMA
“Untitled (Blanket Couple)” (2014), acrylic on PVC panel, in artist’s frame, 150.2 x 242.5 centimeters. Fredriksen Family Art Collection, © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, London
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Cosemtics and Cosmos Blend in Circe Irasema’s Wooden Sculptures
by Aurelia Butler 25 July 2025, 14:45
‘Hecha a mano’ (2024). All photos by Ramiro Chávez, courtesy of Proyectos Monclova, shared with permission
Cosemtics and Cosmos Blend in Circe Irasema’s Wooden Sculptures
July 25, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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“For me, painting is a question about time,” says Circe Irasema. The artist, who lives and works in Mexico City, thinks deeply about the dominance of the male gaze in Western art history and how that authority influences the technical and material qualities of the works themselves. Preserving a piece made in this tradition, her work acknowledges, necessarily means preserving all that it represents.
As a contrast, the artist has turned to an unconventional feminized medium. Using colorful eyeshadow cakes, powder blushes, and long acrylic nails, Irasema creates “an alternative version of the history of painting. A history that tells intimate or hidden stories about the body, the feminine, the performative, metamorphosis, the fragility and transience of life, the domestic, the gaze, and beauty.”
“Los brazos de Morfeo (from ‘Cosmic Garden’ series)” (2025), gouache, acrylic, and polished artificial nails on an anatomical wooden mannequin, two pieces of 80 x 20 x 8 centimeters each
Combining comestics and adornments with more common materials like gouache and acrylic paint, Irasema creates vibrant anatomical models and more abstract wooden works embedded with eyeshadows. Appearing as paintings from a distance, these mixed-media works meld a traditional art form with a longstanding mode of self-expression and beautification.
Given the delicate nature of powder compacts—a reality for anyone who’s dropped an eyeshadow palette and watched it shatter—the fragile material requires a level of care that becomes symbolic for the artist. “It stems from a popular understanding that relates to the everyday, distances itself from academia, and maintains a connection with sentimental education,” she adds. Where expression through high art has long been privileged, makeup and fashion have historically been read as shallow and even frivolous, a conception Irasema handily rejects.
Many of the works shown here are part of a series titled Cosmic Painting, a nod to the shared etymological root of the terms cosmetics and cosmos. Translating to “order,” “the word is understood as something harmonious and beautiful,” the artist adds. “This Greek meaning represents and is the basis of the canon of beauty that emerges from geometry, the cornerstone of painting since the Renaissance. This work attempts to use these same premises to reconfigure this pictorial notion with the compact powder of makeup.”
Irasema is currently preparing for a solo exhibition at Carrillo Gil Art Museum and creating works for Art Basel Miami. Follow her practice on Instagram.
“Pintar II” (2024), gouache, acrylic, and polished artificial nails on an anatomical wooden mannequin, 27 x 8 x 8 centimeters
‘Hecha a mano’ (2024)
“Cartografía de formas simples” (2024), eyeshadow palettes on 17 plywood assemblages, 122 x 244 x 4 centimeters
“Flor estrella (from ‘Cosmic Garden’ series) (open)” (2024), gouache and eyeshadows inlays on veneered wood, 6 x 40 x 40 centimeters
Installation view at Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City (2024)
Detail of “Arcoiris (from ‘Cosmic Garden’ series)” (2024), eyeshadow palettes on tropical wood assemblage
Installation view at Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City (2024)
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Werner Bronkhorst’s Tiny Beachgoers and Sailors Wade Through Chunky Blue Expanses
by Aurelia Butler 23 July 2025, 19:43
Detail of “Walk On Water” (2025),
archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69. All images courtesy of Dellaposa, shared with permission
Werner Bronkhorst’s Tiny Beachgoers and Sailors Wade Through Chunky Blue Expanses
July 23, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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In a world constrained by rising sea levels and the climate anxiety that comes with a warming planet, it’s not far-fetched to imagine a life surrounded by the blue ocean. For Werner Bronkhorst, the overwhelming nature of this potential future inspires a collection of mixed-media works that find minuscule figures amid broad expanses.
Bronkhorst’s new body of work, Sail Away, on view at Dellaposa, visualizes solitary protagonists as they trudge to the beach or surf on a seemingly endless tide. Thick impasto strokes in varying shades of blue provide an abstract backdrop for each piece and minimize the already tiny characters. “I pour layers of gel, then wait for landscapes to emerge—mountains, waves, ice. Only then do I add the figures,” the artist shares.
“Mockney” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm canvas, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69
Given their rare communion with other humans, Bronkhorst’s subjects also seem to embody the dissociation and disconnection of a post-digital world. Like a blip when viewed from afar, the figures emerge from their gestural environments as if in low resolution, their distinctive features impossible to discern.
Raised in Pretoria, South Africa, Bronkhorst now lives and works in Australia. You can find more of his practice on Instagram.
“Sail Away” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395 gsm canvas, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69
Detail of “Sail Away” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395 gsm canvas, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69
Detail of “Mockney” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm canvas, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69
Detail of “Blue Water High” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, 100× 100 centimeters framed, edition of 69
“Blue Water High” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, 100× 100 centimeters framed, edition of 69
“Diamond Sea” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, signed by the artist, 100× 100 centimeters framed, edition of 69
“Walk On Water” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, 33 × 43 centimeters framed, edition of 69
Detail of “Diamond Sea” (2025), archival pigment print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks, hand-stretched over FSC-certified, finger-jointed New Zealand pine, and float framed in FSC-certified Meranti with a painted white finish, signed by the artist, 100× 100 centimeters framed, edition of 69
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Five Latinx Artists Explore Materiality, Identity, and Belonging in ‘Los Encuentros’
by Aurelia Butler 23 July 2025, 14:58
Facade mural by Ozzie Juarez. Photos by Alex Marks. All images courtesy of Ballroom Marfa, shared with permission
Five Latinx Artists Explore Materiality, Identity, and Belonging in ‘Los Encuentros’
July 23, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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Marfa sits at the crossroads of US-90 and US-67 in the expansive Chihuahua Desert of far West Texas. About 60 miles from Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol trucks are a common sight along the roads, in addition to an unmissable, otherworldly tethered surveillance blimp that hovers near the highway between the town center and one of its most iconic installations, Elmgreen & Dragset’s “Prada Marfa.”
As the current administration’s immigration policy has taken effect, the politics of identity and geography have again been thrust front and center—often violently. In this remote borderland, where the one-stoplight-town has been redefined by influential art world personalities for several decades in an idiosyncratic convergence of ideas and lifestyles, there is a unique opportunity to engage with themes of community, narrative, socio-economic realities, and a sense of place.
Justin Favela
Ballroom Marfa’s summer exhibition, Los Encuentros, gathers the work of Latinx artists Justin Favela, Ozzie Juarez, Antonio Lechuga, Narsiso Martinez, and Yvette Mayorga. The gallery describes an aim of the show, the title of which translates to “the meetings” or “the gatherings,” as “the representation of Latinx culture to confront the accessibility of art spaces, colonial art histories, the conditions of labor, and lived experience.”
Amid daily news reports of ICE raids around the nation, the work in Los Encuentros is a timely and provocative exploration of today’s societal complexities along with being a way of “responding to the experiences of the people and places they engage with and depict,” a statement says.
All the artists employ a wide range of materials and techniques, from Mayorga’s frosting-like, piped paint to Favela’s vibrant ruffled paper installations redolent of piñatas. Lechuga uses Mexican blankets, or cobijas, creating sewn textile collages that explore a wide range of experiences and perspectives amid the current political climate.
Martinez continues to create intimate, candid portraits of farm workers by using produce boxes, bags, and repurposed plastic as his substrates as a reminder of the often invisible labor that goes into putting food on Americans’ tables. And Juarez has completely transformed Ballroom’s facade in to a giant painting derived from ancient Mesoamerican motifs.
Narsiso Martinez
Los Encuentros is curated by Texas-based Maggie Adler, who expressed delight at being able to collaborate “with artists whose practices center on allowing a broad range of community members to see themselves represented in art spaces.”
The show continues through October 12. Find more on the gallery’s website. And during open hours, keep an eye out for Rachel Hayes’ colorful patchwork flag that flies out front.
Ozzie Juarez
Narsiso Martinez
Justin Favela
Antonio Lechuga
Detail of a work by Antonio Lechuga
Yvette Mayorga
Detail of a work by Yvette Mayorga
Antonio Lechuga
Detail of a work by Antonio Lechuga
Narsiso Martinez
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Family, Memory, and an Ancestral Craft Converge in Daniela García Hamilton’s Tender Paintings
by Aurelia Butler 22 July 2025, 21:21
“La sala (The Living Room)” (2025), hand embroidery and oil on canvas (triptych), 27 x 60 inches. Photos by @ofphotostudio Yubo Dong. All images courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, shared with permission
Family, Memory, and an Ancestral Craft Converge in Daniela García Hamilton’s Tender Paintings
July 22, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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Through a mixed-media approach combining oil paint with the soft definition of embroidery fiber, Daniela García Hamilton explores intergenerational bonds in tender, narrative canvases. A first-generation American from a Mexican family, the artist metaphorically links loved ones via thread, incorporating symbols of both Mexican and American geography and imagery of relatives drawn from photographs.
“García Hamilton investigates legacies of tradition, the inevitability of assimilation, and the ways in which family histories replay themselves over time,” says a statement from Charlie James Gallery, which is currently presenting the artist’s solo exhibition, Amanecer / Atardecer (Sunrise / Sunset).
“Toyota” (2025), hand embroidery and oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
García Hamilton began incorporating embroidery into her work following the death of her grandfather, whose own experience with textiles and exuberance for storytelling deeply influenced the artist’s interest in the relationship between craft, lineage, and memory. Scenes range from memorable events like weddings to everyday moments in which people gather together at home or for a siesta in the back of a pickup truck.
Derived from photos in her family archive, García Hamilton’s figurative depictions are immanently relatable. Yet within the broader context of the U.S.’s socio-political climate, especially the current administration’s dubious approach to curbing immigration, there is an undeniable sense of precarity and protectiveness. We’re invited into nostalgic, tender, even vulnerable moments in which every individual’s personality radiates through what the gallery describes as an “inner glow,” emphasizing the significance of togetherness, resilience, and security.
Amanecer / Atardecer continues through August 2 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
“El Temerario (The Daredevil)” (2024), hand embroidery and oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
Detail of “La sala (The Living Room)”
“High Noon” (2024), oil on canvas, 56 x 36 inches
“Sueña (Dream)” (2024), oil and Sharpie on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
“En el Jardín de mi abuelo (In My Grandfather’s Garden)” (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches
“Self-portrait as child with my Pa” (2024), colored ink on hot-pressed paper, 48 x 48 inches
“La boda de mi Tía Rosi (My Aunt Rosi’s Wedding)” (2025), hand embroidery on canvas, 30 x 36 inches
Detail of “La sala (The Living Room)”
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Anthony Dickenson’s ‘Mistake’ Transforms into a Unique Animation for a Rival Consoles Music Video
by Aurelia Butler 21 July 2025, 14:22
All images courtesy of Rival Consoles
Anthony Dickenson’s ‘Mistake’ Transforms into a Unique Animation for a Rival Consoles Music Video
July 21, 2025
AnimationArtFilmMusic
Kate Mothes
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For his latest single, “Soft Gradient Beckons,” British electronic musician Ryan Lee West, a.k.a. Rival Consoles, tapped multidisciplinary artist Anthony Dickenson to create a music video that plays with a sense of perception and reality—especially the distinction between analog and digital processes.
Dickenson employs a range of photography and film processes in his practice, focusing predominantly on nature and portraiture. For the “Soft Gradient Beckons” music video, he dove headlong into a nine-month experimental process, creating multiple, long paper scrolls with hand-painted frames in black ink. He then animated by documenting in a sequence akin to the way film is fed through a projector.
The video above features the complete music video, followed by a revealing making-of segment that delves into Dickenson’s labor-intensive process.
His installation “reflects the intricacies and dedication of the creative process,” the artist says in a statement. “The result is both a visual and emotional journey, seamlessly blending art and music into one cohesive experience.” Using cameras attached to a drone and a skateboard, he captures distinct details and patterns while also panning out to see the entire grouping arranged carefully on a warehouse floor.
The concept originated from what Dickenson calls a “mistake” that occurred when, a few years back, he was experimenting with making monoprints using ink rollers. He had a realization that little blemishes or so-called defects various textures from the roller actually lent themselves well to animation.
“Sometimes the mistakes are the bits that really reveal new techniques,” Dickenson says. “I love these little moments of imperfection. Otherwise, you know, you might as well just build in AI.” Find more on his website.
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Wang Mansheng Turns to Nature to Make His Own Paintbrushes from Organic Materials
by Aurelia Butler 17 July 2025, 19:11
All images courtesy of the artist and The Huntington
Wang Mansheng Turns to Nature to Make His Own Paintbrushes from Organic Materials
July 17, 2025
ArtCraftNature
Kate Mothes
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Have you ever sought out the best variety of paper, highest quality paints, or most-trusted brand of equipment only to find that a cheaper, more readily available version actually worked better? That’s something Chinese painter and calligrapher Wang Mansheng thinks about a lot. Making his own brushes from natural materials, the artist considers how organic imperfections are often ultimately more interesting than anything produced “perfectly” in a factory.
The artist’s solo exhibition at The Huntington, Without Us, envisions a world literally devoid of us, which he describes as a “pure land without humans, without pollution, without humans’ damage.” Comprising a series of 22 ink paintings on silk scrolls suspended from the ceiling, the body of work highlights the interconnectedness of all living things. Starting with the equipment he uses, nature remains central in his practice.
A short documentary produced by The Huntington delves into Wang’s process of creating his own brushes from scratch, utilizing stalks of grass and pieces of twine. “Manufactured things have a certain form,” the artist says. “Like a manufactured brush—they are all really fine. The factory is trying to make it as fine as they could. But when you use it, all the lines come out as smooth and beautiful. But sometimes, I think it’s too perfect.”
To bring out the character of old trees and dramatic cliffs in his paintings, Wang employs brushes that produce a rougher line or texture. In the film, he demonstrates how he transforms the soft, wide bristles of tall reeds into a tool suited to his needs. Through trial and error, he taught himself how to shape and use different sizes and densities to achieve a variety of effects. Overall, the texture mirrors age and exposure to the elements that shape how trees and rocks look over time.
Wang Mansheng: Without Us continues through August 5 in San Marino, California. Find more on the artist’s website. (via Kottke)
Installation view of Without Us at The Huntington
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painting

More stories

Lisa Congdon Translates the Healing Power of Making from Collage to Painting

Cosemtics and Cosmos Blend in Circe Irasema’s Wooden Sculptures

Werner Bronkhorst’s Tiny Beachgoers and Sailors Wade Through Chunky Blue Expanses

Family, Memory, and an Ancestral Craft Converge in Daniela García Hamilton’s Tender Paintings

Anthony Dickenson’s ‘Mistake’ Transforms into a Unique Animation for a Rival Consoles Music Video

Wang Mansheng Turns to Nature to Make His Own Paintbrushes from Organic Materials

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