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      ‘Between the Lines’ Showcases the Subversive Traditions of Art-Making While Incarcerated

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      Djan Shun Lin, “Eagle” (ca. 1994, York County Prison, York County, Pennsylvania), paper and paint. All photos by Addison Doty, courtesy of the Museum of International Folk Art, shared with permission

      ‘Between the Lines’ Showcases the Subversive Traditions of Art-Making While Incarcerated

      September 3, 2025

      ArtSocial Issues

      Grace Ebert

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      Artists aren’t strangers to creative constraints. Perhaps they work full-time and have to sneak in just an hour of painting before bed. Or a grant requires that they follow a particular set of guidelines that push their practice in a new direction. Whatever the situation, artists are often uniquely positioned to find innovative, experimental approaches to making.

      For those included in Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy, which was on view this past month at the Museum of International Folk Art, constraints are plentiful. Featuring an eclectic array of works by incarcerated artists, the group exhibition offers a survey of creativity in confinement.

      Artist name redacted, “Envelope (Austin, Texas)” (June 2002, Snyder, Texas), paper envelope, color pencil, pen

      A primary thread in the exhibition—which tends to connect most artworks made during a period of incarceration—is an innovative use of materials. John Paul Granillo, for example, renders blue pen portraits on a pair of canvas prison-issue shoes. Other drawings appear on envelopes sent to the Coalition For Prisoners’ Rights, a nonprofit project that mailed newsletters inside for several decades.

      There are also several paños, a genre utilizing commissary handkerchiefs, pillowcases, or bedsheets that originated with incarcerated Chicanos in the 20th century. The largely self-taught art form is perhaps one of the best-known traditions to emerge from inside carceral facilities and is a subversive mode of expression: often sent to family and loved ones on the outside, these fabric pieces offer both a way to communicate what might otherwise be censored in letters and a financial opportunity for particularly talented artists who might sell the paños for birthday, anniversary, and other gifts.

      While much of the work comes from facilities in the Southwest and Western states, Between the Lines extends its reach to connect carceral systems across the globe. A vibrantly beaded bird with bold text reading Masallah, or may Allah, comes from 1960s Anatolia. Purchased in 2005 in Istanbul, the piece is a “protective amulet and hung from car rearview mirrors or other places,” the museum says.

      As Brian Karl points out in Hyperallergic, the exhibition is less concerned with prison reform and larger questions of abolition than it is with showcasing the necessity of creating in such a dehumanizing environment. The eagle, a motif associated with freedom in the U.S., appears in several works and speaks to the lack of agency and autonomy in such a punishing system. When people are very literally confined with meager, if any, resources for self-expression, creating becomes both a mode of survival and a revolutionary act. As the exhibition’s title suggests, prison art is always bound up with advocacy and requires makers to find defiance in interstitial spaces.

      John Paul Granillo, “Shoes with ink drawing” (2011–2012, Federal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook, New York), blue pen ink, white fabric, rubber

      Michael Guzman, “PA. LA. Casa (To the House)” (1982–1984, New Mexico State Penitentiary, Santa Fe), paper, colored pencil, pen. Work courtesy of Stuart Ashman in honor of the talented inmates at the New Mexico State Penitentiary

      Artist name redacted, “Envelope (buffalo skull and stepped chevron design)” (October 2005,Salinas Valley State Prison, Soledad, California), paper envelope, color pencil, pen

      Artist unrecorded, “Picture Frame” (1980s, New Mexico State Penitentiary, Santa Fe), plastic-coated gum wrappers, photograph

      Artist unrecorded, “Amulet” (1960–1970, Anatolia, Republic of Türkiye), glass beads, cotton string, sequins, stuffing

      J.D., “Te Amo (I Love You)” (2018–2020, Cibola County Correctional Center, Milan, New Mexico), torn cotton bedsheets and ink

      Carlos Cervantes, “Hispanic History in the Southwest” (1996, New Mexico State Penitentiary, Santa Fe), cotton handkerchief, lead pencil, colored pencils, ink pens

      Ray Materson, “Where Are You Now” (1990, Somers, Connecticut), sock thread, silk, fiber

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    • 163 Shares179 Views

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      Decadent Alfresco Feasts Serve as Reminders of Simple Pleasures in Pedro Pedro’s ‘Picnic’

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      All images courtesy of the artist and Fundación La Nave, shared with permission

      Decadent Alfresco Feasts Serve as Reminders of Simple Pleasures in Pedro Pedro’s ‘Picnic’

      September 3, 2025

      ArtFood

      Kate Mothes

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      “I believe a picnic is a utopia,” says Pedro Pedro, whose new solo exhibition at Fundación La Nave Salinas takes its name from the titular activity. In Picnic, the Los Angeles-based artist celebrates togetherness, relaxation, and small daily luxuries as a means of maintaining balance and cheerfulness, even during challenging times.

      Picnic highlights a total of 15 new canvases. “Beneath their exuberant surfaces lies a subtle homage to the 1950s, through the depiction of mid‐century furniture and aesthetic, a lens through which Pedro critiques the relentless pace of 2025,” the gallery says. “In an age defined by nonstop notifications and doom‐scroll headlines, Pedro invites us back to a time when people savored the present moment.”

      Through a tinge of golden age thinking, paired with La Nave’s setting in Ibiza, Spain, where it perches over the Mediterannean, we’re invited to indulge in simpler pleasures like lounging on the beach and sampling from a seemingly endless array of treats.

      Using textile paint on unprimed linen, Pedro begins each work with a digital design, which he then sketches onto the substrate using chalk and fills in with color. The closer one studies a painting, the more motifs appear to replicate, like flawless and nearly identical lilies, dollops of whipped cream, orange slices, or melons.

      Just like his method, the relationship between how we read digital and “natural” imagery blurs. Half-peeled citrus, knives abandoned in pastries, and random garments suggest that whoever is enjoying the picnic has perhaps just run off to take a dip in the sea and will be back any moment.

      Mirroring the artist’s interest in utopia, an ideal and perfect society, every element of his paintings is bright, juicy, and surreally, well, perfect. He draws inspiration from the joyously rotund forms of Colombian artist Fernando Botero and the Wayne Thiebaud’s decadent pies and cakes.

      The show also taps into the ethos of memento mori, which translates from Latin to “remember you will die.” The concept was especially in vogue during the Dutch Golden Age, appearing in still life paintings in the form of motifs like wilting flowers and rotting fruit.

      For Pedro, it’s not about remembering that life ends; it’s about consciously living it to its fullest. Thus, memento vivere, or “remember to live,” serves as a counterpoint to its weightier cousin. “Each lemon slice, half-eaten tart, or toppled wine glass is not a warning about mortality, but a luminous reminder to inhabit the present with curiosity, joy, and delight,” the gallery says.

      Picnic continues through October 31 in Ibiza. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

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    • 125 Shares189 Views

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      Atmospheric Oil Paintings by Martin Wittfooth Illuminate Nature’s Timeless Cycles

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      “Aspect of Summer,” oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Corey Helford Gallery, shared with permission

      Atmospheric Oil Paintings by Martin Wittfooth Illuminate Nature’s Timeless Cycles

      August 29, 2025

      ArtNature

      Kate Mothes

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      In large-scale, elaborate oil paintings of powerful, glowing creatures, Martin Wittfooth explores the timeless cycles and forces of nature in a celebration of the sublime. Known for his enigmatic and atmospheric depictions of wild animals in dystopian settings, the artist blends traditional European painting techniques with critical contemporary concerns surrounding the human impact on the environment.

      Wittfooth’s new solo exhibition, Deus Ex Terra at Corey Helford Gallery, features 19 new oil paintings on canvas, linen, or wood panels. Some take the form of tondos 18 to 24 inches in diameter, while others assume vast proportions, like “Duel,” a diptych that spans 12 feet wide. The stallion also appears as a regular embodiment of elemental forces, like in “Aspect of Fire” or “Aspect of Air,” in which silhouettes of powerful horses made of molten rock or clouds of steam rear up into towering positions.

      “Aspect of Earth,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches

      The show’s title, Deux Ex Terra, loosely translates to “god out of the earth.” It’s a nod to the ancient Greek and Roman phrase deux ex machina, which describes a dramatic or literary device in which a character or a “god” is introduced into the plot to solve a seemingly insolvable conflict. During a play, the character would be introduced via a crane, hence the “machine.” Wittfooth flips this notion back to nature and the elemental forces of the earth—weather, orbits, the seasons, life, water—to explore cyclical, self-sustaining rhythms.

      “The Hermetic maxim, ‘As above, so below; As within, so without,’ has echoed through centuries of philosophical, mystical, and artistic inquiry,” the gallery says. “In Deus ex Terra, this principle serves as a guiding thread, illuminating the ways nature repeats its patterns across scale and time: in the branching of rivers and the veins of leaves, in the spiral of galaxies and the coiling of shells, in the cyclical turning of seasons and the rhythms of breath and heartbeat.”

      In earlier work, Wittfooth concentrated on the strained relationship between humans and nature, with its effects revealed in the form of piles of plastic or shorn tree trunks. In his current work, he reflects on the instinctive and enduring facets of nature—the “ancient rhythms that prevail despite our human tumult,” the gallery says. “In a time of deep cultural and ecological upheaval, these paintings offer an invitation to acknowledge, to remember, and perhaps to heal.”

      Deus Ex Terra opens tomorrow and continues through October 4 in Los Angeles. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Aspect of Fire,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches

      “Parallelism 5 (Jellyfish 1),” oil on wood, 24 inches diameter

      “Aspect of Spring,” oil on canvas, 56 x 58 inches

      “Duel,” oil on panel, diptych, 36 x 144 inches

      “Aspect of Winter,” oil on canvas, 50 x 57 inches

      “Parallelism 4 (Snail),” oil on wood, 18 inches diameter

      “Aspect of Air,” oil on panel, 48 x 36 inches

      “Aspect of Autumn, “oil on canvas, 46 x 64 inches

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    • 175 Shares189 Views

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      Brett Allen Johnson Harnesses the Glow of the American Southwest in Dreamy Oil Paintings

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      “In the Land of the Sage,” oil, 40 x 40 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Maxwell Alexander Gallery, shared with permission

      Brett Allen Johnson Harnesses the Glow of the American Southwest in Dreamy Oil Paintings

      August 27, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      As though seared into our collective consciousness, some images of the American Southwest seem to fully embody its inhospitable terrain, mercurial weather, and intense, challenging beauty. One of these would most certainly be Edward Curtis’ dramatic 1904 photograph of the sacred Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “deh-shay”) in Arizona, featuring a string of Navajo riders on horseback, silhouetted against towering rock formations behind them.

      Both a record of the Indigenous inhabitants who called this land home for centuries, taken 40 years after the forced march known as the Long Walk, the photo is also a testament to a quickly evolving nation. And the drama of the region’s canyons, ridges, mountains, buttes, and mesas continue to enthrall us today. For Brett Allen Johnson, these timeless, arid landscapes inspire glowing oil paintings that draw upon the legacies of Western painters like Maynard Dixon and Georgia O’Keeffe.

      “Two Worlds,” oil, 50 x 100 inches

      A solo show of Johnson’s paintings, Two Worlds, opens next month at Maxwell Alexander Gallery. Most of the images shown here are included, like the mineralized, colorful outcrops of “Banded Cliffs, Fruita,” based on a historic location in Capitol Reef National Park. The exhibition also includes the show’s titular painting, “Two Worlds,” which shows an anonymous, completely uninhabited canyon rim from the opposite side.

      Johnson’s forms are brushy and somewhat simplified, although not to the extent that they appear cartoonish. He smooths rocky ledges, gives clouds the weight of dense felt, and illuminates apertures in pueblos, mountains, and rainstorms. Through the interplay of light, shadow, and hue, he renders soaring buttes with fleshy folds and highlights unique patterns in nature.

      “Technique, composition, color, and paint handling—they all say something even if we don’t intend them to,” Johnson says. “But the more I can get to the heart of it, the more I can simplify a painting into just the parts I find indispensable—the essence—those fundamentals become just tools in service of a vision.”

      Two Worlds opens on September 6 in Pasadena. Explore more on Johnson’s Instagram.

      “Glass Window,” oil, 30 x 34 inches

      “Banded Cliffs, Fruita,” oil, 20 x 20 inches

      “Chocolate Ripple,” oil, 16 x 40 inches

      “Not Some Other Place,” oil, 44 x 40 inches

      “Cottonwood Stand with Distant Rain,” oil, 18 x 26 inches

      “Long Shadows,” oil, 18 x 30 inches

      “Uinta Veil,” oil, 18 x 30 inches

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    • 138 Shares189 Views

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      Jon Ching Advocates for Six Endangered Hawaiian Birds in Vivid Detail

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      “I’iwi.” All images courtesy of Jon Ching and American Bird Conservancy, shared with permission

      Jon Ching Advocates for Six Endangered Hawaiian Birds in Vivid Detail

      August 19, 2025

      ArtNature

      Grace Ebert

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      Paradise for some, Hawai‘i is a place of ecological contradiction. The islands are known for their beautiful beaches and lush forests, and yet, they’re also home to the largest threats to avian populations. Dubbed “the bird extinction capital of the world,” Hawai‘i has witnessed its forest species decline from 50 to just 17 today.

      A vivid series of paintings by Kaneohe-born artist Jon Ching zeroes in on the magnificent beauty of six endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers, rare creatures found nowhere else on Earth. Ching is a 2024 Conservation and Justice Fellow for the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), an organization dedicated to supporting wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Teaming up with Birds, Not Mosquitoes, ABC has been working to combat non-native mosquitoes on the islands, which have decimated populations with avian malaria.

      “‘Akeke’e”

      Like much of Ching’s work, these paintings are hyperrealistic, portraying the subjects’ soft plumes and scaled claws with impeccable, otherworldly detail. Many are set against flat, graphic backdrops reflective of different aspects of Hawaiian culture. The artist writes on Instagram that the ‘Akeke’e has a “specialized crossbill that helps them open up ‘ōhi‘a lehua buds in search of insects,” adding about the work of the same name:

      I made a patterned design of the ‘ōhi‘a lehua, almost as a contemporary wallpaper or textile design, but have the flower and leaves transforming from 2D to 3D as the birds perch on them. In this way, their presence gives life to this important native tree like it cares for it in the wild.

      Find more about Ching’s work with ABC and the fellowship program on the organization’s website.

      “‘Apapane”

      “Maui ‘Alauahio”

      “Palila”

      “‘Akikiki”

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    • 113 Shares99 Views

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      In ‘JUJU’s Castle,’ Jean Jullien Reinvents His Childhood Escapes

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      All images © Jean Jullien, courtesy of Nanzuka Art Institute, shared with permission

      In ‘JUJU’s Castle,’ Jean Jullien Reinvents His Childhood Escapes

      August 15, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      As a child, Jean Jullien (previously) preferred to spend his time immersed in the pixelated worlds of video games, embarking on adventures with action figures, and reinventing himself in RPGs. Imagining a universe parallel to his own offered a joyful refuge when he needed it most.

      Jullien summons this memory for JUJU’s Castle, an enormous, multi-gallery exhibition that invites viewers into the artist’s youthful fantasyland. Rendered in his signature flat, two-dimensional style, monsters, wizards, menacing mushroom creatures, knights, and friendly faces stand ready for play. From tile-esque floors to brightly painted walls to fiery lights lining dungeon walkways, each detail captures Jullien’s exuberant and witty aesthetic. “Years later, as the world seems more and more dire, I’ve decided to visit Juju’s castle once more and to open its doors to the public,” he says.

      Eighty small paintings accompany the larger installations and sculptures and are vignettes of make-believe and amusement. There are games of chess, hand-made masks and costumes, and even an elephant slide like those found on the playgrounds of Taiwan.

      Although his works often appear lighthearted, Jullien frequently responds to some of today’s most pressing issues, including capitalism’s grip on society and the all-too-relatable feelings of existential dread. JUJU’s Castle is another response to contemporary life. He says:

      With constant news of war, global warming, pandemics, and dystopic technological advancements, it seems like our daily lives have become more and more anxiogenic. But there is resistance in the form of escapism, and people have resorted to it in many ways. From video games to role playing games, cosplays, niche literatures, and online communities, people have found means to deviate from the harsh reality.

      If you’re in Shanghai, visit Nanzuka Art Institute before October 26 to immerse yourself in Jullien’s world. Otherwise, explore more of his work on his website and Instagram.

      “Toshima Playground” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 35.5 x 47.7 x 3.3 centimeters

      “Masks” (2025), acrylic gouache on canvas, 35.5 x 47.7 x 3.3 centimeters

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    • 125 Shares159 Views

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      Sthenjwa Luthuli’s Spiritual Paintings Excise Intricate Patterns in Bold Color

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      “Marks Of Identity” (2025), hand carved super wood block mix media, and paint, 136 x 92 centimeters. All images courtesy of Unit London, shared with permission

      Sthenjwa Luthuli’s Spiritual Paintings Excise Intricate Patterns in Bold Color

      August 15, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      Through swirling ribbons of color, headless figures dance among densely patterned backdrops, their hands grasping and open. Dressed in tight, form-fitting costumes, these anonymous protagonists are bound by their elaborately carved environments, a metaphor for the experience of South African communities that artist Sthenjwa Luthuli (previously) finds fruitful.

      Luthuli is known for his wood-block paintings brimming with vibrant color and texture. Through a meditative, meticulous process of gouging small pieces of MDF, he renders dense, intricate motifs that envelop his figures in a swath of markings. The artist is particularly interested in African spiritualism and the tenuous relationship between freedom and control for minority communities.

      “Reborn” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 138 x 184 centimeters

      Next month at Norval Foundation in Cape Town, Luthuli with present a collection of works made between 2010 and 2015. His first institutional solo exhibition, Umkhangu uses African cosmology and symbolism as its guide, considering how a birthmark can be seen as an ancestral presence or a sign of one’s destiny.

      Umkhangu opens on September 11. Find more from the artist on Instagram.

      “The Genetics” Ulibofuzo (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 138 x 184 centimeters

      “Unfinished Business” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 136 x 92 centimeters

      “Stories We Wear” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 136 x 92 centimeters

      “Palmistry” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 136 x 92 centimeters

      “Inner Spark” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 136 x 92 centimeters

      “Reincarnation” Ukphinda Uzalwe (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media, and paint, 138 x 184 centimeters

      “Nature’s Unique Signatures” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 185 x 185 centimeters

      “Past Life Origins” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 138 x 184 centimeters

      “Diverse Nations, Different Calling” (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 275 x 184 centimeters

      “Continuous Legacy” Ukuqhubeka Kwefa (2025), hand-carved super wood block mix media and paint, 138 x 184 centimeters

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    • 150 Shares119 Views

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      Sho Shibuya Meditates on Rainy Days and the Fragile Nature of Peace

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      All images courtesy of Unit London, shared with permission

      Sho Shibuya Meditates on Rainy Days and the Fragile Nature of Peace

      August 14, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      The ever-observant Sho Shibuya is known for his daily meditations blanketing the covers of The New York Times. From trenchant commentary on global happenings to peaceful gradients depicting the sky, the artist’s paintings are a tactile record of contemporary life, considering elements both in our control and not.

      Shibuya returns to Unit London this month with Falling From The Sky, a collection of works covered in trompe l’oeil droplets. Although typically despised more than bright sun and cloudless skies, rain offers endless inspiration for the artist as he watches a downpour “dance and drift across the glass, creating shapeshifting patterns, leaving streaks that track the wind,” he says. “I love the way these patterns never repeat, perpetually unique.”

      Spanning 30 paintings in acrylic, Shibuya reminds us of the diversity of wet weather. Sometimes we look out and only see haze, while others surprise us with a vivid rainbow of color. The artist is particularly fond of a damp, gray forecast, though. “I met my wife on such a day. It was pouring when we both stepped into a quiet Japanese restaurant, each carrying an umbrella. Our first words, of course, were about the rain,” he says.

      While Shibuya reveres the rain, he’s not one to ignore what it means to enjoy darkened clouds. He says:

      In other parts of the world, the sky is not gentle. It’s not rain that falls, but bombs. The same grey clouds that comfort me here cast shadows of fear elsewhere. Where I see beauty, others see smoke. Destruction. Silence broken not by soft drops, but by blasts. That contrast stays with me. These paintings are not just invitations to pause and reflect, but reminders of what peace looks like. And how fragile it is.

      Falling From The Sky is on view from August 20 to September 17. Explore an archive of Shibuya’s works on Instagram.

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