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      Thomas Trum’s Paint Machines Radiate Monumental Geometric Gradients

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      “Looping Line” in progress. All images © Thomas Trum, shared with permission

      Thomas Trum’s Paint Machines Radiate Monumental Geometric Gradients

      September 10, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      For Thomas Trum, the methods artists use to apply a medium to a substrate is as much a source of fascination as the finished work. Around 2008, when he was painting graffiti, he began experimenting with different techniques and tools—a readymade paintbrush or spray can only accomplish so much.

      “The thing I like most about humans is how they constantly strive to improve efficiency in everything they do,” Trum tells Colossal. “Just as farmers invent tools to make their work more efficient, I observed the same drive in the painting world, where various innovations have made life easier or work faster.”

      “Duotone Shaped Line 18” (2024) in progress

      Trum began devising his own machines that could achieve a new level of precision at a large scale. “By 2014, I shifted my focus to monochrome paintings, concentrating on creating shapes and working exclusively with lines,” he says.

      On canvases, along walls, and across floors, Trum uses a variety of handmade machines that assist in applying fields or lines of color to sprawling surfaces. Paint is laid down with the assistance of modified hand-held sprayers and elaborate motorized mechanisms that rotate to apply perfect arcs and gradients.

      The transparency of the paint reveals numerous layers and points to the meticulous preparations required for Trum to complete a piece in one attempt.

      The artist’s often monumental works require a small team that brings different strengths to each project, pushing the boundaries of what they can make. His latest project was a collaboration with Porsche titled The Art of Dreams, which transferred his vibrant geometric motifs to boat sails, a pool, and a large-scale series of canvases.

      The artist is currently working on a project incorporating video and photography to capture the element of motion in his work, which will be presented in the spring at Gerhard Hofland Gallery in Amsterdam. Find more on Trum’s website, and follow updates on Instagram.

      “Two Fan Shaped Lines in Yellow and Pink” (2023) in progress

      Installation view of ‘Porsche — The Art of Dreams’ (2024). Photo by Thomas Lohr

      Test in the studio for “Multiple Lines” (2023)

      “Loops” (2022). Photo Arturo Sanchez

      Trum painting copies of his book

      “Two Fan Shaped Lines in Yellow and Pink” (2023), HNBM

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      In the Wake of Tragedy, Thinkspace Projects Launches a Benefit Auction

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      Shawn & Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery

      In the Wake of Tragedy, Thinkspace Projects Launches a Benefit Auction

      September 9, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      In 2005, Shawn and Andrew Hosner founded Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles’s West Adams District before rapidly expanding its program and collaborating with numerous projects nationally and internationally. The gallery showcases the best in New Contemporary art—or lowbrow—a movement that emerged in the 1990s on the West Coast partly in response to what was seen as a “high-brow” conceptual turn on the East Coast.

      The New Contemporary moveent rejected what the Hosners describe as an “inaccessible garrison of ‘high culture,’” instead focusing on subjects often often overlooked in the art world like pop culture and the subcultural. The couple’s personal collection, accrued for decades, reflects a deep-seated love for the genre. Now, hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and collectibles by acclaimed artists are up for auction.

      ROA, “Mouse in a Cage,” steel, ink, and acrylic on wood

      In February, Shawn Hosner died from breast cancer. The “ultimate gallery mom,” as Andrew described her, she was a fierce champion of artists and viewed the gallery as a family. Unfortunately, her battle with the illness wiped out the couple’s savings, which also served as the gallery’s safety net. In an effort to stay afloat, Andrew has organized the auction as a fundraiser to continue Shawn’s vision and legacy for Thinkspace.

      The auction takes place in two parts over two days: September 12 launches the main auction at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, in person, at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. On September 13, a separate online-only auction launches at 10 a.m.

      If you’re in the area, you can preview the works from today through September 13. See and bid on pieces by numerous artists Colossal has featured over the years, like ROA, Kazuhito Kawai, Lisa Ericson, Banksy, En Iwamura, Brian Rochefort, and many more.

      In memory of Shawn, a portion of proceeds from the auction will benefit the Keep A Breast Foundation. Bid now on LAMA’s website.

      Lisa Ericson, “Safe Passage” (2018), acrylic on panel

      James Cauty, “Riot Shield (Dismaland)” (2015), acrylic on polycarbonite riot shield

      Pejac, “Four Bees” (2020), acrylic and oil pastel on cardboard

      Hebru Brantley, “Untitled” (2020), acrylic and pastel on canvas

      Kazuhito Kawai, “The Magic Mirror” (2022), glazed stoneware

      Taylor Lee, “Giant Happy” (2020), glazed stoneware

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      Cubist Figures Wade into the Shadowy Depths of Connor Addison’s Allegories

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      “In the Loving Care of Animal Spirits” (2022), oil and acrylic on linen, 200 x 300 centimeters. All images © Connor Addison, shared with permission

      Cubist Figures Wade into the Shadowy Depths of Connor Addison’s Allegories

      September 6, 2024

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      With light inevitably comes darkness, a dualism Barcelona-based artist Connor Addison (previously) finds endlessly intriguing. “We so often forget to embrace the shadow as it’s presumed unloveable or is invisible,” he says.

      Addison pulls at what he finds “in the space between our joy, passion, conscious thought and our fear…what lies in the shadows of our mind.” He often begins a painting with an inquiry or thought that turns into an allegory. “Brothers II,” for example, came from the following questions: “What is a sibling relationship? How do play and manipulation function between siblings?”

      “Brothers II” (2024), 260 x 161 centimeters

      “Visualisation can be so spontaneous,” he adds. “The whole painting just emerges while brushing my teeth for example.”

      Working in muted palettes of earth tones, Addison renders cubist figures with pointed flesh and geometric limbs. Stripping away clothing and distinctive facial features appeals to universal feelings and emotions, like unconditional love, anguish, and curiosity. He adds:

      I like the idea that someone 2,000 years in the future or past would still find a work meaningful and intelligible, perhaps even on an alien planet! Allegory is a powerful thing. Its popularity died as religion fell out of vogue, and we became more literate, but I love a story captured in image. It can say so much more than the word.

      Addison is preparing for his next solo show with Aktion Art in 2026. Follow his work on Instagram.

      “How Long Must This Silence Echo” (2021), oil on linen, 140 x 89 centimeters

      “Mother, Mother” (2021), oil on linen, 150 x 150 centimeters

      “The Conversation” (2023), oil on Linen, 260 x 183 centimeters

      “Becoming Myself Without Any End” (2024), 263 x 142 centimeters

      “Something From Nothing” (2023), oil and watercolor on linen, 400 x 200 centimeters

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      On Vintage Objects, David Cass’s Paintings Summon the Sea

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      Work in progress for ‘Where Once the Waters.’ All images © David Cass, shared with permission

      On Vintage Objects, David Cass’s Paintings Summon the Sea

      September 5, 2024

      Art Climate

      Kate Mothes

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      For David Cass, the sea offers an endless source of wonder at its depths, history, bounty, and sometimes ferocity. Based between the Scottish Borders and Athens, the artist (previously) has long been fascinated by the power of water, especially its increasing vulnerability to the effects of the climate crisis.

      On found objects like tins and matchboxes to book pages and antique pulleys, Cass repeats motifs of waves and distant marine horizons in oil and gouache. In Light on Water, his current solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, the artist continues to address the warming and rapid rising of ocean levels around the world through paintings that hover between abstraction and representation.

      “Reach” (2022-23), oil and oil bar on primed bus blind on board, 75 x 75 centimeters

      While creating much of the work for the show at his studio in Greece, Cass considered the landscape outside—its islands and peninsulas encompassed by water. He observed how the rippling surface can transform its appearance moment by moment due to the weather or time of day. Although “a threat rests behind this mesmeric picture,” he says in a statement. “In this exhibition, light also represents heat.”

      Cass draws attention to estimates that 91 percent of Earth’s excess heat energy trapped in the climate system is stored by our oceans. As the planet continues to warm, this storage capability disappears, threatening all manner of life.

      The artist calls on a time before we were aware of climate change, evoking the Industrial Age—incidentally, the dawn of greenhouse gases—in a series of oil paintings titled 500 Years that subtly nod to the Old Masters.

      Light on Water continues through September 28 in Edinburgh. Find more on Cass’s website and Instagram.

      “September 2020 – April 2024, Norfolk” (2020-24), gouache on c.18th-century solid oak plank door, 77 x 196 x 4 centimeters

      “October 2017,” gouache on card

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

      “500 Years (after Van Eertvelt) II” (2023-24), oil and pencil on gessoed chest panel, 22 x 29 centimeters

      “September 2020 – April 2024, Norfolk” (2020-24), gouache on c.18th-century solid oak plank door, 77 x 196 x 4 centimeters

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    • 125 Shares119 Views

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      Andrew Hem’s Ethereal Paintings Reflect a Sense of Endless Wonder

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      All images @ Andrew Hem, shared with permission

      Andrew Hem’s Ethereal Paintings Reflect a Sense of Endless Wonder

      September 4, 2024

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      Occupying vibrant, unearthly environments, Andrew Hem’s characters exude a sense of wonder and openness toward the world. The Los Angeles-based artist (previously) continues his fantastic, gravity-defying works that see figures float upside down or amid a sea of jellyfish. 

      Now a father of two, Hem frequently reflects on his Cambodian heritage and how he’s sharing it with his children. The artist translates his pride for his homeland into each painting, rendering figures who are re-orienting themselves in novel, dreamlike situations. The largely introspective subjects gravitate toward calm and finding joy in the simple and mundane.

      Follow Hem’s work on Instagram.

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    • 100 Shares179 Views

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      Angela Fan Zirbes Evokes Midwest Memories in Black-and-White

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      “White Christmas Revised” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 40 inches. All images © Angela Fang Zirbes, shared with permission

      Angela Fan Zirbes Evokes Midwest Memories in Black-and-White

      September 3, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      While preparing her undergraduate thesis exhibition at Parsons School of Design in 2022, Angela Fang Zirbes craved something different. She was working with traditional brushwork on canvas but was dissatisfied with the technique’s ability to achieve heightened contrast. Incidentally, her pet rabbit of 13 years also died that autumn.

      “She had been with me through some of my most formative years, and her death had a deep impact on me,” Fang Zirbes says. “I began thinking a lot about my upbringing and family history in Iowa, and I started working from a lot of old black-and-white family photographs as well as found imagery from around my hometown.”

      “Summer Birthday Revised” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 inches

      Drawing on the monochrome snapshots, Fang Zirbes began to employ graphite, then later dabbling in airbrush. She says, “The black-and-white style enabled me to reference the aged photographs and learn how to portray light and shadow in a new way.”

      The paint clings to the texture of raw canvas, creating a velvety texture of deep blacks juxtaposed with highly defined, masked edges. “It mirrors the content of my work,” the artist says, “where my compositions are sharp with fear and nervousness but the subjects and settings firstly appear strangely friendly.”

      Fang Zirbes’s process revolves around world-building, connecting references in every composition to her personal history or recurring dreams. “I believe this recurrence has a meaning that is rooted in my childhood memories or calls back to my past and how it impacts me today,” she says. “For example, I was always around rabbits and formed a special affection for them, which explains why I find myself painting rabbits over and over again when thinking about my upbringing.”

      Domestic items like Chinese pickle jars, lamps, couches, or sewing scissors appear within wallpapered rooms that tap into the artist’s home or her grandparents’ house in rural Iowa. “They are a combination of influences from both my American family and my Chinese family, as well as the Midwest which has its own unique culture that has had an effect on me,” she says.

      “Thorns” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      Fan Zirbes is working toward a solo exhibition scheduled to open in March at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York. “I’m continuing my monochromatic work about my upbringing in Iowa, but I’m introducing a new focus around the supernatural and American theories surrounding ghosts and hauntings. It’s a concept I’ve been researching over this last year and I can’t wait to see it through.”

      Find more on the artist’s Instagram.

      “Goodnight Moon” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Vanity” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

      “Dog on Couch” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Mama’s PaoCai Jar” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Rabbit Vase with Flowers” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 18 inches

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    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Angela Fang Zirbes Evokes Midwest Memories in Black-and-White

      by

      “White Christmas Revised” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 40 inches. All images © Angela Fang Zirbes, shared with permission

      Angela Fang Zirbes Evokes Midwest Memories in Black-and-White

      September 3, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      While preparing her undergraduate thesis exhibition at Parsons School of Design in 2022, Angela Fang Zirbes craved something different. She was working with traditional brushwork on canvas but was dissatisfied with the technique’s ability to achieve heightened contrast. Incidentally, her pet rabbit of 13 years also died that autumn.

      “She had been with me through some of my most formative years, and her death had a deep impact on me,” Fang Zirbes says. “I began thinking a lot about my upbringing and family history in Iowa, and I started working from a lot of old black-and-white family photographs as well as found imagery from around my hometown.”

      “Summer Birthday Revised” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 inches

      Drawing on the monochrome snapshots, Fang Zirbes began to employ graphite, then later dabbling in airbrush. She says, “The black-and-white style enabled me to reference the aged photographs and learn how to portray light and shadow in a new way.”

      The paint clings to the texture of raw canvas, creating a velvety texture of deep blacks juxtaposed with highly defined, masked edges. “It mirrors the content of my work,” the artist says, “where my compositions are sharp with fear and nervousness but the subjects and settings firstly appear strangely friendly.”

      Fang Zirbes’s process revolves around world-building, connecting references in every composition to her personal history or recurring dreams. “I believe this recurrence has a meaning that is rooted in my childhood memories or calls back to my past and how it impacts me today,” she says. “For example, I was always around rabbits and formed a special affection for them, which explains why I find myself painting rabbits over and over again when thinking about my upbringing.”

      Domestic items like Chinese pickle jars, lamps, couches, or sewing scissors appear within wallpapered rooms that tap into the artist’s home or her grandparents’ house in rural Iowa. “They are a combination of influences from both my American family and my Chinese family, as well as the Midwest which has its own unique culture that has had an effect on me,” she says.

      “Thorns” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      Fang Zirbes is working toward a solo exhibition scheduled to open in March at Hashimoto Contemporary, which represents in the artist, in New York. “I’m continuing my monochromatic work about my upbringing in Iowa, but I’m introducing a new focus around the supernatural and American theories surrounding ghosts and hauntings. It’s a concept I’ve been researching over this last year and I can’t wait to see it through.”

      Find more on the artist’s Instagram.

      “Goodnight Moon” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Vanity” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

      “Dog on Couch” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Mama’s PaoCai Jar” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

      “Rabbit Vase with Flowers” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 18 inches

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month.

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