painting

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      Rooted in Chicago’s Culture, Technicolor Paintings by Artist Max Sansing Explore Revelation

      by

      
      Art

      #Chicago
      #painting

      August 19, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Join Me” (2020), oil, spray paint, and enamel on panel, 20 × 20 inches. All images © Max Sansing, shared with permission
      Through a series of brightly hued paintings titled Lost & Found, Max Sansing examines the human desire for happiness and peace through a distinct sense of place. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, the artist is known for vibrant murals, which you can explore on Instagram, and smaller-scale artworks (shown here) that are rooted in the culture that’s unique to the city.
      Each of Sansing’s paintings focus on a single subject who is overlayed with a thick brushstroke or whispy feather. The artist tells Colossal that the central characters are in the midst of a revelation, having just experienced or realized a needed adjustment. “I think at some point in most Chicagoans’ lives, you come to a point where you need a change. Either Chicago does that for you, or you do it for yourself. Finding that and unlocking those new pathways is a huge part of life,” Sansing says.
      Many of the works that are part of Lost & Found hearken back to the artist’s upbringing. “Rapture,” in particular, features Anita Baker in the background, a gesture toward the R&B singer’s tunes that would reverberate throughout the neighborhood Sansing grew up in during the 1980s. In the same piece, though, a bullet propels toward a young boy’s head. “The threat of gang violence in the early 90s was kind (of) like a wake-up call out of adolescence,” the artist says, and a reality for many Black boys and men in the United States.
      Sansing isn’t without hope, though. The artist writes, “I think we all want that moment in life to finally have clarity, peace, happiness, and in the end, that’s what a lot of civil unrest is about. Folks just wanna live and be. And some want that for others who can’t have it due to hate and systemic roadblocks.” As a whole, Lost & Found embodies the revelations necessary to bring justice and allow communities to thrive. “To quote the show title,” Sansing says, “these things are lost for some, and we have to find it.” (via Supersonic Art)

      “Keygen”(2020), oil, spray paint, and enamel on panel, 30 × 30 inches
      “Rapture (Same Ole Love)” (2020), oil, acrylic, spray paint, and enamel on canvas, 36 × 38 inches
      “Feather Weight” (2020), oil, acrylic, spray paint, and enamel on panel, 33 × 24 inches
      “Soldier On”(2020), oil, acrylic, spray paint, and enamel on panel, 12 × 12 inches
      “Recovered” (2020), oil, acrylic, spray paint, and enamel on panel, 30 × 30 inches

      #Chicago
      #painting

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now!

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 188 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Chromatic Black Crows by Artist Kerry James Marshall Consider the Precarity of Race in America

      by

      
      Art
      History

      #birds
      #painting

      August 17, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Black and part Black Birds in America: (Crow, Goldfinch)” (2020), acrylic on PVC panel, 27 7/8 x 24 3/4 inches. All images © Kerry James Marshall, courtesy of David Zwirner
      Two new paintings by Kerry James Marshall feature a central crow that looms over a botanical backdrop. One or two birdhouses, which have entrances that are too small for the blackbirds to fit through, are perched on the leafy branches along with more petite species. Part of an ongoing series, the acrylic paintings are based on John James Audubon’s Birds of America, an archetypal text cataloging 435 life-size watercolors of avian creatures.
      Marshall’s artworks provide a multivalent, counterhistory to conceptions of race in the United States. While Audubon is recognized widely for his contribution to ecology and natural history in America, his own background is conflicting. The ornithologist was born as Jean Rabin in Haiti to unmarried parents: his father was a white plantation owner, while his mother’s identity is not as well-documented. However, many people believe she was a Creole chambermaid who may have had a mixed racial heritage. When Audubon migrated to the United States in the 19th century, he changed his name and masked his potentially biracial background.
      Throughout his life, the famous birdwatcher and artist both supported and actively participated in chattel slavery, enslaving and selling people throughout the early 1800s. Audubon, who passed as white, also sought out relationships with presidents James Harrison and Andrew Jackson to promote his studies. In 1976, though, the artist’s work was included by curator David C. Driskell in his exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art, which positioned Audubon within the Black arts canon.

      “Black and part Black Birds in America: (Grackle, Cardinal & Rose-breasted Grosbeak)” (2020), acrylic on PVC panel, 35 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
      Today, Marshall utilizes ornithologist’s studies as a way to consider the narratives around race in his series, Black and part Black Birds in America, which on view virtually through August 30 at David Zwirner. The Chicago-based artist paints large crows in chromatic black, which is composed entirely of dark reds, blues, or greens. Another smaller bird, like a goldfinch or cardinal, has the deep shade on its face or wings, evoking the one-drop rule, or the claim that one Black ancestor was enough to grant a relative that same identity.
      Because Marshall forgoes actual black pigment when painting, he evidences that racial categories are simply a social construction rather than a biological fact. Similarly, the ambiguous titles of the series compare the classification of birds to that of people, utilizing the color to reference both the creatures’ feathers and human categorization of race. “None of us works in isolation. Nothing we do is disconnected from the social, political, economic, and cultural histories that trail behind us. The value of what we produce is determined by comparison with and in contrast to what our fellow citizens find engaging,” Marshall says.

      #birds
      #painting

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now!

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      These Absurdly Contorted Animals by Bruno Pontiroli Will Leave You With a Backache

      by

      The troupe of wild animals in Bruno Pontiroli’s paintings contort their bodies into backbends and handstands that would rival even the most accomplished gymnast. A wrinkly hippo balances on its tongue, a tiger arches its torso into a 90-degree angle, and a hyena rotates its hind legs in the air. The French artist (previously) notes that he begins the bizarre artworks with easily-recognized animals that he then shapes “like the way a child plays with modeling clay or a building set for instance,” morphing a simple depiction of a nimble lion or hare into a peculiar new reality. More More

    • 163 Shares149 Views

      in Art

      Inflatable Heads, Fantastical Paintings, and Bulbous Sculptures Comprise a Surreal Dreamland by OSGEMEOS

      by

      
      Art

      #installation
      #light
      #painting
      #sculpture

      August 6, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images courtesy of Hyundai Card, Hyundai Capital News Room, shared with permission
      Wedged between two buildings in Itaewon, Seoul, is a huge, inflatable head marking the entrance to OSGEMEOS’s latest exhibition. With a shaggy mohawk and thin mustache, the yellow character resembles a band of glowing figures that populate the inside Brazilian twins Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo’s immersive installation.
      Comprised of lit sculptures, large-scale paintings, and collages in the same cartoonish style as their previous projects, OSGEMEOS: You Are My Guest is a surreal dreamland. It asks visitors to swerve around a series of bulbous sculptures that jut upward from the floor. A lime green wall houses an eclectic display of framed portraits, repurposed door frames, and sculptural figures, while a patchwork of worn album covers hangs from another. The title of the exhibition is derived from a 2016 painting (shown below) that channels the geometric shapes and bright colors traditional in Brazilian culture, in addition to more modern, energetic artforms like hip-hop and breakdance, two of the artists’ primary forms of inspiration.
      Simultaneously arresting and hypnotic, OSGEMEOS: You Are My Guest is the brothers’ first solo show in Seoul and will be on view at Hyundai Card through October 11, 2020. Those unable to see the exhibition in person should head to Instagram, where the duo shares the latest on their multi-media projects. (via Juxtapoz)

      “You Are My Guest” (2016), 126 x 206 inches

      Courtesy the artists and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul

      #installation
      #light
      #painting
      #sculpture

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets.

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 188 Shares129 Views

      in Art

      Artist Seamus Wray Paints a Dizzying Series of Portraits of Himself Painting Portraits of Himself

      by

      
      Art

      #humor
      #painting
      #portraits
      #self-portrait

      July 23, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Seamus Wray, shared with permission
      Channeling M.C. Escher and the Droste effect, more broadly, a Chicago-based artist has been painting portraits of himself painting portraits of himself. Seamus Wray, who’s appeared in a similar project shared on Colossal, began with a single representation (shown above) and mirrored his pose in a photograph of the work. He then repeated that process five times, which resulted in a recursive, mixed-media series that changes slightly with each iteration—two cats make an appearance in the final portraits.
      Wray hopes the potentially infinite project begs the questions, “What comes next? Another painting. Are we all just living in a painting? What if this is a painting, within a painting?… I have painted hundreds of self-portraits over the years, and this seemed to be a natural progression from those, as I seem to be going mad painting myself, painting myself,” he tells Colossal.
      Much of Wray’s work is centered on internet culture and media, and he frequently paints bright, saturated depictions of memes and iconic characters from various television shows and movies, many of which he shares on Instagram. The artist also sells prints and other goods with his work on Threadless. (via Kottke)

      #humor
      #painting
      #portraits
      #self-portrait

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets.

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 188 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      Gradients of Thick Petals by Artist Joshua Davison Are Layered Precisely with a Palette Knife

      by

      
      Art

      #flowers
      #painting

      July 22, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Blue Hydrangea.” All images © Joshua Davison, shared with permission
      Joshua Davison’s three-dimensional hydrangeas and other blooms began as an exploration of color theory. “As my thought process and work has developed, these flower studies have evolved into a complex balancing act between symmetry, saturation, and contract,” he tells Colossal.
      Based in New Zealand, the 23-year-old artist has honed his process, allowing him to produce thick-petaled flowers with a single palette knife. He uses a combination of oil and acrylic paints and builds them up in layers on a solid canvas to create each sculptural piece. Always sticking to a tight color palette, Davison sometimes utilizes precise gradients to capture every shade of blue and purple.
      The artist sees a strong tie between art and nature and strives to be incredibly realistic. At this stage in his practice, Davison is focused on mastering form and methods.  “I develop most of my techniques exempt from external influence,” he says. “We are so saturated with content of all kinds that I think in some ways it can stunt our creativity. I think it’s so important to consistently disconnect and explore concepts in your own mind.” While he considers nature to be art’s foundation, his details his approach to originality as follows:
      As a traditional painter, I also think it can seem as though we live in a world where everything’s already been done. I believe the term original is very loosely thrown around these days and that true originality is incredibly rare but something that can be worked towards and earned. The prospect of one day achieving truly original work is the single biggest motivator for me as an artist.
      Some of Davison’s vibrant blossoms are on view at Flagstaff Gallery through July 26. If you’re not in New Zealand, head to Instagram to keep up with his latest projects. (via My Modern Met)

      “Gray Flower Wheel”
      “Black Flower Wheel”

      #flowers
      #painting

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets.

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 175 Shares179 Views

      in Art

      Delicate Paintings by Lee Me Kyeoung Detail the Small Convenience Stores Throughout South Korea

      by

      
      Art

      #painting
      #South Korea
      #stores

      July 20, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Peach blossom store” (2020), acrylic ink pen on paper, 122 × 122 centimeters. All images © Lee Me Kyeoung, shared with permission
      Peeking through peach blossoms or nestled into a snowy landscape, the tiny shops that Lee Me Kyeoung renders are found across South Korea, from Mokpo to Jeju and Seoul to Gapyeong. The artist already has spent decades speaking with the store owners and weaving their stories into her delicate paintings as part of her ongoing A Small Store series. Her most recent works encapsulate the experience of standing in front of the establishments by capturing every detail: the multicolored goods evenly stacked, advertisements posted in the windows, bikes parked out front, and the sloping tiled roofs.
      Me Kyeoung’s work recently culminated in a book detailing the still-open locations for those interested in visiting the shops in person. The prolific artist also shares updates on future exhibitions, in addition to photographs of the original stores she visits, on Instagram.

      “Jeongdeun store” (2020), acrylic ink pen on paper, 122 x 162 centimeters
      “Korye store” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 65 x 65 centimeters
      “Woori store at Haenam” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 56 x 115 centimeters
      “Shingur store” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 75 x 135 centimeters
      “Store at Haman” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 75 x 135 centimeters
      “Sinheoung store” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 49 x 86 centimeters
      “Deayul store” (2019), acrylic ink pen on paper, 60 x 73 centimeters
      “Chestnut tree valley store” (2020), acrylic ink pen on paper, 120 x 180 centimeters

      #painting
      #South Korea
      #stores

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets.

       
      Share this story
        More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Explore the Traditional Art of Ebru as Garip Ay Creates Entrancing Water Paintings

      by

      
      Art

      #painting
      #video
      #water

      July 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      
      Based in Istanbul, artist Garip Ay (previously) utilizes traditional ebru techniques—a method of paper marbling that involves dripping oil paint into water—to create rich artworks with incredibly complex motifs. Ay’s process recently was captured by Great Big Story in a short video that walks through his studio and documents how the artist seamlessly morphs one work into another with just a few hand motions.
      After completing a piece on the water’s surface, Ay transfers the image to paper, wood, or textiles by dipping it in and slowly pulling back. Despite the meditative quality of his movements, though, the artist shares the pressures of the medium. “When people watch ebru, they think it is relaxing and soothing, but it my personal experience, it is really stressful. While doing ebru, you have control problems because you’re doing something on water,” he says. As shown, a drop too many could alter the entire piece.
      Ay shares many videos and photographs of his vibrant paintings on his site, and more of Great Big Story’s projects can be found on YouTube.

      #painting
      #video
      #water

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets.

       
      Share this story
        More