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    Ant Hamlyn’s Vibrant, Smushed Still Lifes Preserve the Impermanent

    “Chandelier.” All images courtesy of the artist and Moosey

    Ant Hamlyn’s Vibrant, Smushed Still Lifes Preserve the Impermanent

    October 9, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Known for his squishy flowers and foliage made of polyurethane-coated fabrics, often encased-slash-smushed behind panels of clear acrylic, Ant Hamlyn has a sense of humor when it comes to art history.

    Nodding to genres in Western art like vanitas still-life paintings, he creates textile reliefs that tap into our contemporary condition. From fast food to houseplants to a vibrant bar cart, his compositions playfully explore themes of indulgence, impermanence, beauty, and the quotidian.

    “Greasy Spoon”

    Until recently, Hamlyn has focused predominantly on cartoonish botanicals, and he now delves further into the still-life genre. Works like “Greasy Spoon,” “Shelf Life,” and “Drive-Thru” incorporate motifs of food and trendy home decor evocative of quirky snapshots one might see on Instagram, with people just out of frame.

    The works seen here were recently presented by Moosey, and you can find more of Hamlyn’s work on his website and Instagram.

    “Potwash (I Ought to Give You a Lesson in How to Clean Tables, Boy!”

    “Drive-Thru”

    “Berry and Rye”

    “Shelf Life”

    “Soft Vanitas”

    “Megadeal”

    “Houseplant”

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    Yen Yen Chou Embraces Change in a Whimsical Realm Brimming with Water Droplets

    “Leaves of Becoming” (2025), watercolor and gouache on paper, 16 x12 inches. All images courtesy of Kishka Gallery, shared with permission

    Yen Yen Chou Embraces Change in a Whimsical Realm Brimming with Water Droplets

    October 8, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    With a penchant for kaleidoscopic colors and whimsy, Yen Yen Chou renders a dainty, dreamlike environment in which pastel hues and subtle gradients rule. The artist, who lives between Taipei and Brooklyn, is drawn to dualities, particularly the relationships that emerge from “the ephemeral and the physical, the micro and the macro,” she says. At Kishka Gallery & Library, Yen Yen’s presentation of two modes of working—watercolors on paper and epoxy clay reliefs—conjures the magic of polarities.

    An Ever Changing View, as its name suggests, takes transformation as its root. Water droplets recur throughout the works, descending from a long, thin line into a swirling pool in “Rippling,” for example, and appearing as anthropomorphic, dozing characters in “Leaves of Becoming.” While suspended on panel or paper, these forms connote movement, as they’ll eventually evaporate or combine with a larger body.

    “Rippling” (2025), acrylic and epoxy clay on wooden panel, 37 ½ x 25 inches

    For now, though, Yen Yen depicts a whimsical world on the verge of possibility. “This new body of work continues my exploration of transformation and interconnectedness in everyday life. I’ve been thinking about dualities…and how these relationships shape the way we experience life, through our thoughts, perceptions, and emotions,” she writes.

    An Ever Changing View is open through November 22 in White River Junction, Vermont. Find more from Yen Yen on her website and Instagram.

    “Lady Rainbow” (2023), acrylic on epoxy and foam, 15 x 5 ½ inches

    “To Gaze Upon a Passing Sky” (2025), watercolor and gouache on paper, 12 x 16 inches

    “Swinging in the rain” (2024), acrylic and epoxy clay on wooden panel, 27 x 22 inches

    “Daydreamer” (2025), watercolor and gouache on paper, 12 x 16 inches

    “Iridian Path” (2023), acrylic and epoxy clay on wooden panel, 26 x 21 inches

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    Paolo Puck Imagines a World Called Fliffmellington and Its Uncanny Artifacts

    All images courtesy of Paolo Puck, shared with permission

    Paolo Puck Imagines a World Called Fliffmellington and Its Uncanny Artifacts

    October 8, 2025

    ArtDesign

    Kate Mothes

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    In Paolo Puck’s imaginary realm of Fliffmellington, surreal characters come to life through elaborate costumes. Often weathered and tumbled-looking, a series of handbags, purses, and helmets glimpse a wonderfully weird world.

    “I’m in the long process of faithfully recreating various artefacts from the world of Fliffmellington,” Puck tells Colossal. “Long-term, I will be making a book and short film, as well as an anthropological exhibition of the artefacts.”

    The artist aims to highlight the world of Fliffmellington through its material culture, which often features motifs of expressive or abstracted animals and absurdly large vegetables. The overall costumes reference personalities like the “Gherkin God” or an enigmatic, fantastical character named Celeste, who is associated with an organization called Jezilwik Grindlewax.

    Puck’s approach to making detailed, wearable pieces is through the lens of archaeologist and conservator, as if the objects have been carefully excavated or recovered from a forgotten place, shedding light on an unknown culture.

    Enter Puck’s uncanny world via the artist’s website and Instagram, and find tutorials and making-of insights via Substack. You might also enjoy Nikolas Bentel’s hyper-bespoke accessories.

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    Calder Gardens, a Light-Filled Museum and Prairie, Houses the Sculptor’s Work in Philadelphia

    All artwork © Alexander Calder. All photos by Iwan Baan, courtesy of Calder Gardens, shared with permission

    Calder Gardens, a Light-Filled Museum and Prairie, Houses the Sculptor’s Work in Philadelphia

    October 3, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Alexander Calder’s most widely recognized creation is perhaps the mobile. The lauded artist was a titan of Modernism whose desire to “draw” three-dimensional objects spirited the invention of what went on to become both an art historical achievement and a ubiquitous nursery item. Broadly interested in movement and space, Calder (1898–1976) is often cited as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

    Now, his work finds a new home in a sprawling museum in Philadelphia, the city where his family lived for generations and where he was born. Located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Calder Gardens comprises a 1.8-acre landscape and an 18,000-square-foot building that presents a rotating selection of the artist’s works.

    The museum is designed to bring art, architecture, and nature into a constant and ever-evolving conversation. Outdoor sculptures stand amid a lush prairie by Piet Oudolf, while architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron created an interior that interacts with Calder’s sculptures. Large-scale pieces loom inside airy concrete galleries, while smaller mobiles seem to nest perfectly in a well-lit opening.

    Calder Gardens is open Wednesday through Monday. Find more on its website.

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    World War II Journal Entries Float in a Web of Blood-Red Yarn in Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Diary’

    Installation view of ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025. Photos by Go Sugimoto. All images courtesy of the artist and Japan Society Gallery, shared with permission

    World War II Journal Entries Float in a Web of Blood-Red Yarn in Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Diary’

    October 2, 2025

    ArtHistory

    Kate Mothes

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    Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Berlin-based artist Chiharu Shiota presents a poignant suite of large-scale works in Two Home Countries at Japan Society Gallery. That artist is known for her immersive string installations, inviting us into emotive, atmospheric experiences that tap into both universal and deeply personal narratives.

    In Two Home Countries, viewers enter a vivid world shaped by red thread, redolent of intertwined veins and blood vessels that attach to the floor, take on the shapes of houses, and spread through an entire room with a cloud-like aura of red—filled with written pages. Themes of memory, mortality, connection, identity, and belonging weave through Shiota’s pieces, exploring “how pain, displacement, boundaries, and existential uncertainty shape the human condition and our understanding of self,” the gallery says.

    Detail of “Diary” (2025) in ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

    An expansive, room-sized work titled “Diary,” which is based on an earlier installation and commissioned anew for Two Home Countries, incorporates a dense web of yarn in which float pages of journals that once belonged to Japanese soldiers. Some were also penned by German civilians in the post-war era. “The accumulated pages reveal an expansive record of shared human existence across national boundaries,” the gallery says.

    “When the body is gone, the objects which surrounded them remain behind,” Shiota says in a statement. “As I wander the stalls of the markets in Berlin, I find especially personal items like photographs, old passports, and personal diaries. Once, I found a diary from 1946, which was an intimate insight into the person’s life and experiences.” For Shiota, the power of these objects are revealed in how she feels the presence of writer’s “inner self.”

    Two Home Countries is on view through January 11 in New York City. Plan your visit on the Japan Society’s website, and find more on Shiota’s site and Instagram.

    Installation view of ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

    Installation view of ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

    Installation view of ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

    Installation view of ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

    Detail of “Two Home Countries” (2025) in ‘Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries’ at Japan Society Gallery, New York, 2025

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    Lakota and Western Art History Converge in Dyani White Hawk’s Vibrant Works

    “Wopila | Lineage II” (2023), acrylic, glass beads, synthetic sinew, and thread on aluminum panel, 96 x 120 inches. Gochman Family Collection. Photo by Rik Sferra. All images courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York, and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, shared with permission

    Lakota and Western Art History Converge in Dyani White Hawk’s Vibrant Works

    October 1, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Throughout history, those who wield the most power or resources are typically the ones whose stories are represented in textbooks, passed down through generations, and etched into our collective consciousness. Without intentional effort, it can be difficult to hear more than a single narrative.

    In art history, the reality is much the same. The canon has always privileged white male artists, from titans of the Renaissance like Michelangelo to bad-boy American Modernists like Jackson Pollock. The foundations of 19th-century American landscape painting, for example, are inextricable from the belief in Manifest Destiny, as the American government violently expanded westward. And Western painting and sculpture have historically reigned supreme in the market-driven hallows of galleries and auction houses. But what of the incredible breadth of—namely Indigenous—art forms that have long been overlooked?

    “Visiting” (2024), acrylic, glass beads, thread, and synthetic sinew on aluminum panel with a quartz base, 120 x 15.5 x 15.5 inches (base 5 x 24 x 24 inches). Collection of the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Rik Sferra

    For Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk, the construction of American art history lies at the core of her multidisciplinary practice. “She lays bare the exclusionary hierarchies that have long governed cultural legitimacy, authority, value, and visibility,” says a joint statement from Alexander Gray Associates and Bockley Gallery. “In this light, White Hawk reframes Indigenous art and Western abstraction as inseparable practices—linked by a shared history that dominant narratives have labored to separate and obscure.”

    Pablo Picasso is credited with the saying, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Seminal paintings like “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and others created in the early 1900s would not exist if it were not for his fascination with African masks. White Hawk draws a similar parallel between the 20th-century Color Field and Minimalism movements to highlight the influence of Native American art forms in the evolution of these styles. She prompts viewers to consider how these notions shape our aesthetic perceptions and judgment while also considering the role of cultural memory and community.

    White Hawk’s work spans painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and installations. Alongside oil and acrylic paint, she incorporates materials commonly used in Lakota art forms, like beads, porcupine quills, and buckskin.

    “I strive to create honest, inclusive works that draw from the breadth of my life experiences,” White Hawk says in a statement, merging influences from Native and non-Native, urban, academic, and cultural education systems. She continues: “This allows me to start from center, deepening my own understanding of the intricacies of self and culture, correlations between personal and national history, and Indigenous and mainstream art histories.”

    “Nourish” (2024), ceramic tile installation of handmade tiles by Mercury Mosaics, 174 x 369 1/2 inches. Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Whitney Acquisition Fund 2024.13

    Mirroring the meditative labor and incredible attention to detail required to create traditional Lakota artworks—from elaborately beaded garments to abstract buckskin paintings—White Hawk creates energetic installations that are bold and confrontational. Vibrant geometric patterns are direct and visceral in a way that “unsettles the categories of Eurocentric art history,” the galleries say.

    White Hawk notes that her mixed-media canvases honor “the importance of the contributions of Lakota women and Indigenous artists to our national artistic history…as well as the ways in which Indigenous artists helped shape the evolution of the practices of Western artists who were inspired by their work.”

    “Nourish,” an installation that spans nearly 31 feet wide and 14.5 feet tall, comprises thousands of handmade ceramic tiles that visually reference Lakota beadwork and quillwork. Permanently installed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the piece enters into a dialogue with the history of American Modernism through painters such as Marsden Hartley and Pollock, who are credited as trailblazers of American abstraction and yet were indelibly influenced by Native American art.

    Detail of “Visiting.” Collection of the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Rik Sferra

    “At its core, White Hawk’s practice is sustained by ancestral respect and guided by value systems that center relationality and care for all life,” the galleries say. “By addressing inequities affecting Native communities, she creates opportunities for cross-cultural connection and prompts a critical examination of how artistic and national histories have been constructed. Her work invites viewers to evaluate current societal value systems and their capacity to support equitable futures.”

    Minneapolis-based Bockley Gallery, which has represented White Hawk for more than a decade, has recently announced co-representation of the artist with New York City-based Alexander Gray Associates, where she’ll present a solo exhibition in fall 2026. If you’re in Minneapolis, Love Language opens on October 18 at the Walker Art Center and continues through February 15. The show then travels to Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where it will be on view from April 25 to September 27, 2026. See more on White Hawk’s website.

    Installation view of ‘Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 6 to September 5, 2022). “Wopila | Lineage” (2022), acrylic, glass beads, and synthetic sinew on aluminum panel, 96 9/16 x 168 3/8 inches. Photo by Ron Amstutz

    “Carry IV” (2024), buckskin, synthetic sinew and thread, glass beads, brass sequins, copper vessel, copper ladle, and acrylic paint, 123 x 12 x 10 inches. Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Photo by Rik Sferra

    Detail of “Carry IV.” Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Photo by Rik Sferra

    Installation view of “I Am Your Relative” (2020) in ‘Sharing the Same Breath,’ John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 2023. Courtesy of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

    Detail of “Visiting.” Collection of the Denver Art Museum. Photo by Rik Sferra

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    Craig & Karl’s ‘Mateys’ Bring Vibrancy and Joy to Bridges in Brisbane and Beyond

    Detail of “Converge.” Photo by Alex Chomicz

    Craig & Karl’s ‘Mateys’ Bring Vibrancy and Joy to Bridges in Brisbane and Beyond

    October 1, 2025

    ArtDesign

    Kate Mothes

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    In vibrant colors, patterns, and shapes, the immersive works of Craig & Karl invite us to relish moments of joy and surprise. While Craig is based in New York, and Karl is based in London, the two collaborate across the pond—and around the world—to produce multimedia installations that revitalize urban spaces and celebrate the power of play.

    As part of the 2025 Brisbane Festival, Craig & Karl created a pair of large-scale inflatable interventions on two of the city’s bridges, both riffing on the idea of the arch as passageway. Additionally, numerous illustrations, interactive sculptures, and inflatable “Mateys” — a series of quirky characters with expressive faces — pop up on buildings and sidewalks to enable joyful encounters as part of the expansive, city-wide exhibition titled Rear Vision.

    “Walk This Way” (2025), Kangaroo Point Bridge, Brisbane. Photo by JD Lin

    Collectively titled “Walk This Way,” the bridge installations encourage Brisbanites to see their city with fresh eyes. The expressive, flexible characters are also immanently relatable for viewers of all ages. “The Mateys serve as companions that help foster community and shared experiences, welcoming us into different corners of the city,” says a festival statement.

    Craig & Karl are known for their vivid participatory projects, which range from mini-golf courses to playgrounds to murals. The artists initially met 30 years ago while studying at Griffith University in Brisbane, and since, their collaborative practice has included partnerships with global brands and publications like Adidas, Nike, Apple, Chanel, The New Yorker, Variety, and more.

    While the bridge installations came to a close at the end of September, you can still stroll along the Public Art Trail through October 20 to spot Craig & Karl’s sculptures and installations in unexpected places. Then, drop by the exhibition Double Vision at the Griffith University Art Museum, which continues through January 7.

    Plot your course on the Brisbane Festival website, and see more of the artists’ projects on their site and Instagram.

    “Mateys” (2025), part of ‘Rear Vision’ Public Art Trail, Brisbane. Photo by Claudia Baxter

    “Mateys” (2025), part of ‘Rear Vision’ Public Art Trail, Brisbane. Photo by Alex Chomicz

    Detail of “Converge.” Photo by Alex Chomicz

    “Converge” (2025), Neville Bonner Bridge, Brisbane. Photo by JD Lin

    “Prismatic,” Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong

    Detail of “Unfold,” Suzhou, China

    “Cosmos,” Melbourne Central, Melbourne

    Detail of “Cosmos”

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    Monumental Tapestries by Jacqueline Surdell Invoke Forests as Portals to the Divine

    “Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches. All images courtesy of Secrist | Beach, shared with permission

    Monumental Tapestries by Jacqueline Surdell Invoke Forests as Portals to the Divine

    October 1, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Jacqueline Surdell (previously) likens her process of looping and knotting rope to painting. She considers a roving line of interwoven fiber to be that of a gesture, one that might surge and swell across a canvas.

    A lifelong athlete, Surdell gravitates toward a demanding, physical practice that often turns her body into a shuttle as she weaves on an oversized loom from a lift. Monumental steel bars stretching more than 20 feet wide hold the resulting hefty compositions of industrial nylon and cotton cording, which the artist creates through repetitive movement not unlike that which goes into training for competition.

    Detail of “Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain, and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches

    Surdell incorporates a range of influences into her latest body of work on view at Secrist | Beach in Chicago. For her solo exhibition, The Conversion: Rings, Rupture, and the Forest Archive, the artist takes transformation and reverence as a starting point. In particular, she draws on what she calls “a cosmic connection” to her great uncle Paul, with whom she shares a birthday and who died in a forested area during the Battle of the Bulge.

    Connecting nature to narrative, the artist also loops in her Catholic upbringing and biblical undertones, particularly as it relates to places of epiphany. She considers forests to be “sacred thresholds,” and in this line of thinking, her dynamic works become portals to the divine. “Looking out into the forest is very different from a painting of the forest because it is more about storytelling and mythmaking,” she shares in a video interview.

    Printed polyester fabric makes several appearances in this new body of work. A photographic snapshot of sunlight streaming through a lush forest canopy augments the darkened “Penance of Leaves,” while “Paul” features a vivid sunset. Nature, for Surdell, is not passive. Instead, it’s an active participant in preserving collective memory and an inviting site for transcendence.

    The Conversion is on view through November 15. Find more from Surdell on Instagram.

    “Paul” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 90 x 140 x 12 inches

    Detail of “Penance of Leaves” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 74 x 81 x 15 inches

    “Penance of Leaves” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 74 x 81 x 15 inches

    Detail of “My Roman Empire” (2025), cotton cord, nylon cord, and steel, 74 x 90 x 12 inches

    “Desire Path” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, steel, 49 x 73 x 7 inches

    “My Roman Empire” (2025), cotton cord, nylon cord, and steel, 74 x 90 x 12 inches

    Detail of “Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain, and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches

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