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Simon Laveuve’s 1/35-Scale Dwellings Hint at a Post-Apocalyptic Way of Life
by Aurelia Butler 3 February 2025, 19:00
“Temple” (2025), mixed media. All images courtesy of Simon Laveuve, shared with permission
Simon Laveuve’s 1/35-Scale Dwellings Hint at a Post-Apocalyptic Way of Life
February 3, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Whether slathered with graffiti, overgrown with moss, or decorated with found knick-knacks, Simon Laveuve’s sculptures hint at anonymous lives. Even though we never see those who inhabit the eclectic miniature dwellings (previously), the artist invites us to examine an alternative way of life.
Crafted at 1/35 scale, tiny tables, windows, paintings, and other objects fill multi-story rooms and mezzanines. In his most recent works, Laveuve continues his characteristic assemblage-like style, imagining a post-apocalyptic reality where basic belongings provide for a simple life.
Detail of “D’un bout à l’autre”
In “D’un bout à l’autre,” for example, which translates to “from one end to the other” the structure appears to have risen from the pier of a long-destroyed bridge. Its swampy base contains old tires and other detritus, while above, a narrow, three-story shack includes basic amenities.
In this imagined existence, there is presumably no electricity grid or internet, a windmill provides enough power for a fan and a refrigerator, and a tank stores water. Laveuve taps into a kind of “future past,” turning to equipment and methods many of us view as obsolete today, like gramophones and metal milk jugs.
If you’re in Paris, you can see Laveuve’s solo exhibition Voir Loin at Loo & Lou Gallery through March 1. His work is also included in Small Is Beautiful, which is currently on view in Taipei. Discover more miniature worlds on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“D’un bout à l’autre” (2025), mixed media, 52 x 40 x 31 centimeters
Detail of “D’un bout à l’autre”
“D’un bout à l’autre”
Detail of “D’un bout à l’autre”
“La Volière” (2025), mixed media
Detail of “La Volière”
“Temple” (2025), mixed media
Detail of “Temple”
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Nick Cave’s Nearly 26-Foot Bronze Stands for Resistance Amid Oppression
by Aurelia Butler 30 January 2025, 17:30
“Amalgam (Origin)”
(2024), bronze,
309 5/8 x 201 x 227 inches. All photos by Vincent Tullo, courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, shared with permission
Nick Cave’s Nearly 26-Foot Bronze Stands for Resistance Amid Oppression
January 30, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Whether weaving plastic pony beads into a monumental sculpture, adorning figures with mother-of-pearl buttons, or mosaicing ceramic tile across a New York subway station, Nick Cave has continually returned to one question: how does this material help bring people into the work?
“I have to think about the journey and how I get your willingness to explore and go with me,” he told Colossal in 2022.
“Amalgam (Plot)” (2024), bronze, tole flowers, and cast iron door stops, 63 x 120 x 125 inches
This month at Jack Shainman Gallery’s new Tribeca location, Cave presents his latest material explorations. Amalgams and Graphts comprises two distinct bodies of work that are a sort of progression from the artist’s signature Soundsuits. Created following the Los Angeles Police Department’s beating of Rodney King in 1991, the ebullient costumes conceal the wearer’s identity and invite viewers to engage from a place of non-judgment.
For Amalgams, Cave created bronze casts of his own body at different scales evocative of Soundsuits. At the center of the exhibition is an unmissable, almost 26-foot sculpture that towers over the space. Thick foliage cloaks the figure and emphasizes the possibility for growth as branches sprout from the upper torso, creating what the artist refers to as a “migration hub” where perched birds take refuge. Nearby, a similar work depicts a smaller, yet equally opulent figure seated with feet lifted off the ground.
“Amalgam (Plot)” is the most compact of the three. Erupting with vintage tole flowers, the floor sculpture portrays two figures, one lying on his back and the other face down with his arms over his head to take cover. The protective pose mimics a scene of racially motivated violence captured on video.
In part a move toward accessibility, the bronze works are part of Cave’s interest in public art and sharing his practice—including his commitment to cultivating resistance in the face of oppression—more broadly.
“Grapht” (2024), vintage metal serving trays and needlepoint on wood panel, 95 1/2 x 143 1/2 x 2 inches
While the artist frequently incorporates his own body into his work, Graphts is the first time he’s made himself so recognizable. Self-portraits appear amid decadent collages of vintage serving trays decorated with floral motifs. A long-time collector of found objects, Cave melds the platters with needlepoint, a domestic craft historically practiced by privileged, wealthy women.
As is typical in the artist’s work, the trays take on several meanings, invoking servitude and the aesthetics of social systems along with the multi-valent notion of “serving.” Associated with subordination and duty, “to serve” in ballroom culture is instead “a directive to act with confidence and attitude.”
Amalgams and Graphts continues in New York through March 15. Find more from Cave on Instagram.
Left: Nick Cave and Bob Faust, “Wallwork,” (2024), wall vinyl, 157 x 367 1/4 inches. Right: “A·mal·gam” (2021), bronze, 122 x 94 x 85 inches
“Grapht” (2024), vintage metal serving trays and vintage tole on wood panel, 95 1/2 x 95 1/2 x 10 inches
“Amalgam (Plot)” (2024), bronze, tole flowers, and cast iron door stops, 63 x 120 x 125 inches
“Grapht” (2024), vintage metal serving trays, vintage tole, and needlepoint on wood panel, 95 1/2 x 193 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches
“Amalgam (Plot)” (2024), bronze, tole flowers, and cast iron door stops, 63 x 120 x 125 inches
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In London, an Enormous Exhibition of 500+ Works Roots Out the Creative Seeds of Flowers
by Aurelia Butler 29 January 2025, 20:21
Rebecca Louise Law, “Calyx” (2023). Image courtesy of the artist
In London, an Enormous Exhibition of 500+ Works Roots Out the Creative Seeds of Flowers
January 29, 2025
ArtNaturePhotography
Grace Ebert
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In nature, flowers serve as an essential component of the reproduction process. But for humans, scented blooms are ripe with myriad meanings and symbolism that transcend their biological functions.
During Victorian times, offering a bouquet to someone with your right hand indicated a non-verbal “yes,” while a yellow carnation would reject an admirer. Similarly in art history, wilting flowers rendered as a momento mori remind us of death’s inevitability, and for van Gogh, sunflowers were the perfect stand-in for gratitude.
Aimée Hoving, “Compost” (2019). Image © Aimee Hoving, flowers by Brigitte Gentis van Dam Merrett
A massive exhibition opening next month at Saatchi Gallery cultivates a vast repertoire of works that explores how blooms have become an omnipresent entity in human life and creativity. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture brings together more than 500 photographs, installations, sculptures, archival pieces, and other objects to create a rich landscape spanning millennia.
Anchoring the exhibition is an expansive and immersive work of 100,000-plus dried flowers by Rebecca Louise Law. Smaller pieces include Xuebing Du’s ethereal photos of flowers in natural light, VOYDER’s streaky steam-laden compositions, and lush, vibrant gardens by Faye Bridgewater.
Opening in time to usher in spring in London, Flowers runs from February 12 to May 5.
VOYDER, “In Love with the Idea of You” (2024). Image courtesy of the artist
Kasia Wozniak, “Anemoia #7.” Image courtesy of the artist
Sandra Kantanen, “Still Life (Flowers I).” Image courtesy the artist and Purdy Hicks Gallery
Xuebing Du, “Mother of Pearl” (2018). Image courtesy of the artist
Carmen Mitrotta, “Geometric Leaves.” Image courtesy the artist
Faye Bridgewater, “En Masse” (2025). Image courtesy of the artist
Ann von Freyburg, “Floral Arrangement 1 (After Jan van Huysum, Still Life).” Image courtesy of the artist
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Brandon Morris’ Spectral Fiberglass Gowns Conjure Fears of the Unknown
by Aurelia Butler 29 January 2025, 13:47
All images courtesy of Europa, shared with permission
Brandon Morris’ Spectral Fiberglass Gowns Conjure Fears of the Unknown
January 29, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Wander into New York’s Europa, and you’ll encounter a spectral cast devoid of characters. Pale green gowns with ruffled hems, long sleeves, and empire waists haunt the gallery as they hunch and lean as if enlivened by an invisible force. Unsettling and intriguing, the translucent works wouldn’t be out of place in a ghostly horror film and are on view for Brandon Morris’s solo show, Actress.
Born in San Diego and based in New York, Morris is trained in dressmaking, which he applies to fiberglass for this body of work. Using an industrial sewing machine and mannequins, Morris sewed garments based on vintage children’s gowns from the Victorian era. Resin stiffens the clothing and allows each piece to retain its distinctive, upright shape.
“Ghost Dress 6” (2024), fiberglass, 32 x 27 x 51 inches
A statement about the exhibition shares that the hollow forms offer space to hold our fears and anxieties. Redolent of the supernatural mystery The Ring from 2002—itself adapted from the 1998 Japanese film Ringu—the uncanny dresses are unnerving because their gestures and poses are so similar to reality. As they float in the gallery, the garments’ curved backs and crooked shoulders are out of kilter and offer an air of discomfort.
As with the conventions of the horror genre, Morris’ works are unnerving in part because they leave us with questions: Who wore the garments, and where have they gone? Who, or what, left the dresses in this state? And, perhaps most timely, what insidious forces are hidden in plain sight?
Actress continues through February 9. Find more from Morris on Instagram.
“Ghost Dress 7” (2024), fiberglass, 37 x 37 x 55 inches
“Ghost Dress 2” (2024), fiberglass, 20 x 20 x 45 inches
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Through Ceramics, Stephanie Shih Considers the Disillusioning Price of Domestic Bliss
by Aurelia Butler 27 January 2025, 14:03
“Nuclear Family” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, shared with permission
Through Ceramics, Stephanie Shih Considers the Disillusioning Price of Domestic Bliss
January 27, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Jackie Andres
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Nothing says true love like arguing about who left the cap off the toothpaste, right? From a darkly comedic perspective, Stephanie Shih explores the multiple meanings of “domestic bliss” in a social landscape fraught with consumerism and clashing politics.
It all started with the 1998 self-help book, Divorce for Dummies. The sardonic humor of a goofy cartoon character exclamatorily holding up a finger offering counsel to one’s broken marriage—for the totally reasonable price of $19.99—was a catalyst for Shih’s interest in the capitalist absurdity that came with the divorce boom of the 1980s and ’90s.
“Chores” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Shifting social and cultural factors, such as the introduction of no-fault divorce laws and emergent waves of feminism, drastically impacted the outlook on divorce in America. Rising individualism, disillusionment with the idea of a nuclear family, and the reclamation of feminine independence all played a part in annulment rates doubling for those aged over 35.
In Shih’s solo exhibition aptly titled Domestic Bliss, the Brooklyn-based artist spotlights what the gallery, Alexander Berggruen, describes as “artifacts of a single household.” The array of objects evoke the reality of a time when materialism, distorted expectations, and self-loathing created a perfect storm.
A Thigh Master one likely ordered from QVC in the deep hours of night sits alone on a pedestal, epitomizing the ways in which consumer culture preyed upon insecurities, only to sell women the illusion of control. Prisoner of Desire rests face-down on an ironing board to hold one’s place as escapism is interrupted by the mediocrity of chores. TV dinners stack atop a glowing microwave to signify power dynamics, a substantial portion of Hungry Man reserved for the father and the smallest box reserved for the mother.
Expanding upon her previous domestic sculptures, each ceramic object evokes a sense of realism, thanks to the artist’s thoroughness. As the exhibition text explains, Shih “scoured eBay listings for photo references and exact dimensions of discontinued packaging in order to faithfully sculpt each object in its era-appropriate likeness.” A range of materials and techniques are then applied to each form, such as hand-painted underglaze, dyed resin, and even electrical elements like lighting. Every step of the way, the artist skillfully instills the mundane with liveliness.
Domestic Bliss is on view at Alexander Berggruen in New York City through February 26. Find much more on Shih’s Instagram and website.
“Dissolution” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Photo by Robert Bredvad
“Jagged Little Pill” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
“Happy Meal” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
“Hot Pockets” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
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Flowers and Butterflies Stitch Messages of Hope into Crumpled Metal and Corroded Barrels
by Aurelia Butler 24 January 2025, 18:48
Detail of “MEADOWS.” Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė. All images courtesy of Severija Inčirauskaitė, shared with permission
Flowers and Butterflies Stitch Messages of Hope into Crumpled Metal and Corroded Barrels
January 24, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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On the sides of rusted barrels or crushed steel spheres, Lithuanian artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė (previously) applies delicate reminders of resilience. Using cotton thread, the artist cross-stitches vibrant flowers and butterflies onto facets of corroded metal, merging materials that appear to have little in common.
Where metal is rough, strong, and utilitarian, embroidery is tender, soft, and decorative. Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė taps into these diametric characteristics in her continuing examination of war. A large metal ball titled “OFFSIDE,” for example, represents the world’s cumulative conflicts. “It is like a huge disaster with a small embroidered butterfly that is like a small, fragile sign of hope,” she says.
“Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)” (2023), metal and cotton thread. Photo by Modestas Ežerskis and Ineta Armanavičiūtė
The small nation of Belarus separates Lithuania from Ukraine, where the impacts of the ongoing Russian assault reverberate across the region. “The war is very close to us,” the artist tells Colossal, “so we can’t relax and just think about life.” Incorporating insects and blooms, steeped in symbolic references to compassion, generosity, and care, Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė suggests that despite humans’ destructive actions, hope perseveres.
Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
“Offside” (2024), metal, and cotton threads. Photo by Enrika Samulionytė
Detail of “Offside.” Photo by Enrika Samulionytė
“OFFSIDE” (2024)
“MEADOWS” (2023), metal barrels and cotton, 360 x 40 x 20 centimeters. Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė
Detail of “MEADOWS.” Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė
“Timeless Fragility” (2022), oil barrel lid and cross stitch, 60 centimeters diameter. Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė
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Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment
by Aurelia Butler 23 January 2025, 10:00
All images courtesy of Reen Barrera, shared with permission
Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment
January 23, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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Sporting colorful garments and richly patterned faces, Reen Barrera’s doll sculptures (previously) evoke an expressive, make-believe world. Often dressed in striped tops and hand-stitched hoods with animalistic ears, his imaginative Ohlala characters represent the universality of human emotions while emphasizing every individual’s unique qualities.
Barrera creates the sculptures from wood and patchwork textiles, and he also makes paintings depicting Ohlala figures in pensive moments or expressing a sense of empowerment. Find his work at Art Central Hong Kong in March, and see more on his website and Instagram.
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Asya Marakulina Sculpts Poignant Ceramic Portraits of Demolished Homes
by Aurelia Butler 22 January 2025, 12:33
All images courtesy of Asya Marakulina, shared with permission
Asya Marakulina Sculpts Poignant Ceramic Portraits of Demolished Homes
January 22, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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Prior to the 20th century, apartment buildings and row houses were often built with shared walls between adjoining properties. Intrigued by these aging structures, Vienna-based artist Asya Marakulina began cataloging examples she first noticed on walks around her former home in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“Since houses in the 19th century were built without gaps between them, when one house is torn down, the neighboring house often bears traces of the demolished one,” Marakulina tells Colossal. These remnants of decor, plumbing, and other signs of human habitation form the basis of her ongoing ceramic series, There Was a Home.
When Marakulina moved to Vienna, she noticed a similar phenomenon in the remains of older buildings that had been demolished there, too. Fragments of floor still clung to the walls and the outlines of painted or papered rooms were suddenly—somewhat uncomfortably—external. The ease of a warm interior and its associated domesticity was upended.
“What touches and affects me the most in images of ruined houses are the traces of wallpaper, tiles, and children’s rooms, which suddenly become visible to the entire street,” the artist says, sharing that the sight evokes a deep sadness. “These spaces were never meant to be seen in such a way.”
Marakulina likens houses to the bodies of living organisms, imbued with emotions, memories, and layered histories. The ceramic cross-sections take on a portrait-like quality, capturing straightforward views of multistory edifices that are simultaneously immediate and intimate. “Maybe that’s why these images captivate me so much because a part of someone’s inner, domestic life is suddenly turned inside-out and put on public display,” she says.
The houses in There Was a Home are typically drawn from real buildings, photographs of which she captures herself or finds on the internet. Marakulina also considers the impacts of war and is profoundly moved by the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, where thousands of homes have been destroyed and their inhabitants killed or displaced. The half-standing homes simultaneously represent lives lost and the hope of one day being able to rebuild.
Rather than straightforward copies of the buildings she encounters, Marakulina takes liberties with wall colors, sometimes adding graffiti or words she sees on the streets or derives from the news. She scores the clay to create the textures of tile and concrete or delineate lintels and former doorways. The resulting reliefs become collage-like, merging locations and motifs.
If you’re in Belgium, you can see the artist’s work in Ceramic Brussels, which opens today and continues through January 26. In London, Marakulina created a site-specific installation for a solo show at The Smallest Gallery in Soho, which continues through mid-February, and later that month, she will exhibit with Vienna Collectors Club. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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sculpture

More stories

Simon Laveuve’s 1/35-Scale Dwellings Hint at a Post-Apocalyptic Way of Life

Nick Cave’s Nearly 26-Foot Bronze Stands for Resistance Amid Oppression

In London, an Enormous Exhibition of 500+ Works Roots Out the Creative Seeds of Flowers

Brandon Morris’ Spectral Fiberglass Gowns Conjure Fears of the Unknown

Reen Barrera’s Expressive ‘Ohlala’ Characters Evoke Emotions and Empowerment

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