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      A Monumental Bas-Relief Sculpture by Nick Cave Connects Senegalese and U.S. Cultures in a Web of Beadwork

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      Art

      #bas-relief
      #beads
      #installation
      #sculpture
      #sequins
      #site-specific
      #video

      March 22, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Nick Cave, by Michael JN Bowles, shared with permission
      Innumerable pony beads, pipe cleaners, sequins, and objects gathered from two continents overlay a web of rainbow mesh that’s suspended in the U.S. Embassy atrium in Dakar. Installed in 2012, the expansive work by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave (previously) is composed of amorphous swells and circular patches of multicolor netting that stretch 20 x 25 feet. Physically connecting pieces of both U.S. and Senegalese culture, the webbed, bas-relief sculpture symbolically stands as “a unifier that brings people together,” Cave says in an interview.
      Virginia Shore and Robert Soppelsa curated the project for Art in Embassies, a program led by the U.S. Department of State that fosters cross-cultural exchange through visual arts and spans more than 200 venues in 189 countries. “When you think about Art in Embassies and cultural diplomacy, what is interesting for me, as an artist, is, how can I facilitate that within the work that is developed? Yes, I will create the piece for the embassy, but I was also interested in ways to integrate the artists that live and work here,” he says.
      Cave developed the structural portion of the work in his Chicago studio, and after meeting Sengalese artists, scholars, and students, he utilized pieces from three locals—Seni M’Baye, Loman Pawlitschek, and Daouda N’Diaye—once on site. The resulting installation, which weighs nearly 500 pounds, took Cave and ten assistants more than three months to complete.
      Watch the interview below for more on the process behind the monumental project, and follow Cave’s work on Instagram.

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      #bas-relief
      #beads
      #installation
      #sculpture
      #sequins
      #site-specific
      #video

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      Swaths of Tulle Billow from Site-Specific Installations by Ana María Hernando

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      Art

      #installation
      #site-specific
      #textiles

      March 1, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Solo se escuchaba el aire (Only The Air Was Heard)” (2020), tulle, wood, metal, 125 x 120 x 258 inches. Installation at the Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France. Photo by Sebastian Collett. All images © Ana María  Hernando, shared with permission
      Fueled with a sense of rebellion, yards of colorful tulle cascade from windows and down staircases in site-specific installations by Ana María Hernando. The soft, pliable material breaches existing architecture and entwines trees in swaths of mesh, creating works that are both visually striking and subversive.
      Evocative of ballgowns and garments that are traditionally worn by women, the tulle explodes into a flood of fabric as a way to break with social constructions surrounding feminity. “As a Latina, I explore how the feminine comes forward in strength and flexibility, in beauty and in (an) unstoppable abundance of generosity,” the Argentinian artist says.
      Though she’s worked with a range of materials, Hernando shares that she always incorporates a textile element, which seems “to be an expansive conduit for my work” and references her childhood in Buenos Aires, where she observed the women in her family sewing, crocheting, and embroidering together every day. She explains:
      The things they made from fabric and thread were expressions of their spirit. All the beauty—the hours of work, the washing and ironing—was made invisible once the table was laid and stained with food. I explore the unacknowledged feminine force of work as a prayer that I have known my whole life.
      Hernando mainly works from Boulder, although she’s spent much of the year so far in a forest in Tennessee’s South Cumberland Plateau. If you’re in Colorado, view the artist’s multidisciplinary projects in the coming months as part of Present Box at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and in a September solo show at Denver Botanic Gardens. In 2022, you can find her at the Sun Valley Museum of Art and Denver’s Robischon Gallery. Until then, explore an archive of her tufted, textile-based projects on her site and Instagram. (via Cross Connect Magazine)

      “Waterfall” (2020), a temporary tulle installation at the Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France. Photo by Rachel Berkowitz
      “Waterfall” (2020), a temporary tulle installation at the Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France. Photo by Rachel Berkowitz
      “Flood (Déferlante)” (2020), tulle, installation at the Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France
      “Lantern” (2020), tulle, wire, and wood. Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France
      “Unmoored from the Familiar Expectations” (2020), performative installation at the Château de la Napoule, La Napoule Art Foundation, France, featuring Christopher Kojzar and Alessandro Sciaraffa. Photo by Rachel Berkowtiz
      Photo by Sebastian Collett

      #installation
      #site-specific
      #textiles

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      Art and Activism Collide Throughout Montréal in Playful Street Interventions by Roadsworth

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      Art

      #activism
      #animals
      #Montréal
      #public art
      #site-specific
      #street art

      February 9, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Roadsworth, shared with permission
      Crosswalks become perches and bike lanes morph into a monkey’s ropes in Roadsworth’s lively street interventions. For decades, the Montréal-based artist (previously) has been altering sidewalks, alleyways, and other public spots with largely nature-based projects that are informed by social issues and environmental crises. Whether a trippy koi pond or a simple yellow spider, the additions transform otherwise drab streets into unexpected commentary.
      In recent years, Roadsworth has created large-scale projects for a variety of organizations, including revitalizing a basketball court for a social housing complex and another for Amnesty International that comments on the horrors of the refugee crisis. Beyond commissions, he continues guerilla street art tactics, installing oversized birds, insects, and other animals that often are overlooked.
      The artist tells Colossal that these works reflect his “philosophy in regards to public art/street art which implies a questioning of urban space in general and an entreaty to rethink a city that is more conducive to walking/cycling and less dominated by cars, etc. The depiction of various animals is a playful way of reinventing the notion of urban space.”
      Follow Roadsworth on Instagram to keep up with his site-specific works that merge art and activism.

      “Refugee Crisis” (2016)

      “Darling Foundry Koi Pond” (2020)
      Right: “Tree Lace” (2019)
      Detail of “Refugee Crisis” (2016)

      “Nurture vs Nature” (2018)

      #activism
      #animals
      #Montréal
      #public art
      #site-specific
      #street art

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      A Technicolor Flower Bed Sprouts From a 70-Foot-Tall Water Tower in Arkansas

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      Art

      #flowers
      #murals
      #public art
      #site-specific

      January 13, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Justkids, shared with permission
      A drab water tower in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, is overrun with a 70-foot-tall garden of technicolor flowers and vines thanks to artists Darren and Emmelene Mate, aka DabsMyla. The Australian wife and husband are known for their hand-painted psychedelic dreamscapes, which envelop the otherwise utilitarian tank with oversized flora. Titled “Magical Unity,” the circular mural features plants native to the region, along with a fuzzy bumblebee mid-pollination, all rendered in the duo’s playful style.
      DabsMyla completed the public project in just one week, which they describe:

      Color plays a big role in our work and how we create. For this piece, we wanted to produce an uplifting feeling through flowers and running a rainbow of hues from the bottom to the top. This is a really large work, and we hope that it will positively impact the community and bring happiness to everyone who passes by it.

      The transformative artwork is the latest commissioned by the women-led curators of Justkids (previously) and OZ Art, which have been collaborating to revitalize areas around Arkansas in recent years. Shop pins and stickers of DabsMyla’s quirky characters in their shop, and check out more of the couple’s work on Instagram.

      #flowers
      #murals
      #public art
      #site-specific

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