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    Joseph Renda Jr.’s Surreal Trompe-l’œil Portals Frame Esoteric Scenes

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    “Growth/Process.” All images courtesy of the artist and Vertical Gallery, Chicago, shared with permission

    Joseph Renda Jr.’s Surreal Trompe-l’œil Portals Frame Esoteric Scenes

    September 12, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    In the paintings of Joseph Renda Jr., trompe-l’œil windows, arches, and blue skies meet in surreal settings. His René Magritte-esque canvases celebrate nature and the uncanny, sometimes infused with a tinge of humor, to encourage an appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things. Instead of focusing on the subconscious, like the 20th-century Surrealists, Renda emphasizes elements of our surroundings—birds, gardens, flowers, and expansive landscapes—which nevertheless possess rich symbolism.

    Birds, for example, have traditionally represented freedom, optimism, and connections to spiritual worlds. Plants, storms, tools, and myriad other motifs carry their own inherent meanings, from notions of growth and transformation to balance and justice. Situated within windows and archways, we’re invited to peer into—but not quite enter—an esoteric world. And the blue sky sometimes cracks to reveal what may, in fact, be a façade with who-knows-what beyond what we can see.

    “Rough Waters”

    Renda’s recent stone arch pieces are included in a three-person show at Vertical Gallery, The Scenic Route, alongside Jerome Tiunayan and Laura Catherwood. The exhibition runs through September 27 in Chicago. Find more on Renda’s website and Instagram.

    “The Sky Is Falling”

    “Memory”

    “Where the Day Meets the Night”

    “Passing By”

    “Stop and Let the Roses Smell You”

    “Perspective”

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      An Uncanny Postcard Fit for the Era of Climate Catastrophe

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      From left: Sunset, Cyanometer, and Air Pollution postcards

      An Uncanny Postcard Fit for the Era of Climate Catastrophe

      May 7, 2025

      ArtClimateDesignNature

      Grace Ebert

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      Depending on the day, you might look to the sky and see a sea of pale blue or a radiant sunset creeping toward the horizon. If you’re in a major metropolitan area, though, you might also be met with the characteristic red-brown haze of smog.

      Berlin-based artist Macarena Ruiz-Tagle is behind the vibrant Cyanometer and Sunset postcards we’ve featured on Colossal (and that have sold out in our shop several times). But she also created a third version designed for those not-so-bright days.

      Tiananmen Square, Beijing (November 2013). Photo by Macarena Ruiz-Tagle

      The World Health Organization estimates that 99 percent of people on Earth breathe unsafe air, making Ruiz-Tagle’s Air Pollution postcard perhaps the most fitting for our era of climate catastrophe. While a stark contrast to the brilliant blues, yellows, and oranges of the other two, this design is awash in pale pinks and grays to match that of a gloomy, and even soiled, atmosphere. Like the others, the idea is to hold the work up to the sky and mark the corresponding hue before dropping it in the mail.

      The interactive card shifts in meaning depending on whether the opening reveals a misty fog or air thick with chemicals, and it’s part of a growing movement to track climate data in a tangible, grassroots manner. “Separating the visual delight of being immersed in a cloud from the intoxicating reality of breathing heavily polluted air, the postcard evokes both the smog that engulfs global cities and the ethereal beauty of fog,” the artist writes. “In its mesmerizing aesthetic ambiguity, the work sustains a space for contemplation within our troubled atmosphere.”

      Find all three postcards in the Colossal Shop, and explore more of Ruiz-Tagle’s work on her website.

      Air Pollution postcard

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    • 225 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Canning the Sunset: Hundreds of Jars of Dyed Sand Preserve the Swirling Colors of a Skyline Before Dusk

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      Art
      Craft
      #sand
      #sky
      #sunsetDecember 2, 2021Grace EbertAll images © Carly Glovinski, shared with permissionThere’s a human impulse to preserve life’s blissful moments—a quick scroll through your camera roll will probably give you plenty of evidence—one Carly Glovinski gives into by bottling up the rich, swirling gradients the cloak the sky at day’s end. Her ongoing Canning the Sunset project, which the New Hampshire-born artist began in March of 2020, layers hand-colored sand in reused glass jars to capture the last hours of light before they descend into dusk.Now stored in hundreds of vessels in various shapes and sizes, the grainy compositions range from subtle pastel palettes to vibrant oranges and yellows, rationing the short-lived hues “for times of scarcity,” Glovinski says. “The sunset marks the sky with color in a fleeting moment each day, slipping down behind the horizon like grains of sand through an hourglass. To try and capture it, contain it, or possess it is a futile, and impossible gesture. ”Canning the Sunset is on view through December 4 at Untitled Art Fair Miami with Morgan Lehman Gallery, and Glovinski shares more of her paintings, sculptures, and other projects on Instagram. You also might enjoy these calming sunrises by Sho Shibuya.
      #sand
      #sky
      #sunsetDo 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

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      in Art

      Hundreds of Photos of the New York Sky Pinned to a Massive, Spherical Sculpture by Sarah Sze

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       ” Shorter than the Day” (2020), powder-coated aluminum and steel, 48 x 30 x 30 feet. All images © Sarah Sze by Nicholas Knight Artist Sarah Sze explores the myriad conceptions of time and space through a tremendous, new spherical sculpture. Titled “Shorter than the Day” —a reference to Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I […] More