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    Hundreds of Fantastic Creatures Inhabit a Sprawling Universe by Vorja Sánchez

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    Detail of “Late At Night.” All images courtesy of Vorja Sánchez, shared with permission

    Hundreds of Fantastic Creatures Inhabit a Sprawling Universe by Vorja Sánchez

    April 8, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    In Organic Harmony, curious, hybrid insects and wide-eyed furry creatures populate a world of natural textures and surreal intrigue. Vorja Sánchez (previously) has been dreaming up the fanciful series for the last year and a half, which he debuts at Beinart Gallery later this month.

    Inspired by the diversity of the forest and the vivid drawings of German biologist Ernst Haeckel, Sánchez imagines a vast ecosystem. He’s particularly drawn to patterns and employs similar motifs to create cohesion across multiple pieces. Soft, fluffy fur, slender leaves with curled tips, and gleaming eyes attached to unexpected body parts appear in several of his works.

    “Ancient Tales”

    Sánchez shares that by studying recurring patterns in nature, he’s learned to identify the biological purpose of many shapes and forms, which influence how he selects a particular characteristic for a single creature. The artist adds:

    There’s a harmony in what might seem like randomness, and above all, nature doesn’t care about scale or importance—everything exists on the same level and is balanced. It’s a concept that fascinates me and serves as a profound metaphor for life.

    A mix of graphite, ink, watercolor, gouache, spray paint, and more layer together in this sprawling collection to create what Sánchez calls “a fluid dialogue” between the materials and motifs. “There were moments when the creative process for each piece was like trying to remember a dream,” he says. “When you attempt to complete these hazy images, your memory transforms into something more intricate and elusive.” Rather than impose an aesthetic direction on the creatures, the artist prefers to let the blotting, drippy nature of the materials prevail.

    Organic Harmony runs from April 26 to May 18 in Brunswick. Find more on Instagram.

    “Insect Dialogue”

    Detail of “Insect Dialogue”

    “The Sound of Cotton”

    Detail of “The Sound of Cotton”

    “Organic Findings”

    “Late At Night”

    Detail of “Organic Findings”

    “Elixir”

    “Hazy Memories of Nocturnal Visitors”

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    • 200 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny

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      Remedios Varo, “Tejido espacio-tiempo (Weaving of Space and Time)” (1954), oil on Masonite, 32 1/2 x 28 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid. All images courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, shared with permission

      From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny

      February 4, 2025

      ArtHistoryPhotographySocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      In a 1906 essay, psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch coined the term “uncanny,” or unheimlich, meaning “unhomely” or “not home-like” in German. He defined the psychological phenomenon as the experience of something new or unknown that might initially be interpreted negatively.

      Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud popularized the word with the publication of his book The Uncanny in 1919, which elaborated on the idea as not just the sensation of the unknown but also something capable of bringing out other hidden or repressed elements. He even went so far as to describe the uncanny as frightening.

      Mary Ellen Mark, “Tashara and Tanesha Reese, Twins Days Festival, Twinsburg, Ohio” (1998; printed later), gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Image © Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation

      During the 20th century, the Surrealists often turned to the concept to build a sense of mystery or tension in their works. Meret Oppenheim, for instance, famously created a teacup lined with fur, simply titled “Object” (1936), widely regarded as an iconic example of the movement.

      Oppenheim is one of more than two dozen artists whose work will appear in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ forthcoming exhibition, Uncanny, featuring recent acquisitions and rarely shown pieces in NMWA’s collection, plus special loans.

      More than 60 works by renowned figures of modern art history like Louise Bourgeois, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington will be shown alongside the likes of contemporary artists like Shahzia Sikander, Laurie Simmons, and Gillian Wearing. The large-scale presentation is the first to approach the concept through a feminist lens, organizing works around themes of safety and surreal imaginings.

      The show also plumbs the phenomenon of the “uncanny valley,” a term coined by robotics engineer Masahiro Mori in 1970 to describe the apprehension or discomfort one feels when confronted with something that is almost human but not quite, like video game characters that appear realistic yet still somehow seem “off.”

      Laurie Simmons, “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), Cibachrome print, 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches. © 2019 Laurie Simmons

      In Laurie Simmons’ “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), a female ventriloquist dummy sits in the center of a circle of six male dummy dolls, whose gazes are trained on her as she looked out into the distance. Tapping into a medium that has been used in the horror genre to instill a sense of creepiness or dread, Simmons’ central character is dramatically spotlit, her smile belying the reality that she is unsettlingly hemmed in.

      Along the theme of safety, or specifically unsafe spaces, Fabiola Jean-Louis’s elaborately staged photographs tell two stories at once. The artist portrays “seemingly innocuous portraits of close acquaintances wearing elaborate period costumes typical of upper-class European women, while disturbing images of racial and sexual violence are hidden within the background or details of a dress, reminding the viewer of the lineage of violence,” says an exhibition statement.

      Many works in the show address physical trauma or the body’s relationship to the unknown. Frida Orupabo’s photographic collages, for example, portray Black figures that evoke colonial histories, critiquing historical violence and injustices through a process of fragmenting, distorting, and multiplying body parts.

      Orupabo’s compositions echo the surrealist collaborative practice of cadavre exquis, or exquisite corpse, in which participants add to elements others have drawn without being able to see their work, producing intuitive and peculiar drawings.

      Frida Orupabo, “Two Heads (detail)” (2022), framed collage with paper pins, 58 1/4 x 41 1/2 inches. © Frida Orupabo, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nordenhake Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City

      “The enigmatic, darkly humorous and psychologically tense artworks in Uncanny give form to women artists’ powerful expressions of existential unease,” said NMWA Associate Curator Orin Zahra, who organized the exhibition. She continues:

      Rather than comfort and soothe, these ghostly and fantastical figures haunt the unconscious. Instead of picturesque images, artists offer disquieting spaces that unsettle the viewer. In focusing on the ambiguity between reality and fiction, artists explore increasingly blurred lines between the artificial and eerily human.

      Uncanny opens February 28 and continues through August 10 in Washington, D.C., highlighting painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper, and video made between 1954 and 2022. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.

      Fabiola Jean-Louis, “They’ll Say We Enjoyed It” from the series ‘Rewriting History’ (2017), archival pigment print, 33 x 26 inches. © Fabiola Jean-Louis, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Myrtis

      Gillian Wearing, “Sleeping Mask (for Parkett, no. 70)” (2004), wax reinforced with polymer resin, paint, 8 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Gillian Wearing/Artists Rights Society, New York/DACS, London

      Julie Roberts, “Sigmund Freud Study” (1998), oil on acrylic ground on cotton duck, 84 x 72 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Julie Roberts/DACS, London

      Gillian Wearing, “Me as Mona Lisa” (2020), chromogenic print, 24 1/4 x 19 1/8 inches. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy of the artist, Maureen Paley, London, and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles

      Leonora Carrington, “The Ship of Cranes” (2010), bronze, 26 x 14 x 42 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

      Remedios Varo, “Fenómeno de ingravidez (Phenomenon of Weightlessness)” (1963), oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches. © 2023 Remedios Varo/Artists Rights Society, New York/VEGAP, Madrid

      Polly Morgan, “Receiver” (2009), taxidermy quail chicks and Bakelite telephone handset, 9 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Polly Morgan

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    • 100 Shares129 Views

      in Art

      Gertrude Abercrombie’s Autobiographical Surrealism Traverses Dreams and Reality

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      “Where or When (Things Past)” (1948), oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches. All images courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby Museum of Art, shared with permission

      Gertrude Abercrombie’s Autobiographical Surrealism Traverses Dreams and Reality

      January 6, 2025

      ArtHistory

      Kate Mothes

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      “Surrealism is meant for me because I am a pretty realistic person but don’t like all I see,” Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) once said. “So I dream that it is changed. Then I change it to the way I want it.”

      Abercrombie’s stark, symbol-rich landscapes and enigmatic portraits painted in oil were influenced by the European Surrealist movement, magical realism, and her own dreams. A leading figure in Chicago art, she was also involved in the city’s jazz scene, counting musical greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan among her friends.

      “Queen and Owl in Tree” (1954), oil on masonite, 4 1/2 x 6 inches (unframed)

      The artist’s mystical works “suggest a life of wistful introspection and emotional struggle,” says a statement for the forthcoming exhibition Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The show and accompanying catalog present an opportunity for visitors to experience the artist’s highly personal work in significant depth, with access to artworks held in a range of private and public collections all gathered in one place.

      Born in Austin, Texas, Abercrombie grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and spent some time in her father’s hometown of Aledo, Illinois. The small town in the northwestern part of the Midwestern state eventually became a source of inspiration for her atmospheric paintings.

      The artist studied the Romance languages at the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign and then pursued a course in commercial art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where she may also have briefly attended the School of the Art Institute.

      In 1932, Abercrombie began her career as a professional artist, which was spurred soon after by the support of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FPA/WPA). The program ran from 1935 to 1943 and provided economic relief to artists and craftspeople during the Great Depression. Along with Abercrombie, a slew of notable artists participated, from Arshile Gorky and Lucile Blanch to Jackson Pollock and Diego Rivera, among many others.

      “Demolition Doors” (1964), oil on masonite, Masonite, 20 x 25 1/2 inches (unframed)

      The Federal Art Project set up community centers around the U.S., sustaining the careers and livelihoods of around 10,000 artisans who contributed an estimated 400,000 easel paintings, prints, murals, posters, and other works during the program’s eight-year run.

      Abercrombie participated in the FAP/WPA from 1935 to 1940. Around this time, she showed her work widely, including in annual exhibitions presented by the Art Institute of Chicago and venues like Katharine Kuh Gallery, one of the city’s first commercial galleries to feature avant-garde work.

      Motifs like solitary women, dead trees, forking paths, stark landscapes, doors, cats, towers, and shells recur in her work. Abercrombie remarked that the scenes were always “pretty real,” merging facets of reality and the fantastic. “Only mystery and fantasy have been added,” she said. “All foolishness has been taken out. It becomes my own dream.”

      “Split Personality” (1954), oil on masonite, 8 x 10 inches

      In “Demolition Doors” (1964), for example, a black feline parks in front of a series of three multi-colored panels occupying most of the frame, behind which sits a gray, mostly empty landscape that could be either indoors or outdoors. Portal-like, the doors represent choices one makes about what direction to take, what threshold to cross. The cat stands sentry, waiting on the viewer’s—and by extension, the artist’s—ultimate decision. “The whole world is a mystery,” she had said.

      Abercrombie associated some of her recurring symbols with a witch’s persona—historically an identity connected predominantly to women—which she sometimes embraced in her own fashion choices. She occasionally donned a pointed velvet hat to accentuate her sharp features and tall stature. The female figure, including Abercrombie’s own likeness, is often shown traversing barren terrain, reclining in pensive quietude, or interacting with otherworldly forces.

      In an interview with Studs Terkel shortly before her death, Abercrombie said that “it is always myself that I paint.” For example, in “Split Personality” (1954), a woman in a blue dress, standing inside an unadorned room, has been cut in half at the waist. Her torso and head hover over a pitcher, and she reaches out toward her legs, but the shadow on the wall to the left depicts a complete figure—the sum of two parts—as a way of suggesting that looks can be deceiving.

      “The Ivory Tower” (1945), oil on masonite, 15 x 19 inches

      “With a deft hand, a concise symbolic vocabulary, and a restrained palette, she created potent images that speak to her mercurial nature and her evolving psychology as an artist,” says an exhibition statement.

      Later in life, Abercrombie’s artistic output gradually waned as ongoing health issues related to arthritis and alcoholism took a toll. She became more reclusive as she eventually required a wheelchair, before being confined to bed. A major retrospective of her work was held at the Hyde Park Art Center the year she died, and her will established the Gertrude Abercrombie Trust, which distributed her work and pieces by others in her collection to cultural institutions across the Midwest.

      Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery opens in Pittsburgh on January 18 and continues through June 1. The exhibition then travels to Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, opening on July 12 and running through January 11, 2026. Find more on the Carnegie website.

      “Winding Road” (1937), oil on board, 7 7/8 x 10 inches (unframed)

      “Letter from Karl” (1940), oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

      “The Countess Nerona” (c. 1945), oil on masonite, 8 x 10 inches (unframed)

      “Self-Portrait Brooch” (1954), oil on board, set in wire mount, 1 x 1 inch overall

      “The Church” (1938), oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

      “Shell and Drape” (1952), oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches (unframed)

      “Charlie Parker’s Favorite Painting” (1946), oil on masonite, 17 15/16 x 21 7/8 x 1 1/8 inches

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    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Ceramics and Glass Merge in Christina Bothwell’s Transformative Sculptures

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      “Strawberry Garden” (2021), medium-cast glass, ceramic, hand-painted details in oil paint, 26 x 27 x 7 inches. All images courtesy of Christina Bothwell, shared with permission

      Ceramics and Glass Merge in Christina Bothwell’s Transformative Sculptures

      January 6, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      When Christina Bothwell was younger, her primary focus was making the best work she was capable of. “Now, it occurs to me that I am part of a continuum,” she says. “It’s the feeling I have when I am making stuff that is the important thing—the process… That’s what we do as artists, right? Lay the groundwork for the next generation.”

      Bothwell often collaborates with her husband, Robert Bender, who adds wood elements to her dreamlike glass and ceramic pieces (previously). She applies botanical details and other small features in oil paint, creating a mixed-media world of ethereal figures and spiritual, interspecies interactions.

      “Journey” (2021), cast glass and ceramic, 26 x 17 x 16 inches

      Recently, Bothwell experienced a sudden health issue that threw her off her axis and derailed her studio practice. She says, “I felt disconnected from my creativity, and it even seemed pointless to make art at all, like, ‘Why bother?’” Eventually, though, she realized how much she missed being in the studio and how playing around with materials enlivened her mind and spirit.

      “These days, I feel keenly that it is a privilege just to make art, to see and be moved by beauty,” Bothwell says. She began working on a series of seashell sculptures with figures nestled inside them, which were deeply personal, metaphorical visions of emerging from one’s own safety zone to experience the unknown of the wider world. She sculpts each shell out of beeswax, eventually casting them in glass. The figures, on the other hand, are made from raku.

      Bothwell is currently working on sculptures that encourage letting go of the past and making space for new ideas, focusing on themes of ease, change, and courage. Explore more on the artist’s website.

      “Girl in Pink” (2024), cast glass and ceramic, 10 x 5 x 4 inches

      Collaboration with Robert Bender, “Strange Angel #3,” cast glass, ceramic, hand-painted details, wood wings, and antique wood puppet hands, 26 x 15 x 6 inches

      “Sometimes I Dream the Strangest Things” (2022), cast glass, ceramic, and hand-painted details

      Collaboration with Robert Bender, “Antlers” (2023), cast glass, hand-painted detail, and hand carved wood, 40 x 28 x 15 inches

      “Girl in Conch Shell” (2024), cast glass and ceramic, 10 x 4 x 4 inches

      Collaboration with Robert Bender, “Girl with Pink Bow,” (2024), kiln-formed cast glass and ceramic, 18 x 14 x 10 inches

      “Wilderness” (2024), cast glass, ceramic, found objects, wood, and hand-painted details, 38 inches tall

      Collaboration with Robert Bender, “Murmuration” (2022), cast glass, 46 x 12 x 12 inches

      Detail of “Murmuration”

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    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Bruno Pontiroli’s Absurd Portraits Highlight Quirky Behavior and Zoological Buffoonery

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      “Les enjambées sauvages II” (2024), 100 x 81 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Corey Helford Gallery, shared with permission

      Bruno Pontiroli’s Absurd Portraits Highlight Quirky Behavior and Zoological Buffoonery

      October 28, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      You’ve probably heard expressions like “going around in circles” or “running like a rabbit,” but chances are you haven’t pictured them quite like Bruno Pontiroli’s scenes of zoological mayhem.

      In oil paintings that nod to 19th-century wildlife illustrations, Lyon-based artist (previously) evokes common phrases like “la vie en rose,” akin to the English saying: “to see life through rose-colored glasses.” And in “Le conflit intérieur,” or “interior conflict,” a tiger and a grizzly bear duke it out despite being joined together.

      “Le conflit intérieur” (2024), 100 x 81 centimeters

      Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques, Pontiroli’s solo show opening soon at Corey Helford Gallery, highlights the artist’s continued fascination with defying natural order. His compositions fuse animals into single beings, add absurdly long legs, or extend numerous extra appendages from a single creature to illustrate the often farcical quirks of human behavior.

      Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques runs from November 2 to December 7 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Copains comme cochons” (2024), 50 x 60 centimeters

      “La vie en rose” (2024), 61 x 46 centimeters

      “Portrait d’un tocard” (2024), 60 x 81 centimeters

      “Tourner en rond” (2024), 50 x 40 centimeters

      “Courir comme un lapin” (2024), 30 x 40 centimeters

      “Le pli de génie II” (2024), 97 x 78 centimeters

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