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      Lustrous Seas of Layered Glass Are Sliced into Cross-Sections in Ben Young’s Sculptures

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      Art

      #glass
      #ocean
      #sculpture
      #water

      April 21, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Solitary Catch Awaits,” laminated clear float glass with cast concrete, bronze, and stainless steel frame, 300 x 300 x 180 millimeters. All images © Ben Young
      Calm bodies of hand-cut glass pool atop jagged concrete in Ben Young’s aquatic sculptures. The New Zealand-based artist (previously) is known for his marine landscapes that position miniature figures in vast expanses of the translucent material, creating a contemplative environment that juxtaposes a minuscule representation of humanity alongside the immensity of the oceans and other bodies of water. Each piece similarly contrasts the organic topography with the perfect right angles that provide the cubic shape and revealing cross-sections.
      A few of Young’s sculptures are currently available at Black Door and Red Sea galleries, and you can find prints in his shop. Explore a larger collection of his works on Behance and Instagram.

      “Sea of Separation,” laminated float glass, cast concrete, bronze, and stainless steel stand, 600 x 350 x 170 millimeters
      “Sea of Separation,” laminated float glass, cast concrete, bronze, and stainless steel stand, 600 x 350 x 170 millimeters
      “Still Water”
      “Diverge”
      “Diverge”
      “Daydream”
      Detail of “Daydream”
      “Weathering the Storm”
      “The Divide,” laminated float glass and cast concrete, 930 x 375 x 165 millimeters

      #glass
      #ocean
      #sculpture
      #water

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      Two Imposing Cubes Covered in Yellow Plastic by Artist Serge Attukwei Clottey Respond to Global Water Insecurity

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      Art

      #climate change
      #colonialism
      #installation
      #plastic
      #water

      March 16, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “The Wishing Well” (2021) in Coachella Valley. All images © Serge Attukwei Clottey, courtesy of Desert X, by Lance Gerber, shared with permission
      A mottled patchwork of plastic cloaks two cubes that tower over the desert landscape of Coachella Valley. Titled “The Wishing Well,” the bright pair are the work of Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, who created the nine-foot pieces from scraps of Kufuor gallons, or jerrycans, in response to shared struggles with water insecurity that ripple across the world. Resembling a yellow brick road, a paved walkway connects the two woven structures that stand in contrast to the surrounding environment, which faces continual struggles with access to the natural resource.
      Clottey’s use of the material is tied to a larger critique of colonialism’s enduring legacy and the ways it continues to affect populations around the world, particularly in relation to the climate crisis. Originally,  European colonialists brought Kufuor gallons to Ghana to transport cooking oil. Today, the plastic vessels are ubiquitous and used to haul potable water. “As repurposed relics of the colonial project, they serve as a constant reminder of the legacies of empire and of global movements for environmental justice,” says a statement about the work that’s part of Desert X, a biennial bringing site-specific installations to Southern California.
      “The Wishing Well” is one facet of Clottey’s larger Afrogallonism project, which he describes as “an artistic concept to explore the relationship between the prevalence of the yellow oil gallons in regards to consumption and necessity in the life of the modern African.” The Accra-based artist works in a variety of mediums spanning installation, sculpture, and performance that deal with the broader influence of colonialism in Africa. You can see a larger collection of his pieces on Artsy and Instagram.

      #climate change
      #colonialism
      #installation
      #plastic
      #water

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      Gleaming Water Drops Bead on the Canvas in Kim Tschang-Yeul’s Hyperrealistic Paintings

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      Art

      #hyperrealism
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #water

      February 23, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      (1986), oil on canvas, 63 1/2 x 51 3/8 inches. Image via Christie’s
      Swollen, glistening, and saturated with illusion, the ubiquitous water drop absorbed Kim Tschang-Yeul throughout his career. The Korean artist, who died earlier this year, was faithful to the seemingly mundane subject matter, choosing to depict the dewy orbs repeatedly after an initial painting in 1972 following his relocation to France. Inspired originally by a water-soaked canvas in his studio, Kim nurtured the viscous element in his hyperrealistic paintings created across nearly five decades. In an essay about the artist’s unending commitment, Dr. Cleo Roberts writes:
      It is a tendency that seems to unite many of Korea’s avant-garde who took from Art Informel in the early ‘60s, including Ha Chong-Hyun and Park Seo-Bo. In this generation of artists, there is a ritualistic devotion to a chosen form, process, and, at times, colour. One could venture that, in the context of living in a volatile country ravaged by war, the security of immersion in a singular mode was an empowering choice, and may have been a necessary psychological counterpoint.
      Whether depicting a singular pendant-shaped drop or canvas strewn with perfectly round bulbs, each of the oil-based works exhibits a deft approach to shadow and texture. The bloated forms appear to bead on the surface and are imbued with a sense of impermanence: if disturbed by even a small movement, they look as if they could burst or run down the surface.

      “Waterdrops” (1979), oil on canvas, 102 x 76 3/4 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Rebecca Fanuele
      Gleaming with occasional patches of gold and white, the transparent renderings foster a deeper connection to Taoist principles, in addition to questioning the tension between nature and contemporary life. “The act of painting water drops is to dissolve all things within [these], to return to a transparent state of ‘nothingness,’” Kim said in a statement, noting that his desire was to dissolve the ego. “By returning anger, anxiety, fear, and everything else to ‘emptiness,’ we experience peace and contentment.”
      If you’re in London, you can see the first posthumous show Water Drops, which covers Kim’s entire career and features many of the works shown here, at Almine Rech from March 4 to April 10, 2021. Otherwise, head to Artsy to see a larger collection of the artist’s paintings.

      “Waterdrop” (1974), oil on canvas, 17 3/4 x 16 1/8 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Rebecca Fanuele
      “Waterdrops” (1986), India Ink and oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Rebecca Fanuele
      Left: “Waterdrop” (2017), oil on canvas, 46 1/8 x 19 3/4 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Rebecca Fanuele. Right: “Waterdrops” (1996), oil and acrylic on canvas, 21 5/8 x 18 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Rebecca Fanuele
      Detail of “Waterdrops” (1985), oil and Indian ink on canvas, 76 3/4 x 63 3/4 inches. Image via Almine Rech
      (2011), oil on canvas, 15 by 17 3/4 inches. Image via Sotheby’s
      “Recurrence” (1994-2017), oil and Indian ink on canvas, 35 x 57 1/8 x 7/8 inches. Image © The Estate of Kim Tschang-Yeul, courtesy of the estate and Almine Rech, photo by Matt Kroening 

      #hyperrealism
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #water

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      Explore the Traditional Art of Ebru as Garip Ay Creates Entrancing Water Paintings

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      Art

      #painting
      #video
      #water

      July 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      
      Based in Istanbul, artist Garip Ay (previously) utilizes traditional ebru techniques—a method of paper marbling that involves dripping oil paint into water—to create rich artworks with incredibly complex motifs. Ay’s process recently was captured by Great Big Story in a short video that walks through his studio and documents how the artist seamlessly morphs one work into another with just a few hand motions.
      After completing a piece on the water’s surface, Ay transfers the image to paper, wood, or textiles by dipping it in and slowly pulling back. Despite the meditative quality of his movements, though, the artist shares the pressures of the medium. “When people watch ebru, they think it is relaxing and soothing, but it my personal experience, it is really stressful. While doing ebru, you have control problems because you’re doing something on water,” he says. As shown, a drop too many could alter the entire piece.
      Ay shares many videos and photographs of his vibrant paintings on his site, and more of Great Big Story’s projects can be found on YouTube.

      #painting
      #video
      #water

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      Multi-Layered Ceramics by Artist Heesoo Lee Express the Movements of Land and Sea

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      Art
      Craft

      #ceramics
      #landscapes
      #leaves
      #nature
      #oceans
      #trees
      #vessels
      #water
      #waves

      July 9, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Heesoo Lee, shared with permission
      Heesoo Lee has spent years carefully layering blades of grass, pine trees, and cherry blossoms to construct botanic entanglements that crawl across ceramic mugs and bowls. Inspired by seasonal woodlands and aspen forests, the Montana-based artist recreates bright pockets of landscapes that capture small motions, like falling fronds or rustling branches. “There is movement in trees, but it is slow and subtle, a leaf in wind, the slow growth of new leaves in spring,” she says.
      While Lee has continued this tradition with many of her recent pieces, she’s expanded her source material to the ocean. For seven years, the artist lived in Maui, where she often surveyed the water. “I could sit on a beach all day and watch the waves, observe them, and feel calmed by them but also respectful of their energy and force,” she says. The memory has inspired a textured piece that swells upward to form a cavernous bowl. “Even in a small object, the waves are powerful and convey so much. For me, the waves connote freedom, the freedom to express myself and take risks,” the artist writes.
      Diverging from land posed new challenges in Lee’s process. For landscapes, the artist repeats elements in layers to create a fully formed piece, but the same technique didn’t translate to water. “The first time I tried to make waves I failed. I failed over and over and over after that. There were cracks, pieces broke off,” she says. “I realized the feeling of making a wave is so much different from making a landscape.” Instead, Lee retrained her hands to follow the movement of the water, using slip casting, carving, and a series of manual techniques to capture its energy and force. Her color palette changed from amalgamations that evoked seasons to a precise set of blues.
      Despite her forays into aquatic forms, Lee maintains an affinity for grassy fields and windswept boughs, which she explains:
      My seasonal work, landscapes that focus on all four seasons, are still a mainstay of my practice. The memories that fuel the images are so powerful for me, and it gives me great pleasure to share my interpretation of those memories with people… I have heard from people that drinking from a cup I made helped them channel their own memories of the outdoors and the seasons, even during a time when they are stuck inside.
      To purchase one of the artist’s organic works, follow her on Instagram, where she often shares shop updates, in addition to early looks into her process.

      #ceramics
      #landscapes
      #leaves
      #nature
      #oceans
      #trees
      #vessels
      #water
      #waves

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      Bodies Breach Water’s Surface in Ethereal Paintings by Artist Calida Garcia Rawles

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       “Lost in the Shuffle” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 36 X 24 inches. All images © Calida Garcia Rawles, shared with permission Five years ago, Calida Garcia Rawles learned to swim by joining a team dedicated to the exercise. The sessions were “therapeutic and spiritually uplifting,” the Los Angeles-based artist shares with Colossal. “I found […] More

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      A Massive Wave Crashes in a Seoul Aquarium as Part of the World’s Largest Anamorphic Illusion

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       An enormous aquarium with perpetually crashing waves has popped up amidst an urban landscape in South Korea, but don’t expect to hear the water sloshing around if you walk by. Designed by District, the elevated tank is actually a massive anamorphic illusion. The digital media company created the public project utilizing the world’s largest […] More

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      A Gleaming Series of Pressed-Glass Ducks Sculpted into Pools of Water

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       “Compassion” (2017), press glass, hot sculpted. All images © Jennifer Halvorson In artist Jennifer Halvorson’s (previously) collection of lustrous glass sculptures, there sits a group of glossy ducks. In some of her pieces, the water the birds sit within pours over the side, and each shiny piece looks wet to the touch as if […] More