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      Nimble Pugs and Other Cheery Canines Are Chiseled into Stocky Wooden Sculptures by Misato Sano

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      Art

      #dogs
      #sculpture
      #self-portrait
      #wood

      May 17, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Misato Sano, shared with permission
      Studies show that people are inclined to adopt canine companions that resemble themselves or family members, a psychological impulse that Misato Sano (previously) flips on its head. Rather than carve a pack of doggy doubles, the artist creates textured wooden sculptures of curly-haired poodles and acrobatic pugs imbued with different aspects of her own personality. Encompassing multiple breeds, expressions, and physical traits, each work is a self-portrait. She explains to Colossal:
      For me, using the form of dogs is the most appropriate, highest-resolution method to materialize what I think of my inner self. Materializing myself in various states is about having an honest, direct dialogue with myself. In facing myself, I would like to be passionate, free, and loving, like a dog. My works are also about myself looking at myself. In that sense, I might have been making an existence that is sometimes beside myself, a little distance in other times, watching over myself.
      Sano is based in the Tohoku region of the Miyagi prefecture and spends her summers creating the lively creatures with fur chiseled in visible gouges. As the weather turns cold, she shifts her practice to embroidery and conveys the adorable faces in plush tufts of thread.
      If you’re in Portland, you can see Sano’s carved characters as part of a group exhibition running August 14 to 29 at Gallery Nucleus. Otherwise, check out her Instagram for glimpses into her process and to see some of the real-life pups that inspire her works.

      #dogs
      #sculpture
      #self-portrait
      #wood

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    • 150 Shares159 Views

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      Delightful Characters Spring to Life in Hand-Cranked Wooden Automata by Kazuaki Harada

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      Art
      Design

      #automata
      #humor
      #kinetic sculpture
      #toys
      #video
      #wood

      May 12, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Japanese woodworker Kazuaki Harada (previously) has spent the last few years designing these playful automata that activate with a simple hand-crank. Watch miners work in tandem, a figure cackle with unparalleled enthusiasm, and the devil aggressively play the fiddle, and make sure to turn your volume up, too—Harada often pairs an audio component with the mechanical movements for an additional dose of whimsy. For more of his quirky designs, which include many of the character-based works shown here in addition to more elaborate, abstract pieces, check out his Instagram and YouTube.

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      #automata
      #humor
      #kinetic sculpture
      #toys
      #video
      #wood

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    • 163 Shares199 Views

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      Bold Bands of Paint Bisect Playful Sculptures of Carved Wood by Willy Verginer

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      Art

      #acrylic
      #games
      #kids
      #sculpture
      #wood

      March 24, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Detail of “I pensieri non fanno rumore” (2019), different types of wood, acrylic color, 150 x 100 x 107 centimeters. All images © Willy Verginer, shared with permission
      Clusters of wooden spheres bubble up the fingertips and bodies of the children in Willy Verginer’s poetic sculptures. The Italian artist (previously) contrasts realistic carvings of adolescent figures with elements of whimsy and imagination. Alongside the forms that evoke childhood games are thick stripes of monochromatic paint, which wrap around the sculptures and bisect them in unusual places.
      Whether a pastel, neutral tone, or black, the color is symbolic and used to convey subtle messages. Verginer’s works often stem from what he sees as the absurdity of ecological issues or larger societal problems, like the U.S. banking collapse. “My largest effort and research focus on not tying myself to the naturalistic representation of figures, but on giving something more through a dreamlike study, or better an absurd one, and not an imaginary one,” he says. “This world and the whole connected system were so absurd that they made me reproduce an equally absurd situation.”

      Detail of “Chimica del pensiero” (2019), lindenwood, acrylic color, 168 x 46 x 45 centimeters
      Many of the sculptures shown here are part of Verginer’s most recent series, Rayuela, which is the Spanish term for hopscotch and the title of Julio Cortázar’s counter-novel that can be read from front to back or vice versa. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, the book produces varying endings and meanings depending on the reader’s sequence. Cortázar’s adventurous format combined with the imaginative nature of the game informed Vreginer’s approach to the series, which the artist explains:
      (In rayuela), kids outline an ideal map on the ground, which starts from the earth and reaches the sky, through intermediate stages marked with numbered squares, on which they jump according to where a pebble is thrown. I can see a metaphor of life in this game; our existence is full of these jumps and obstacles. Each of us aims to reach a sort of sky.
      In June, Toronto’s Gallery LeRoyer will have an exhibition of Verginer’s precisely carved works, and the artist has another slated for September at the Zemack Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. Until then, find more of his sculptures on Instagram.

      “Pensieri nascosti” (2020), lindenwood, acrylic color, 172 x 39 x 33 centimeters
      “Chimica del pensiero” (2019), lindenwood, acrylic color, 168 x 46 x 45 centimeters
      “I pensieri non fanno rumore” (2019), different types of wood, acrylic color, 150 x 100 x 107 centimeters
      “Scisserlé,” lindenwood, acrylic color, 200 x 59 x 46 centimeters
      “Palvaz” (2019), lindenwood, acrylic color, 95 x 70 x 47 centimeters
      “Rayuela” (2020), tiglio, acrylic color, 123 x 110 x 90 centimeters

      #acrylic
      #games
      #kids
      #sculpture
      #wood

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    • 150 Shares169 Views

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      Smooth Curves and Negative Space Complete Elegant Wooden Sculptures by Ariele Alasko

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      Art

      #sculpture
      #wood

      March 23, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Ariele Alasko, shared with permission
      From hunks of beechwood or maple, artist Ariele Alasko carves sculptural works that take the shape of smooth curves, ruffles, and squiggled lines. The elegant pieces play with contrast and negative space and are assembled into abstract compositions, whether as a smaller wall object or expansive mobile-style suspension. In a note to Colossal, Alasko shares that she strives to sustainably source all of her materials, whether from local lumber yards or her own property in Washington State. The artist holds a BFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute, and you can follow her carvings on Instagram.

      #sculpture
      #wood

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    • 175 Shares139 Views

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      An Oversized Statue of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Activist, Pensively Stares Toward Alcatraz

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      Art

      #activism
      #prisons
      #public art
      #statue
      #wood

      November 12, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      Statue of activist Leonard Peltier. All images courtesy of the Sn Francisco Art Institute
      Peering out over the San Francisco Bay toward Alcatraz is a monumental statue that pays homage to an American Indian Movement activist who’s been incarcerated for decades. Created by Portuguese-American artist Rigo 23 in 2016, the 12-foot-tall figure resembles a small self-portrait that the activist, Leonard Peltier, painted while imprisoned.
      Wearing a simple white shirt, yellow pants, and no shoes, Peltier sits on a cement base, which is the actual size of his cell, in a pensive position. “There was something Buddha-like about the pose, and it reminded me of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker,’ which is so muscular and epic,” Rigo 23 told Hyperallergic about the original portrait. “Usually, images of heroism and humanity are epic, and this is just a man sitting on the ground wearing prison-issued clothes. It has this different kind of spirituality.”
      A member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and also of Lakota and Dakota descent, Peltier was a well-known leader in the American Indian Movement throughout the 1960s and ’70s, having spearheaded multiple protests and marches to end injustices. Despite denying the charges, he has been imprisoned since 1977 after being convicted of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shooting on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment for the incident, which has resulted in campaigns for his clemency.

      Angela Davis on Peltier’s feet
      Rigo 23 designed the work with detachable feet, which have traveled to Standing Rock Reservation, Alcatraz, and Crow Dog’s Paradise. The decision has allowed activists, including Angela Davis, to stand on top of the wooden pair in solidarity, an act that an Instagram account has been documenting.
      The oversized statue was moved to the roof of the San Francisco Art Institute in October—watch the full dedication ceremony with speeches from Peltier’s children on YouTube—where it received one of its more celebratory welcomes. Met with both support and animosity throughout its history, the work was removed early from a 2016 visit to the Katzen Art Center at the American University in Washington, D.C. Spurred by a complaint from the president of the FBI Agents Association, the action resulted in the statue’s displacement for about a year, the artist says.

      Its current position facing Alcatraz has similar significance, considering an activist group’s occupation of the former federal prison during the Nixon administration. In 1969, Indians of All Tribes seized the site in hopes of turning it into a school, cultural center, and museum. As the U.S. government attempted to regain control, the group established a clinic, kitchen, and education centers for the 19 months it claimed the island.
      The statue will remain at SFAI until March 28, 2021. Although the institution is closed to visitors, it’s offering a virtual tour of the work on its site.

      #activism
      #prisons
      #public art
      #statue
      #wood

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      Playfulness and Imagination Inform the Textured Wooden Sculptures of Artist Efraïm Rodríguez

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      Art

      #childhood
      #sculpture
      #wood

      November 9, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “At line” (2020), linden wood and painted okume board, 115 x 55 x 43 centimeters. All images © Efraïm Rodríguez, shared with permission
      From fallen trees, planks, and old furniture, Efraïm Rodríguez carves vivid sculptures that evoke the imaginative and playful daydreams of childhood. The Barcelona-based artist highlights the texture of the organic material, creating life-sized figures donning garments of veneered wood or whose bodies mimic the toys they stack. Many depict toddlers or younger children in the midst of play, and even the older characters are infused with elements of sport and recreation, like “Anna” (shown below) who wears a dress studded with tees and holds a golf ball.
      Although the precisely sculpted figures often are based on his nieces, nephews, and other family members, Rodríguez tells Colossal that themes of childhood only recently emerged. He explains:
      The children appeared in my work almost from the beginning, but they were only a reference, a motive. The theme was not childhood. In the early works, they were self-aware children, representing adults in the form of children. The children were a good support to work emotions and question the viewer. In 2007, my sister had two children. I began to use them as a model in my sculptures. From here the theme of childhood was appearing. I began to represent beyond their forms their actions and attitudes.
      Rodríguez was raised in an artistic family in which his father and grandfather were both painters. Despite being exposed to that medium, he shares that he’s always been drawn to representing the world in three-dimensions. “For me, sculpture is a reconstruction of the world. I always build my sculptures in real size the referent, the sculpture, and the spectator live in the same place, breath(ing) the same air,” he says.

      “Small Architect” (2006), painted beechwood, 60 x 78 x 43 centimeters
      Wood, in particular, has been conducive to the artist’s process, which begins with an image in his head rather than a two-dimensional sketch. The malleable material also brings its own history to the works, and Rodríguez chooses the specific type based on its technical and narrative qualities. “Wood has always a past, a biography. A piece of wood has been always something else before, furniture or whatever, at least a tree,” the artist says.
      Through January 1, 2021, Rodríguez’s sculptures are on view at the Granollers Museum in Barcelona. To follow his latest pieces and see works-in-progress, head to Instagram.

      “Anna (golf girl)” (2019), painted cedar wood, painted golf tees and golf ball, 120 x 47 x 35 centimeters
      “Anna (golf girl)” (2019), painted cedar wood, painted golf tees and golf ball, 120 x 47 x 35 centimeters
      “First Fall” (2020), painted cedar and hazelnut, 175 x 40 x 48 centimeter
      “At line” (2020), linden wood and painted okume board, 115 x 55 x 43 centimeters
      “Giorgia builds up” (2019), painted beechwood, 90 x 52 x 51 centimeters
      “Giorgia builds up” (2019), painted beechwood, 90 x 52 x 51 centimeters

      #childhood
      #sculpture
      #wood

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    • 200 Shares149 Views

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      Textural Sculptures by Artist Jessica Drenk Use Junk Mail, Book Pages, and Q-Tips to Explore Materiality

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      Art

      #books
      #installation
      #paper
      #pencils
      #sculpure
      #wood

      October 22, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Dendrite” (2019), Q-tips and plaster. All images © Jessica Drenk, courtesy of Galleri Urbane, shared with permission
      Montana-born artist Jessica Drenk (previously) employs simple materials, like shopping flyers and standard No. 2 pencils, to create organic sculptures that are chaotic and arresting explorations of the substances themselves. Bundled Q-tips spread across a site-specific installation like the roots of a tree, a carved section of plywood reveals concentric patterns, and strips of junk mail are plastered together in long waves.
      While Drenk’s latest series, titled Transmutations, is diverse and ranges from wall pieces to cavernous sculptures, each artwork explores materiality and how disparate shapes and textures combine to create forms that are new both physically and conceptually. The artist explains in a statement:
      In treating everyday objects as raw material to sculpt, I practice a form of conceptual alchemy: through physically manipulating these objects their meanings become transmuted. Each piece is a direct response to material—a subversion of the meanings associated with it, and a reference to the life cycle of objects through time.
      If you’re in Dallas, Transmutations is on view at Galleri Urbane through October 31. Otherwise, follow Drenk’s textural works on Artsy, and watch an interview with the artist at her studio below.

      “Contour 3” (2020), carved plywood, 47 x 38 x 3 inches
      “Implement 68” (2020), pencils, 22 x 18 x 17 inches
      “Cerebral Mapping” (2020), books and wax, 132 x 80 inches
      “Compression 3” (2020), books, wax on wood panel, and wood frame, 44 x 38 x 2 inches
      “Dendrite” (2019), Q-tips and plaster
      Top: “Aggregate 3” (2020), junk mail, 28 x 130 x 2.25 inches. Bottom: “Aggregate 2” (2020), junk mail and plaster, 20 x 78 x 2.5 inches
      Left: “Circulation 18” (2020), books and wax, 31 x 29 x 1.5 inches. Right: “Circulation 19” (2020), junk mail and cardboard, 36 x 36 x 1.5 inches

      

      #books
      #installation
      #paper
      #pencils
      #sculpure
      #wood

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    • 163 Shares129 Views

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      Meditative Faces Emerge from the Staggered Wooden Sticks Forming Artist Gil Bruvel’s Sculptures

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      Art

      #faces
      #gradients
      #meditation
      #sculptures
      #wood

      September 17, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Breathe” (2020). All images © Gil Bruvel, shared with permission
      Gil Bruvel (previously) has spent 40 years practicing vipassanā meditation, an introspective practice that invites judgment-free observation of the mind. The Australia-born artist infuses the philosophies of this decades-long ritual into his variegated sculptures as he forms a series of faces in deep thought. With eyes and mouths closed, the figures project serenity and calmness, serving as “a reminder of what it looks like to be centered and at peace,” Bruvel says of The Mask Series.
      Different in shape and size, the sticks are burned, painted with subtle gradients, and then held in place with wood glue, causing the figures to appear pixelated and as a disparate grouping of squares and rectangles when viewed up close. From a distance, however, “that fragmentation reveals a coherent whole: a face arises from apparent chaos,” Bruvel shares with Colossal. Through their collated forms, the assemblages offer a visual metaphor for the complexity and contradiction that’s inherent to human beings.
      Bruvel also draws attention to the backs of the sculptures, which stray from the figurative depictions of the front to focus on the abstract workings of the mind.  “The assemblage of pixel-like stick-ends conveys the hidden realm of emotion, sensation, and thought—our internal universe. The gradients of color represent the flows of feeling and consciousness that pass through our minds like ripples on a lake, leaving the lake unchanged,” he says.
      Explore more of Bruvel’s meditative artworks and see some works-in-progress on Instagram and Artsy.

      “Floating” (2019), burnt wooden sticks and acrylic paint, 24 × 21 inches
      “Mask #28” (2020), wood and paint, 16 × 16 × 9 inches
      “The Fountain” (2019), wood and paint, 27 × 19 × 23 inches
      “The Fountain” (2019), wood and paint, 27 × 19 × 23 inches
      “Moonlight” (2019), wood and paint, 22 × 22 × 21 inches
      “Moonlight” (2019), wood and paint, 22 × 22 × 21 inches
      “Mask #22” (2020), wood and paint, 16 × 16 × 9 inches
      “Mask #26” (2020), wood and paint, 16 × 16 × 9 inches
      “Breathe” (2020)

      #faces
      #gradients
      #meditation
      #sculptures
      #wood

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