What Does Your Trash Say About You? The ‘Dumpster Archeologist’ Knows
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/the-dumpster-archeologist/
The Home Studio of the Late Artist L.V. Hull Is Added to the National Register of Historic Places
Kosciusko is a small town in the center of Mississippi with just under 7,000 residents. Known as the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey, Kosciusko was also home to the late artist L.V. Hull (1942–2008) who devoted her life to painting and assembling found objects. Tires, shoes, perfume bottles, sticks, and the random items friends and neighbors gifted her quickly became vibrant sculptures awash in her signature polka dots and eventually went on display in her house or yard. More
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Insects Metamorphose from Bamboo in Noriyuki Saitoh’s Meticulous Sculptures
Noriyuki Saitoh’s (previously) fascination with insects and painstaking attention to detail transforms delicate pieces of wood into intricate sculptures. Using a range of bamboo materials, including thin paper, he carefully carves the architecture of dragonfly wings, mantis legs, and beetle antennae. While primarily made from wood, he sometimes adds other tiny materials like stone to accentuate the specimens’ eyes.
website, where he often documents biological facts about each animal and photographs their dramatic interactions. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/noriyuki-saitoh-insects/
Take a Nostalgic Dive Through a Visual Cassette Tape Archive
As a graphic designer and graffitist who has been making work since 1989, German artist neck, who also goes by Oliver, is a big fan of the “beauty and (sometimes) weirdness” of common audiotape design. His ambitious archive project, tapedeck, aims to document the wide range of cassettes produced throughout the latter half of the 20th century.
cassette tape, invented in 1963, entered the market with a lukewarm reception as it competed with reel-to-reel and 8-track technologies. More
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Layering Found Cardboard into Communing Forms, Ann Weber’s Sculptures Emphasize Togetherness
From scraps of found cardboard, Ann Weber constructs billowing forms that rise in vibrant patterns—almost figure-like—to greet us. The Los Angeles-based artist (previously) focuses on sustainability, community, and relationships by using found materials and pairing forms.. Weber’s titles often suggest individual characters and places, like in “Personages, Elkhart Lake” or “O Buddy, O Pal.” Symbolizing the act of bringing people and ideas together, strips of cardboard are layered, fastened, and intertwined with one another to create a sturdy and reliable structure. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/ann-weber-let-the-sunshine-in/
A Missing Beetle Sends an Investigator on an Uncanny Quest in a New Nick Leng Music Video
beetlebugs” follows the uncanny story of an insect who asks a “Private Investigator For Creatures” for help in locating a missing loved one. Vacillating between a human and bug perspective—the latter is filtered through thousands of tiny receptors in compound eyes—an overly earnest and absurd hunt ensues, only to end in a dark, Kafka-esque twist of fate. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/beetlebugs-nick-leng/
Using Her Body Weight, Brie Ruais Heaves 130 Pounds of Ceramic into Radial Sculptures
Beginning with 130 pounds of soft clay, Brie Ruais sculpts radial forms that capture her body’s movement and proportions. The amount of material aligns with the artist’s weight, which she heaves from a central point to create the appearance of bursting outward. Each textured wall work freezes an imprint of her body, while glazes in deep charcoal, blue, beige, and rose conjure the elements of earth, water, air, and fire.
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/brie-ruais-ceramic-sculptures/
A Brief Lesson Explains the Visual Impact of an Early Cinematic Favorite, the Sustained Two-Shot
Every Frame a Painting is back with a new lesson in cinematography. Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou began releasing short videos breaking down visual concepts and techniques in 2014, teaching their audiences what makes some of the most critically acclaimed and beloved films work.
The newest addition to their educational archive focuses on the sustained two-shot, which keeps two actors in the frame rather than cutting from one to the other during dialogue. More
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Catherine Prowse Invokes Joy, Comfort, and Community in a New Animation for Palliative Care Queensland
Palliative Care Queensland is a charity centered on the belief that the way we care for our dying is a powerful indicator of society’s values. The hospice organization recently commissioned a poignant and empowering short film titled “The Cassette” by animator Catherine Prowse focused on living the end of your life on your own terms.
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/catherine-prowse-the-cassette/
A New Book Branches Out Across 3,500 Years to Explore Our Enchantment with Trees
Spanning 3,500 years of art, science, culture, and history, Tree: Exploring the Arboreal World surveys the awe-inspiring beauty and romance of trees. Forthcoming from Phaidon, the volume includes more than 300 illustrations ranging from ancient wall paintings and botanical illustrations to captivating photography and multimedia work by today’s leading artists.
Tree takes an expansive approach to the topic, introducing scientific and historical inquiry alongside artistic expression and documentation of the planet’s wide variety of species. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/tree-exploring-the-arboreal-world/
Across Rural Europe, Ashley Suszczynski Photographs Remarkable and Ancient Masked Traditions
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As a child, Ashley Suszczynski used to draw copiously in her school notebooks and escape into the chimerical worlds of books. “I loved the imaginative illustrations,” she tells Colossal. “Each story sent me into a new world, and I kind of dissociated from my own… Every page was full of magic and mystery—an immersive adventure into lands of mythical monsters, talking animals, the weird and the wonderful.”
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/ashley-suszczynski-masked-traditions/
Andrea Spencer’s Painstakingly Layered Glass Sculptures Intertwine Tendrils of Seaweed
While a seaweed known as bladderwrack might not sound like something you’d want to eat, the unique kelp is in fact quite tasty and gets its name from small air pockets in its leaves akin to tiny bladders. For glass artist Andrea Spencer, the tendrils, bulbs, fronds, and combinations of organisms provide the starting point for an ongoing series of elegant sculptures.
Scott Benefield, work in studios set up in outbuildings of a former farm. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/andrea-spencer-glass/
Advance Your Art Career With SVA Continuing Education Courses, Workshops, Residencies
Ready to take your practice and creativity to new heights? The Division of Continuing Education at the School of Visual Arts (SVACE) has the resources and expertise to help you go to the next level. With a diverse range of more than 200 courses and 10+ artist residency programs, you’ll find everything you need to achieve your goals and actualize your potential. Whether you’re looking to advance your career, explore new artistic avenues, or simply deepen your practice, our experienced faculty will provide the guidance and support you need to grow. More
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Slopes, Snakes, and Slides Wrap Around ‘Casa de los Milagros’ in Photographs by Naser Nader Ibrahim
On the outskirts of Xalapa, Veracruz in Mexico, a striking terracotta-colored dwelling sits among patches of trees. Standing before the distinctive structure, its exterior boasts fluctuating convex slopes that rise and fall from top to bottom as circular-shaped windows emphasize natural curves. From an aerial perspective, Rosalinda Ulloa—the homeowner—recalls that many have described the house’s shape as, “a mushroom, an octopus, a bat cave, a flower, and even pie-topping meringue.”
Casa de los Milagros, or House of Miracles, the architectural wonder’s construction process began in 1955 and took place in stages over the course of 47 years until its completion in 2002. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/casa-de-los-milagros/
In ‘Fictional Nature,’ Fabian Knecht Encloses Live Trees and Craggy Stones in a White Cube Gallery
Walk into one of Fabian Knecht’s installations, and you’ll likely smell the dewy, herbal scent of moss and the sweet musk of wood, fragrant evidence of life growing amidst clinical, fluorescent lights and stark walls. Branches, grass, and water features appear as if they’ve been cut to fit the exact dimensions of the gallery and transported from their native habitats into the classic white cube.
interests for artists, although Knecht takes a particularly intriguing approach. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/fabian-knecht-fictional-nature/
At 94, the Pioneering Lee ShinJa Weaves a New Tradition for Feminist Textile Art
When artist Lee ShinJa was born in 1930 in Uljin, Korea, during a period of Japanese colonial rule, textile traditions were largely rooted in domestic uses and craft. But for Lee, who took in her mother’s and grandmother’s lessons in sewing and weaving, fiber proved to be a material of experimentation and innovation.
Weaving the Dawn, the artist’s New York debut at Tina Kim Gallery, showcases several decades’ worth of tapestries that challenge the boundaries of the art form. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/lee-shinja-tapestries/
Beth Cavener Molds Thousands of Pounds of Clay into Provocative Animals that Grapple with Trust
In the 6th century B.C.E., Aesop wrote more than 700 fables conveying moral messages through animal characters. Fifty-one of these featured a sly fox, usually characterized as both intelligent and deceptive, often conning other animals. Foxes have long symbolized adaptability, cunning, stealth, and deceit, providing us with a way to understand our own values, behaviors, and actions. In Beth Cavener’s “Trust Me,” a vulpine creature bathed in dark shadow crouches as if poised to leap from its vertical surface, peering determinately ahead. More
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Learn to Forage and Process Your Own Natural Pigments with ‘The Mushroom Color Atlas’
In terms of genes, humans are actually more closely related to mushrooms than plants! That’s because key characteristics—how we store energy, how our cells are built, and our ability to produce Vitamin D when exposed to the sunlight—are found in fungi but not trees or grass. And that’s only the beginning of our fascination with the mycological world, which yields an endless source of inspiration for avid forager, educator, and artist Julie Beeler. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/mushroom-color-atlas/
Mevlana Lipp’s Sculptural Paintings on Velvet Glimpse Otherworldly Alternate Realities
“Velvet paintings” may evoke visions of midcentury kitsch, thanks to artists like Edgar Leetig (1904-1953) and a demand for mass-produced decor. But that phenomenon is only a fraction of the history of painting on velvet, a tradition that is believed to have emerged in Kashmir, where the fabric was first produced. The silky material’s fine pile absorbs light, providing a unique substrate for paintings on which pigments appear to float on a contrasting, deep black background. More
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/08/mevlana-lipp-paintings/
Cropped Punch-Needle Snapshots by Adrienna Matzeg Stitch Memories of Portugal
Toronto-based artist Adrienna Matzeg stitches a tangible record of a trip to Portugal in Bebidas e Lanches, or Drinks and Snacks. Rendering photographic snapshots and souvenir tableaux in textured punch needle, Matzeg depicts the sights of a hot afternoon spent around a table with friends. Framed by negative space, the compositions often appear cropped like reference photos to show a particular perspective and capture the sensory memories of travel, which the artist bolsters with titles like “Jet Lag in Lisbon” and “Sprained Ankle in Albufeira.”
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