2025-01-31 02:30:00
Whether weaving plastic pony beads into a monumental sculpture, adorning figures with mother-of-pearl buttons, or mosaicing ceramic tile across a New York subway station, Nick Cave has continually returned to one question: how does this material help bring people into the work?
“I have to think about the journey and how I get your willingness to explore and go with me,” he told Colossal in 2022.
This month at Jack Shainman Gallery’s new Tribeca location, Cave presents his latest material explorations. Amalgams and Graphts comprises two distinct bodies of work that are a sort of progression from the artist’s signature Soundsuits. Created following the Los Angeles Police Department’s beating of Rodney King in 1991, the ebullient costumes conceal the wearer’s identity and invite viewers to engage from a place of non-judgment.
For Amalgams, Cave created bronze casts of his own body at different scales evocative of Soundsuits. At the center of the exhibition is an unmissable, almost 26-foot sculpture that towers over the space. Thick foliage cloaks the figure and emphasizes the possibility for growth as branches sprout from the upper torso, creating what the artist refers to as a “migration hub” where perched birds take refuge. Nearby, a similar work depicts a smaller, yet equally opulent figure seated with feet lifted off the ground.
“Amalgam (Plot)” is the most compact of the three. Erupting with vintage tole flowers, the floor sculpture portrays two figures, one lying on his back and the other face down with his arms over his head to take cover. The protective pose mimics a scene of racially motivated violence captured on video.
In part a move toward accessibility, the bronze works are part of Cave’s interest in public art and sharing his practice—including his commitment to cultivating resistance in the face of oppression—more broadly.
While the artist frequently incorporates his own body into his work, Graphts is the first time he’s made himself so recognizable. Self-portraits appear amid decadent collages of vintage serving trays decorated with floral motifs. A long-time collector of found objects, Cave melds the platters with needlepoint, a domestic craft historically practiced by privileged, wealthy women.
As is typical in the artist’s work, the trays take on several meanings, invoking servitude and the aesthetics of social systems along with the multi-valent notion of “serving.” Associated with subordination and duty, “to serve” in ballroom culture is instead “a directive to act with confidence and attitude.”
Amalgams and Graphts continues in New York through March 15. Find more from Cave on Instagram.
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2025-01-31 00:01:18
In physics, quantum entanglement describes how particles being generated, interacting, or in proximity to one another cannot have independent quantum states. Albert Einstein referred to this phenomenon as “spooky action at a distance.” In short, once particles have interacted, they remain connected, even if they are millions of light years apart.
For artist Marina Kappos, entanglement inspires an interest in frequency, resonance, and connection through painting. “In a peculiar way, I can relate to distant particles affecting one another because I have an identical twin sister,” she tells Colossal. “I have grown up with a mirrored reflection of myself, but one that is also independent and leading a different life than me. This unique perspective has created a lifelong bond of interconnectedness between my sister and me.”
Kappos describes her paintings, like her life, as a double or a mirror that reflects in myriad ways. She invokes a kind of “buzzing frequency and optical motion” that creates the impression that solid, distinct objects—like our bodies—are fluid or malleable.
“We are inextricably linked to one another and our surroundings,” the artist says. “Where does the body end and the universe begin? Vibration is a clue that it is closely related. These paintings, combined with my own life experience, have highlighted my evolving awareness of the nature of reality.”
Kappos applies acrylic paint in semi-transparent layers of color, which overlap to create a resonating or vibrating visual quality. She is interested in portraying human connections, especially women, often emphasizing profiles or hands because they hint at the body but may not be the first detail one notices when seeing reverberating, optical color effects. Many works have light and dark counterparts, like “Sister 1” and “Sister 2.”
“Like echoes, the repeated motifs almost have a Doppler effect, where there is an increase or decrease in frequency of light depending on where you stand,” Kappos says. “The ethereal, transparent layers of paint eventually become profiles of faces, sometimes melding into landscape, at times appearing out of focus, simply buzzing or humming along.”
Many of these works were recently on view in her solo shows Ultraviolet Catastrophe at The Pit in Los Angeles and Spooky Action at Shrine in New York City. She currently has a piece in the group exhibition Soft Focus at The Hole’s Los Angeles location.
The artist is currently engaged in a residency in Paris at Résidence artistique Retina, a program established by a medical center in the heart of the city to improve the experience for hospital patients, visitors, and staff. Find more on Kappos’s website and Instagram.
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2025-01-30 05:21:00
In nature, flowers serve as an essential component of the reproduction process. But for humans, scented blooms are ripe with myriad meanings and symbolism that transcend their biological functions.
During Victorian times, offering a bouquet to someone with your right hand indicated a non-verbal “yes,” while a yellow carnation would reject an admirer. Similarly in art history, wilting flowers rendered as a momento mori remind us of death’s inevitability, and for van Gogh, sunflowers were the perfect stand-in for gratitude.
A massive exhibition opening next month at Saatchi Gallery cultivates a vast repertoire of works that explores how blooms have become an omnipresent entity in human life and creativity. Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture brings together more than 500 photographs, installations, sculptures, archival pieces, and other objects to create a rich landscape spanning millennia.
Anchoring the exhibition is an expansive and immersive work of 100,000-plus dried flowers by Rebecca Louise Law. Smaller pieces include Xuebing Du’s ethereal photos of flowers in natural light, VOYDER’s streaky steam-laden compositions, and lush, vibrant gardens by Faye Bridgewater.
Opening in time to usher in spring in London, Flowers runs from February 12 to May 5.
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2025-01-30 01:00:00
A striking silhouette of two fighting stag beetles takes the top prize in the 6th annual Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest (previously), capping a group of category winners and finalists that showcase an array of natural phenomena in astonishing detail.
A jury of 25 experts, comprising scientists, editors, naturalists, journalists, and photographers, narrowed down 100 images from more than 11,000 entries. Photographers in 61 countries submitted photos of a wide range of animals and environments, capturing dramatic behaviors and fascinating habitats.
Among many favorites, Yong Miao’s beautiful shot of a damselfly perched on a stone near a waterfall won the Insects category, Barry Webb’s capture of an ear-pick fungus topped the Fungi & Slime Moulds category, and Gabriel Jensen’s portrait of a fish in the toothy mouth of a predator took the top spot in the Underwater category.
The competition highlights not only incredible images but also the fascinating science and stories behind them. “Summer brings calm seas to South Florida where a dedicated community of shore diving photographers head out nearly every day to survey the world’s third largest coral reef for interesting wildlife,” Jensen says.
Her friends spotted a lizard fish (Synodus foetens) grappling with a large doctorfish. She adds, “After a few minutes of struggle, the doctorfish managed to escape. This image now sits on my desk at work, serving as a reminder that even on tough days, “Everything’s going to be A-OK.”
CUPOTY co-founder Tracy Calder says, “Close-up photography is a celebration of curiosity,” also sharing that the winning entries are “a true testament to the artistry of everyone involved, as well as an invitation to look, marvel at, and honour the world around us.” See all the top photos in the competition’s online gallery.
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2025-01-29 22:47:52
Wander into New York’s Europa, and you’ll encounter a spectral cast devoid of characters. Pale green gowns with ruffled hems, long sleeves, and empire waists haunt the gallery as they hunch and lean as if enlivened by an invisible force. Unsettling and intriguing, the translucent works wouldn’t be out of place in a ghostly horror film and are on view for Brandon Morris’s solo show, Actress.
Born in San Diego and based in New York, Morris is trained in dressmaking, which he applies to fiberglass for this body of work. Using an industrial sewing machine and mannequins, Morris sewed garments based on vintage children’s gowns from the Victorian era. Resin stiffens the clothing and allows each piece to retain its distinctive, upright shape.
A statement about the exhibition shares that the hollow forms offer space to hold our fears and anxieties. Redolent of the supernatural mystery The Ring from 2002—itself adapted from the 1998 Japanese film Ringu—the uncanny dresses are unnerving because their gestures and poses are so similar to reality. As they float in the gallery, the garments’ curved backs and crooked shoulders are out of kilter and offer an air of discomfort.
As with the conventions of the horror genre, Morris’ works are unnerving in part because they leave us with questions: Who wore the garments, and where have they gone? Who, or what, left the dresses in this state? And, perhaps most timely, what insidious forces are hidden in plain sight?
Actress continues through February 9. Find more from Morris on Instagram.
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2025-01-29 05:15:00
Continuing her practice rooted in the extensive art of passementerie, Michelle Robinson weaves vibrant threads into geometric wall hangings that curve, puff, and meander.
Over the last two years, the Sydney-based artist has been learning how to spin fiber. “I didn’t expect the pure meditative state spinning allows, which is in stark contrast to the complex pre-planning that is involved for my weaving practice, especially passementerie,” she explains. “I am a chronic over-thinker and the countless options afforded in fiber work can often lead to a writer-block of sorts.”
Though Robinson initially had goals to scale up her work, she’s instead found more growth in creating an ongoing series of small-scale iterations, experimenting with different fibers, yarn denier, and and color palettes.
Robinson has been also been working on incorporating her vast personal collection of of woven textile cloths, embellishments, and wallpaper, which she still keeps from her previous endeavors in soft furnishings.
Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Michelle Robinson’s Passementerie Weavings Demonstrate Elaborate Detail and Design appeared first on Colossal.