By Colossal | Grace Ebert | 7/26/2024 11:58 AM

Alex Chinneck has the world tied in knots as he distorts everyday tools and infrastructure. Twisting and twining telephone booths, hammers, and lamp posts, the British artist (previously) warps common objects to exaggerated proportions, rendering each almost entirely unusable. Mop handles form perfect bows, a brush constricts so tightly around a canister that blue paint spills out, and a bright red fire extinguisher appears choked for air. Chinneck’s interventions are boldly bizarre and speak to the extraordinary potential of humble objects. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Alex Chinneck’s Public Infrastructure and Tools Twist to Bizarrely Impractical Proportions appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Colossal | Grace Ebert | 7/26/2024 9:53 AM

“I want people to feel like they have stumbled onto a riddle,” says Jason Wheatley about his dreamy scenes. Melding realistic depictions with fantastical elements, the artist warps the time-honored traditions of still lifes by adding animals and insects to the otherwise inanimate subject matter. His most recent body of work, Language of Birds, places a range of exotic, wild birds in lavish interiors alongside small primates, butterflies, and fish. Opening this month at Gilman Contemporary, the exhibition presents six oil paintings that reference the iconic style of John James Audubon in precision and vivid detail, while tinged with Wheatley’s whimsy and surrealism. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Vividly Rendered Birds, Monkeys, and Butterflies Enliven Jason Wheatley’s Dreamy Paintings appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/25/2024 8:00 PM

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/25/2024 8:00 PM

By Colossal | Grace Ebert | 7/25/2024 3:35 PM

Jessica Thompson-Lee twists the age-old design principle of form following function with her biomorphic ceramics. Evocative of cellular structures, coral, and mycelium networks, handles appear to grow from Thompson-Lee’s mugs, sprawling outward into lattice-like webs that require users to slot their fingers into the amorphous shapes. “The person drinking from it will play around with different ways their fingers intertwine and rest in/on the sculptural handle,” she tells Colossal. “With the sculptural vases, people can use the holes in the organic sculptural elements to stick in and weave flowers through for a playful and interactive flower-arranging experience.” Each design is born from what the artist calls “sketching with clay…After filling a squeeze bottle full of porcelain slip, I squeeze liquid clay designs onto a plaster slab, never knowing exactly how the designs will turn out. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Kaleidoscopic Handles Grow in Biomorphic Shapes from Jessica Thompson-Lee’s Ceramic Mugs appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Colossal | Grace Ebert | 7/25/2024 12:14 PM

Each week, Petah Coyne reads two or three books. Along with film and the natural world, literature has had a profound impact on the artist throughout her decades-long career, as she references Flannery O’Connor, Zora Neale Hurston, Zelda Fitzgerald, and numerous other women in her works. Coyne gravitates toward texts rooted in feminist principles, which she then puts into conversation and filters through large-scale sculptures and installations. Dichotomies flourish in the artist’s practice as she suspends silk bouquets in specially formulated wax, dipping the vibrant blooms in a molten wash and often displaying them upside down. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Petah Coyne’s Wax Sculptures and Installations Vacillate Between Beauty and Monstrosity appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/24/2024 8:00 PM

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/24/2024 8:00 PM

By Colossal | Grace Ebert | 7/24/2024 10:11 AM

We’ve officially entered the hot, sticky part of the year when languid afternoon naps seem inevitable. A sprawling group exhibition at Timothy Taylor is an ode to this sluggish time and the furry companion with which it shares a name. Featuring 60-plus works made between 1915 and today, Dog Days of Summer is a joyful tribute to humanity’s best friend. Interpretations of our favorite four-legged pals are vast and varied, including a vividly patterned couch complete with a tiny, lounging pup by Hilary Pecis and Alex Da Corte’s stylized wooden puzzle with a friendly offering in its paw. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article ‘Dog Days of Summer’ Celebrates Humanity’s Favorite Companions in Art and Life appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Colossal | Kate Mothes | 7/24/2024 6:00 AM

From the 14-meter-long “Black Star,” a ship docked in an elevated pool, to a series of immersive, luminescent installations, Tavares Strachan highlights hidden histories at the Hayward Gallery at London’s Southbank Centre. The artist’s large-scale survey, There Is Light Somewhere, explores his continuing interest in history and its intersections with science, exploration, and culture. Strachan (previously) often taps into the legacy of the portrait bust, drawing on sources ranging from ancient Egypt and Rome to early-modern examples that have typically celebrated wealthy,  white European men. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Tavares Strachan’s ‘There Is Light Somewhere’ Illuminates the Past and Envisions Hope for the Future appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/23/2024 8:00 PM

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/23/2024 8:00 PM

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/23/2024 1:30 PM

By Colossal | Kate Mothes | 7/23/2024 12:26 PM

Limpets, the cone-shaped sea snails we see attached to boulders along salty shorelines, can live between 10 and 20 years, never straying too far from home. They always return to the same spot, gradually wearing a perfectly-sized ring in the surface of the rock, known as home scars. Eventually, empty shells wash up along the coast, and for Alice Fox, the dainty specimens provide one of many canvases for delicately woven pieces (previously). More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Delicate Vessels Emerge from Garden-Grown Materials in Alice Fox’s Woven Sculptures appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Colossal | Kate Mothes | 7/23/2024 6:01 AM

In the 1970s and 1980s, a ride on the New York City subway looked a lot different than it does today, famously coated in graffiti inside and out. One figure of the era’s art scene who has gained posthumous attention during the past few years is the creative polymath Rammellzee (1960-2010), whose paintings, sculptures, and performances deployed and deconstructed language at a time when novel digital technologies were just beginning to emerge. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article The Forthcoming ‘Racing for Thunder’ Chronicles Rammellzee’s Vibrant and Multi-Hyphenate Artistic Career appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/22/2024 8:00 PM

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/22/2024 8:00 PM

By Colossal | Kate Mothes | 7/22/2024 2:56 PM

Published 165 years ago, Charles Darwin’s seminal On the Origin of Species founded our modern understanding of evolutionary biology. He keenly observed wildlife in their native habitats and the similarities between animals around the world—including humans—describing how, through natural selection, populations evolve through a branching pattern over time. Darwin is often misquoted as saying humans evolved from apes, but he actually acknowledged that humans and primates descended from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article A Collaborative Mural by Vhils and Bordalo II Celebrates the Legacy of Charles Darwin appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Colossal | Kate Mothes | 7/22/2024 11:31 AM

From bronze, chrome, and silicone, Marc Quinn’s larger-than-life botanicals emerge with delicate precision. The exhibition Light into Life at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London continues the artist’s exploration of the boundaries between the natural and artificial, the living and non-living, sexuality, and the passage of time. Quinn often uses a mirrored effect to literally reflect humanity in nature while blurring the lines between the work and its surroundings. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Marc Quinn’s Monumental Flowers Invite Us to Reflect Upon Our Evolving Relationship with Nature appeared first on Colossal. ... Read full Story

By Contemporary Art Daily | | 7/21/2024 8:00 PM