Ellery

Whether floating in pools of rainwater in the center of chrysanthemums or navigating the chaos of a fish tank, the characters in Felicia Chiao’s drawings encounter surreal circumstances that tap into complex emotions. Her illustrations (previously) follow the experiences and interactions of solemn figures who search for the sun, become immersed in blossoms, and appear both curious about and overwhelmed by the huge world around them.

Chiao incorporates anthropomorphized elements of nature to represent moods, like in “Try,” which contrasts the cheerful, sunny top level of an apartment with a dim, melancholy lower level that gets little light. In “Bloat,” a dark, inner monster—a recurring specter—is dispelled by the shining sun. Peering past giant flower petals or surrounded by prying eyes, her figures express universal feelings of awe, anxiety, uncertainty, and joy.

Long using Copic markers for her drawings, Chiao recently switched to watercolor for gallery works, maintaining a similar style of washed hues while achieving better archival quality. She continues to use the markers for personal work, sharing with Colossal, “The new medium, however, has enabled me to push the boundaries of scale and color application.” Some of these pieces are part of New Normal, the artist’s solo exhibition at Giant Robot in Los Angeles that continues through June 28 and showcases her new watercolors.

In October, Chiao will be part of a group exhibition presented by Hi-Fructose Magazine at Arch Enemy Arts in Philadephia, and she’s looking forward to another solo show next year in New York City with Harman Projects. Follow updates on Instagram and Patreon, and find prints on Society6.

 

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 In Ink and Watercolor Illustrations, Felicia Chiao Immerses Curious Characters in Surreal Scenarios appeared first on Colossal.

Meet The Stranger's Artist of the Week. by Corianton Hale

Ian Shearer is a queer painter living and working in Seattle who explores themes of isolation and marginalization through acrylic painting. His moody, dreamlike scenes of Seattle nightlife and nature are also explorations of how the brain works, and how people see and interpret things differently. In our interview, we talk about neurodiversity, disability, and creative fortitude.

In your paintings, there is a sense of observation that shows a real enchantment with Seattle streets and neighborhoods, but also a feeling of observation that borders on voyeurism. Can you tell me more about how your paintings explore the feeling of being on the margins of society?

When I began painting urban landscapes four years ago I didn’t consciously set out to document Seattle’s contemporary redevelopment, but even in that short time, so much of the city has changed. Places, homes, shops, and venues have disappeared and the skyline is noticeably altered. After seeing it happen continuously on the day-to-day, I now more intentionally strive to capture and chronicle the city’s essence and memory before it fades and shifts again into something else.

I use urban landscapes as metaphor to explore isolation and subjective reality. My paintings are deliberately composed to seem far away or a bit off, removing the viewer from the action, placing them off center, off stage. This disorientation and de-centering gently provokes an experience for the viewer beyond the self. A group of people can have wildly different interpretations of the same experience, and yet it is our shared isolation of subjective reality that unites us all.

Ian Shearer

Can you talk about your stroke, and how has your visual theme of marginalization shifted or been amplified since the incident?

My stroke changed everything. I had to relearn how to walk, talk, hold a fork, write my name—all of it. Some members of my recovery team thought I might never paint again. Eventually, I did, but it was as if someone else was painting. From the subject matter to the lines and colors and techniques, all were completely alien to me and my previous body of work. It caused a huge existential crisis. I needed to start anew as an artist. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to visually explore and communicate through my paintings the sensations I have only the barest of words for: memory loss, aphasia, dyslexia, Sensory Regulation Disorder, photophobia, synesthesia. 

Look closely, and the viewer will see not just a pretty picture but the fractures and imperfections and distortions that are parts of our reality. I think most people can relate to that! 

Ian Shearer

You’ve said you paint how things feel. I love the vibe you create by interpreting more distorted and dream-like versions of reality. What led you to this style and approach?

I really want the work to feel like a dream or memory, as if someone is telling a story about the city—not just the physical terrain but the emotional atmosphere, too. 

I’m also interested in how the brain interprets certain stimuli and decides what information is important. I’ll make some objects or people transparent or maybe paint a car in order to give someone the physical feeling of that car taking up space, to show what that feels like rather than painstakingly rendering a car just to look like a car. An altered continuance of my centering and decentering the viewer, the viewed, the scene. Similarly, I delete buildings and rearrange their placement and warp the perspective, much like when in a dream.

Ian Shearer

What do you want the world to understand about disability within the art scene?

So, this has become a passion of mine over the past couple years. Initially, when I began showing my post-stroke work I was loathe to talk about my disability because I was afraid people would judge my work differently. Also as a young stroke survivor, it was difficult for me at first to find other disabled artists. And I had kind of a “be the change you want to see” moment. The more I talked about my disability and its relation to my art practice, the more I realized how fundamentally ablest some of my preconceptions were and how inaccessible the art world can be for people with disabilities. 

The uncomfortable reality is that if you live long enough you, too, will likely end up with a disability of some sort. We need way-finders to illuminate the path forward if and when you may find yourself there. Artists with disabilities are artists, full stop. With narratives and artistic practices just as valid and deserving of the same recognition and opportunities as non-disabled practitioners.

This past May at the Slip Gallery I was fortunate to curate Fortitude: Working Artists with Disabilities, which showcased an incredible group of artists and fostered community engagement around the intersection of disability and the arts. 

We were also able to play with the way the work was presented. Asking questions such as: Can people in wheelchairs have the same experience as people standing? What about people with low vision or no vision? Can you implement light and sound modifications for neurodivergent people? What about ASL interpretation for artist talks?  

Presently in Seattle, I’m glad to have learned through my experience with Fortitude that there are in fact people and institutions doing tremendous work locally to make the arts more accessible, but there is still a long way to go.

Ian Shearer

Do you work from photographic references? How do you choose a moment to document?

I take a lot of photographs. My service dog Joaquin and I roam the streets at night and I take pictures of anything that catches my eye or heart. I then go through them and pull out anything that makes me feel a certain way. Maybe the way the light falls against a building, or an interaction between two people, or something I was thinking about that day when I first took the picture. Following that feeling I add elements from other photos, memory, and imagination until I see the story I need to tell, to paint.

What music do you put on to get into the zone?

Oh, I am totally a method painter. I create playlists specific to individual paintings and then listen on repeat until the work is done. Super emo, musicals, pop, it really depends on the piece. But I’m kind of a little goth boy at heart. I often say I want my paintings to look like a Cure song.

Ian Shearer

What are your goals for 2023?

2023 is a busy year. I was honored to receive a Hope Corps grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture for 2023, which is how I was able to curate the Fortitude show. The show was a dream in 2022, so it has been so amazing to see it come to fruition!

As part of the grant, I am taking the year to create a series of work exploring access, inclusion, and isolation. As a cis white man, I have access and privilege in the world that is not available to all. Being gay changes some of that while being disabled adds to the marginalization. Access has many different layers and my work seeks to confront and challenge the status quo and interrogate the many-layered meanings of how accessibility is perceived and understood beyond the physical realm. The series will be shown this December at Slide Gallery in Belltown.

Ian has work hanging in the group show Pride at Slide (open June 22 and June 30 from 2-6 pm at Slide Belltown), and a collection at Berkano Gallery at the Labor Temple through June 30.

Find more of Ian’s work at www.ianshearerstudio.com and follow him on Instagram at @ianshearerartist.

Photography has an impulse for preservation, of cloistering the fleeting and saving it for future recollection. Artist Juliet Schrekinger references this act of protection in her ink-and-graphite works that evoke the grainy qualities of black-and-white film through a distinctly surreal vision.

Throughout her childhood, Schrekinger witnessed her mother taking countless photos of family events and happenings that were then displayed. “I continually saw the greatest moments I shared with my loved ones framed in our home, colorless time capsules that I would turn to for years to come,” the artist says. “I began to feel a deep desire to recreate these sorts of time capsules in my work but wanted to incorporate scenes that did not occur in this world.”

Mimicking the lighting and tonal contrasts of her mother’s images, Schrekinger’s renderings fuse the anatomically accurate with the otherworldly. While many of her scenes are unearthly—a pangolin wraps its long, scaly tail around the torso of a fox, sea birds perch upon a squid’s sinuous arms, and a band of hares appears to float through the sky—the animals are depicted in exacting detail, and the likeness of their fur, feathers, and tentacles is the result of extensive research. “I have traveled up and down both the east and west coast of the U.S., taking my own reference photos of birds, aquatic life, ocean environments, trees, and so much more that all ends up being used as a starting point in my work,” she tells Colossal, noting that when it’s impossible to use her own images, she collates five to ten photos to create a specific form.

 

Most of the animals featured in Schrekinger’s work are endangered or vulnerable, and she’s concerned with environmental destruction, loss of habitat, and the threat many species face as the world warms and the climate changes. Pangolins, for example, are thought to be the most-trafficked non-human mammal, while the North Atlantic Right Whale is one of the most endangered species, with fewer than 350 left worldwide. “Above all else, I feel the most important aspect of what I do is raising awareness for endangered and vulnerable species,” she says. “I feel it is my duty to use my art to promote a consciousness in our society of the serious problems facing those who have no voice.” In recent years, she’s collaborated with numerous conservation organizations like the Pangeaseed and Surfrider foundations, to create works advocating for greater protection.

Schrekinger, whose studio is in Amityville, New York, is involved in several group exhibitions in the coming months, including Existential on view through May 21 at Antler Gallery in Portland and upcoming shows with Modern Eden Gallery, Stranger Factory Gallery, and Nucleus Portland. She’s also preparing for a solo exhibition opening in October at Arch Enemy Arts. You can find originals and prints on her site, and follow her latest works on Instagram. (via Beautiful Bizarre)

 

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 Through Otherworldly Graphite-and-Ink, Juliet Schrekinger Advocates for Protecting Endangered Species appeared first on Colossal.

In Rain Szeto’s intricately rendered fictional universe, people partake in work and pastimes surrounded by stacks of books, snacks, merchandise, and mementos. Her detailed illustrations (previously) portray the organized chaos of everyday activities in domestic spaces and in shops, cafes, and outdoor areas. Typically centered around a single character like a baker behind a counter or a figure carrying a pot of flowers, the scenes are filled with with quotidian objects, providing a lived-in feeling that brims with colorful energy.

Based in San Francisco, Szeto began working in comics during art school, which cemented her interest in narrative drawings. Specific details like the design of food packaging, an elaborate audio mixer setup, or pastries in a glass case suggest individual hobbies, jobs, and personalities distinctive enough that they could be mistaken for real places. Many of her recent pieces also feature feline friends that stride by confidently or curl up on cushions, including an orange tabby that could just as well be making the rounds to all of the inviting spaces.

Most of these works are on view through April 26 in Szeto’s solo exhibition Idle Moments Too at Giant Robot’s GR2 location in Los Angeles. Find more of her work on Instagram.

 

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 Rain Szeto Renders Imaginitive Scenarios in Intricately Detailed Ink and Watercolor Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

Influenced by what he describes as a “healthy level of cynicism,” Melbourne-based artist Nash Weerasekera taps into the subtle ironies of everyday life. His digital illustrations often center on seemingly paradoxical circumstances like a figure meditating on top of an overturned car or a young girl in a bathing suit seated on an ice floe. Largely focused on the nature of work, social interactions, and domestic responsibilities, his humorous scenes visualize endless to-do lists, running out of time, or a satirical take on a favorite phrase of optimists everywhere: every cloud has a silver lining.

Weerasekera shares that he “thinks” better on paper, so every piece begins with a physical sketch. His illustration practice stems from a background in street art in his home country of Sri Lanka that blossomed into acrylic painting when he moved to Australia. During pandemic lockdowns when it was a challenge to gather materials, he began to experiment with digital techniques and increasingly collaborates with commercial clients.

Weerasekera is currently illustrating a children’s book, and you can find more of his work on Instagram.

 

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 Clever Illustrations by Nash Weerasekera Highlight Ironies and Anxieties of Everyday Life appeared first on Colossal.

Every year in Wellington, dozens of extravagant garments explode onto the stage for three weeks as part of the World of WearableArt competition. The annual performance is New Zealand’s largest theatrical production that highlights vast creativity translated through fashion and costume from around the globe. Of the 88 works from 103 international designers in this year’s contest, many are interpretations of the natural world with dried grasses pouring from sleeves and sculptural dresses mimicking coral patterns. No matter the materials or aesthetic, all of the garments have a flair for the dramatic.

In the 32 years since the competition launched, WOW has featured more than 5,000 garments on its stages, and it’s worth a visit to the contest’s site to peruse the archive.

 

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 In the World of WearableArt, 88 Dramatic Garments Grace the Stage in a Spectacular Performance appeared first on Colossal.

One can almost feel the breeze as it swishes through grasslands and ripples streams in the swirling textures of artist Alisa Lariushkina’s bucolic landscapes. Based in Vilnius, the artist draws inspiration from earlier works or from photographs that people share with her. Composed from delicate slivers of air-dry clay, she assembles pieces that subtly shift in size and hue to reflect the sun at different times of day, meadows and flowers that sway in the wind, and the atmosphere of distant mountains. You can follow Lariushkina’s work on Instagram.

 

 

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 Slivers of Air-Dry Clay Form Breezy, Idyllic Landscapes by Alisa Lariushkina appeared first on Colossal.

The Gwangyang Steel Works in Gwangyang, South Korea is the largest facility of its kind in the world. It outputs an average of 18 million tons of steel per year, producing parts for bridges and other infrastructure, cars, refrigerators, and more. The plant even serves as a tourist attraction, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world.

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Source imagery: Maxar

Utilizing the creative algorithmic powers of the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney, student and designer Qasim Iqbal envisions elaborate Renaissance-style architecture of atypical materials. Each rendering juxtaposes the traditional marbles and stones of 17th-century architecture with softer silks and other fabrics that drape across balconies or billow from lavishly constructed elements. Tall, vaulted ceilings are cloaked in a mix of bunched textiles and small, stone caverns, and elaborately designed motifs and allegories emerge from the upper portions of structures.

Iqbal shares several iterations of the imagined Baroque buildings and the simple text prompts that generated them on Instagram. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

 

Cassandra Dias combines French knots, satin stitches, and various thread-painting techniques into impressionistic landscapes teeming with texture and organic color. Rugged mountains swell in neutral tones, the water’s surface hazily reflects the surrounding trees, and tiny pops of lavender and orange emerge through fields of green. The Camarillo, California-based artist began working with fiber in early 2020 and has since developed her distinctive style, which evokes movement and mimics the visible brushstrokes associated with painting.

For a glimpse into Dias’s process and to keep up with news about available pieces, follow her on Instagram.

 

A menagerie of beady-eyed birds and butterflies complement vibrant florals and fruity morsels in Bristol-based artist Diana Beltrán Herrera’s elaborate paper sculptures (previously). By utilizing subtle gradients to shape flower petals and making tiny cuts to detail individual feathers, the artist adds incredible dimension and density using the ubiquitous, 2-dimensional material. Ranging from shop window displays, to individual sculptures, to interior installations, she is often commissioned to make work featuring flowers or creatures specific to a location or region, and in a meticulous process of planning and sorting, she assembles different colors and sizes of paper into spritely flora and fauna.

Herrera has an exhibition planned for spring of next year at Children’s Museum Singapore, and you can find more of her work on Behance and Instagram.

 

Much of the architecture in the Western world relies on sterile materials like steel and concrete and a desire to build upward, with skyscrapers soaring high above the earth. As designs necessarily shift in response to a changing climate, there’s renewed interest in adopting more organic, sustainable approaches to construction that more directly interact with the environment—see these bricks that double as homes for bees and an exploration of Indigenous technologies as examples.

Part of finding alternatives to conventional methods is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, which is the basis of a new series by architect and computational designer Manas Bhatia. Created using the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney, the conceptual renderings of Symbiotic Architecture imagine an apartment complex embedded within towering, live redwoods. “I have always been fascinated by how small insects and creatures create their dwellings in nature,” he told designboom. “Ants, for example, create their dwellings with intricate networks in the soil. If humans could create buildings that grow and breathe like plants do, what an amazing world would that be to live in.”

To produce the drawings, Bhatia entered basic text prompts like “hollowed,” “stairs,” and “tree” into the system, which then generated the enchanting structures. Glass windows and balconies nestle into the grainy bark, with knotty, cavernous entrances at the base. Although the surreal designs are not practically feasible at the moment, they offer a way to more easily envision potential projects. “To give life to such an idea, we’ll have to wait for a long time working our way towards the goal gradually,” Bhatia says, explaining further:

Currently, I am interested in using these images to try to develop a 3D model using AI and modeling software like Rhino and Grasshopper. That is really the first step towards the journey of manifesting this project into reality. Till that time comes, AI will have drastically improved making the entire process much easier than it can be thought of at the moment.

To find more of the designer’s projects both real and imagined, visit Instagram.

 

Many days, artist and illustrator Graham Franciose sits down with watercolor, gouache, and a small sheet of cotton paper to paint a whimsical scene or surreal moment. A skateboarder carries a tree in a backpack, an anxious figure peeks through a colorful monster mask, and an oversized lion snarls at an approaching man. “I like to do these first thing in the morning when I am still not fully awake and start with a blank slate and no preconceived idea,” he tells Colossal.

Dreamlike in style and subject matter, the works are part of an ongoing series simply titled Morning Coffee Paintings. Since Franciose began the ritualistic project in 2019, he’s created about 450 pieces, which reflect a range of moods through mysterious scenarios and quiet, contemplative figures. “I put my phone on the tripod and start the timelapse camera and just start drawing.  I’ve noticed that by filming them it keeps me from second-guessing myself or spending too much time deliberating about choices like color or composition and forces me to just trust myself and my practice,” he shares.

An exercise in experimentation and releasing perfectionism, the paintings are also a visual diary of the artist’s practice and unfiltered emotional states. “Sometimes recurring themes, symbols, or concepts will come up in different ways, and they do evolve and change over time,” he says.

Franciose is currently based in Seattle where he runs Get Nice. Gallery. There are still a few of July’s original paintings available on the series’ site, and you can shop prints at Sebastian Foster, Austin Art Garage, and Bloom. If you’re in New Hampshire, you can see some of his pieces in the Enormous Tiny Art #33 at Nahcotta Gallery early next year. Otherwise, follow him on Instagram for updates on new paintings.

 

Tucked inside clear glass vessels are Ayumi Shibata’s regal architectural vistas and layered cities enveloped by trees and vines. The Japanese artist is known for her elaborately constructed paper sculptures that fill small spaces like books and jars or occupy entire rooms, all of which are alluring and immersive as they draw viewers in to the enchanting, dream-like environments. Because the artist uses solely white paper, each sculpture highlights the intricacies of her cuts, and the details are enhanced even further when illuminated. That soft light source creates depth and shadow, as well, and Shibata describes the latter as adding a spiritual dimension to her works.

The artist recently finished two large commissions, one to accompany singer Ryoko Moriyama on stage and another for the KITTE shopping mall next to Tokyo station. You can follow updates on those in addition to other pieces on Instagram.

 

A sense of confinement pervades Kylli Sparre’s most recent photographic works, which center on figures trapped in clear vessels, encircled by narrow pools, or enclosed in empty concrete rooms. These surreal, claustrophobic images depart from Sparre’s otherwise energetic shots that tend to position women and young girls in motion, whether leaping in the air or sprinting through a house trailed by a swath of white fabric. The Tallinn, Estonia-based fine art photographer (previously) tells Colossal that the recurring theme of physically constraining her subjects was unintentional and likely informed by the limitations of the last few years.

In her practice, Sparre continues to explore the possibilities of the medium through digital manipulation, collage, exposure time, and movements that reflect her background in ballet. You can find more of her conceptual photos on her site and Instagram.

 

Dasht-e Kavir is a large desert in the middle of the Iranian Plateau. Spanning roughly 30,000 square miles (77,600 square kilometers), temperatures in the “Great Salt Desert” can soar up to 122°F (50°C), causing extreme vaporization that turns marshes and mud grounds into swirling crusts of salt, as seen in this segment of the desert here.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3JZmiNg

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Source imagery: Maxar

Packed within Rain Szeto’s introspective works are untidy kitchens, cluttered market shelves, and mechanical disarray. The San Francisco-based illustrator finds magic in the mess and chaos of everyday life and imagines solitary activities like hanging laundry on the line or browsing record bins. Dreamy in color, the pieces exude a sense of calm and nostalgia for quiet moments.

Each work is replete with colorful objects stacked and assembled into tight spaces, a style Szeto developed drawing comics in art school. “These details range from technical details, such as electrical mechanisms or a lamp design, to more personal quirks, such as how someone might arrange their garden or a particular plastic stool they might use,” she tells Colossal. “I try to give them a sense of specificity that makes it feel as though these places could really exist.”

Szeto is currently working on pieces for a few upcoming group shows at Giant Robot in Los Angeles, and you can find prints and more of her detailed illustrations on her site and Instagram. (via Booooooom)

 

Ukrainian illustrator Tania Yakunova gravitates toward bold color palettes and clean lines to define her spirited characters. Set on monochromatic backdrops, her quirky scenes are tinged with whimsy and play with scale, surrounding the figures with low-hanging white stars, towering leaves, and oversized art supplies. Many of the Kyiv-based illustrator’s works involve a mix of digital and analog sketching with the final pieces rendered in paint.

In recent weeks, Yakunova has been creating a series of ceramics focused on mental health, alongside illustrations responding to the ongoing war in Ukraine. You can find more of her works on Behance and Instagram.

 

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After this, head over and watch India Arie’s Instagram story explaining her rationales very clear. And enjoy some of her music as well.

Back in the good old days, we encouraged you to consider deleting your Facebook account because of privacy breaches that left your personal information vulnerable to nefarious bad actors the world over. And we can all still agree that isn’t great. But the last new years have given us many more reasons to want to wash…

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London-based artist Barbara Franc (previously) upcycles materials that otherwise would be tossed into the recycling bin to create a quirky menagerie of metal creatures. Composed with scraps and copper wire, the lively sculptures generally are indicative of movement: owls lift a talon mid-waddle, two cats peer over their shoulders with surprised expressions, and a squirrel appears ready to scurry off.

The diversity of Franc’s creatures mimic the breadth of materials utilized. She often begins by creating a wire-netting form before attaching the found objects—which include a combination of windscreen wipers, dog leads, keys, cupboard handles, cutlery, biscuit tins, old spanners, metal clips, costume jewelry, and clock and watch pieces—that she sources from yard sales, thrift shops, builder’s dumpsters, and along the roadside as she walks. When attached to the body, logo-printed scraps form a bushy tail and chess pieces create ruffled chest feathers.

Franc notes that she creates to celebrate other species rather than out of sentimentality. “It is more about a very positive feeling of respect for the huge diversity of life on our wonderful planet and the knowledge that Life itself will always be there. Animals just symbolize that for me in an uncomplicated and direct approach as there is no human element to confuse the issue,” she says.

Purchase one of Franc’s animalistic sculptures from her shop, and follow her latest recycled pieces on Instagram.

 

Israeli artist Ronit Baranga (previously) embodies voracious appetites by merging anatomical parts, desserts, and serving ware in an evocative ceramic series titled All Things Sweet and Painful. Dextrous fingers balance a plate and manage to swipe a bit of frosting from a cupcake. Whether implanted in a fruity pie or a teacup, gaping mouths clamor for a taste of the pastries and stick their tongues out for a taste.

In a statement, Baranga explains that the surreal series is focused on luxurious foods. “The mixed emotions of need and the insatiable hunger for more – more sugar, more attention, more love. There is a constant push against the boundaries of rational consumption, craving the sugar rush, forever tempted to go overboard,” she says.

Baranga has a number of ongoing and upcoming exhibitions scheduled, including at Munich’s størpunkt through October 31 and the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel-Aviv through 2021. The sumptuous artworks shown here will be on view at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne starting mid-October, and you can browse more of Baranga’s sculptures on Instagram.

 

French artist Julien Malland, who works as Seth Globepainter (previously), is responding to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis with a new series of murals that capture the innocence of childhood. Painted throughout the thirteenth district of Paris, the public artworks feature kids in the midst of an imaginary adventure or playful activity: one rides an oversized pigeon, another blows multicolored bubbles, and a pair appears to float above the ground to embrace.

Each of the figures is sporting a metal knight’s helmet, a sign of protection for their physical wellbeing, in addition to a show of strength and resilience. In a note to Colossal, Globepainter says the headwear also refers to French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech in March in which he said, “We are at war,” as he ordered residents to stay home. The murals represent the way Parisians have accepted this new way of living and are about “how children, in particular, seem to have adapted easily to it,” the artist says. “They are protected by their helmets which weigh so heavily on them. They can only see through small openings in the metal, but they continue to play as if nothing had happened.”

To see more Globepainter’s public artworks that consider the world through the lens of childhood, follow him on Instagram.

 

Australian sculptor and installation artist Georgie Seccull creates large-scale stainless steel sculptures of animals and other creatures seemingly locked in motion. Comprised of numerous pieces cut from metal sheets, the materials lend themselves to organic forms like feathers, scales, wings, or the armaments of crustaceans. Seccull’s work scales up dramatically in her installation practice where she’s filled entire rooms and atriums with suspended pieces.

“We are born out of chaos in darkness and come into the light—my process is much the same: I begin with a thousand pieces scattered on the ground, then working almost like a jigsaw puzzle, I pick them up one by one and allow each piece to come together organically and dictate the outcome,” the artist shares in a statement.

One of Seccull’s most recent sculptures has been nominated for a Beautiful Bizarre People’s Choice art prize, and she has an upcoming solo show at the Gasworks Art Park near Melbourne. You can see more of her work on Instagram.

 

Joining a new group or activity can be refreshing. It’s one of our few opportunities as adults where there’s an opportunity to make new friends and expand our social and/or intellectual circles; it pushes us out of our comfort zone and exposes us to new people and experiences. In short, it’s great—until it isn’t.…

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Evoking a bit of time-travel, NeoMam (previously) recently animated a series of gifs that restore impressive, human-made structures around the globe to pristine condition. Although the six landmarks are now in some form of decay and have made UNESCO’s list of endangered world heritage, the short clips digitally reconstruct the sites to show what they’d look like had they not faced the ravages of time.

Included in this round of restoration are a remnant of Hatra, a large fortified city that was capital of the first Arab Kingdom, and the hundreds of islets that make up Nan Modol in Micronesia. UNESCO designated these landmarks in danger because of natural and human-generated threats like earthquakes, military conflict, and urbanization. Dig into the history behind the six restorations, which were completed in partnership with BudgetDirect and architect Jelena Popovic, in addition to other at-risk locations on UNESCO’s site.

 

Tortik Annushka’s fondant-wrapped desserts more closely resemble luxurious, edible artworks than the buttercream sheet cakes available from grocery bakeries. Based in Moscow, the confectionary designs lavish pastries that mimic a tub of ice cream, asymmetric sculptures, and famous paintings. Each pristinely shaped tier is made by hand entirely from scratch.

Founded in 2009 by a brother and sister, Torik Annushka hopes to offer more workshops and open a spot to enjoy the luxurious sweets in the future. You can follow the family business’s delightful creations on Instagram. (via swissmiss)

 

 

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Adam Hillman (previously) has taken recommendations to choose a balanced diet seriously. For each slice of Granny Smith apple, the New Jersey-based artist pairs a quartered cucumber, halved kiwi, and peeled plantain in a meticulous, color-coded arrangement.

Using produce, candy, and breakfast fare, Hillman organizes an array of perishables into patterns and geometric sequences, which he often shares on Instagram. “There’s something beautiful about working with something so transient, and the beauty of the materials is something that can only be preserved through photography long after the food within the photo has either rotted or been eaten,” he tells Colossal.

For those in need of another dose of nutrients, Hillman offers prints from Society6.

 

 

Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting. Most images found on Reddit; articles from Digg, Kottke, Facebook, Twitter, and email; videos come from everywhere. Any suggestions? Send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com

 

20 IMAGES

– Friday!
– Me trying to let go of my problems
– wtf
– I know this to be true
– Who else would watch this?
– And you know a cartel is involved
– So apparently the Singapore airport is an attraction unto itself
– Going for a walk | Invisible stairmaster
– Instant regret
– The art of nonverbal communication: The ‘let’s go for a walk’ | The ‘did you just see that s#*!?’
– There we go
– Art imitating life
– When your mom absolutely eviscerates you
– Awww, a little fraudster!
– To catch a thief
– To catch a fish
– Kinda love this
– For anyone that needed to hear this today
– This
– Until next week

 

10 ARTICLES

– Life in Space: Stories from 50 Astronauts in Their Own Words
– The Typo Printed on 480 Million $50 Notes
– Should Zoos Exist?
– How Graffiti Became Gentrified
– From Two Bulls, 9 Million Dairy Cows
– Five Massive Screw-ups That Wouldn’t Have Happened If We All Just Used the Metric System
– What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane
– So, Gutenberg Didn’t Actually Invent the Printing Press
– 20 of the Most Prolific Music Producers
– Your Work Peak is Earlier Than You Think (thanks for sharing Norbert B!)

 

5 VIDEOS

 

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A post shared by Bleacher Report (@bleacherreport) on Jun 21, 2019 at 6:22am PDT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish artist Uğur Gallenkuş uses split images to emphasize the grave differences between war-torn countries and privileged, peaceful societies. Gallenkuş often specifically references Western visual culture in his juxtaposed images, such as Christian iconography of the Madonna and child, and the Instagram aesthetic of the ice cream cone portrait. In each composite image, the Istanbul-based artist pairs a carefully matched slice of prosperity with jarring documentation of conflict and poverty to show what occupies the attention and defines the experiences of people around the world, depending on where they live.

Gallenkuş has been creating these divided images for several years as a personal project, and has garnered global attention for his work, which he shares with nearly half a million followers on Instagram. In a recent interview with Juxtapoz, the artist explained,  “If we want to live in peace and trust, we must have healthy knowledge and empathy. Wrong and biased information and hatred make these problems even worse.”