Essentially Invisible: Black Labor After the Siege on Capitol Hill
January 15, 2021As curators and conservators assess damage to the American cultural patrimony, BIPOC workers are left to clean up the mess. Continue reading
As curators and conservators assess damage to the American cultural patrimony, BIPOC workers are left to clean up the mess. Continue reading
This lumpy couch, the furniture version of Brutalism, has become a hit with influencers during the pandemic. Continue reading
Arguably one of the most convenient vehicles for communication, sticky notes are an essential tool in any household, office, classroom, or studio. The uses for these palm-size pads are endless: note-taking, spontaneous reminders, grocery planning, sending a message (from the friendly to the passive-aggressive). The list goes on. Plus, with colors ranging from soothing to […] Continue reading
Staining friend’s hands with dandelion heads and blowing their wispy seeds are a common childhood pastime and a simple joy that Shota Suzuki channels in his delicately constructed sculptures. The Kyoto-based artist painstakingly carves copper, brass, and silver into barbed leaves and feathery seeds to recreate the ubiquitous herbs in each state of bloom and decay.
To tarnish the textured metals and alter their colors, Suzuki uses combinations of vinegar, copper sulfate, and acetic acid to create purples and blues. More Continue reading
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, we may receive an affiliate commission. If you tend to shoot a lot of objects, it’s a good idea to invest in a lightbox. Like your own scaled-down studio, these contained spaces are designed to offer clean backdrops and lighting; […] Continue reading
Jason Anderson visualizes city skylines, swooping highway exchanges, and a range of urban landscapes through prismatic, impasto strokes of oil paint. The U.K.-based artist begins each painting with a black-and-white sketch before turning to the linen canvas and translating the lively works. In recent months, he’s incorporated more curved lines and saturated tones alongside the pastels he’s used previously, resulting in abstract scenes of horizons and city centers rendered through a mosaic of color. More Continue reading
A 1965 essay surveying the latest avant-garde sculpture, film, dance, and literature, and identifying the shared sensibility that united the important work. Continue reading
Spread flat or folded in shapeless piles, Cecil Kempernick’s bulky chain sculptures contrast the solid ceramic material with the flexibility of their shapes. The movable works are comprised of hundreds of loops that link together in sheets of earth tones and subtle gradients. Whether heaped on the floor or draped across Kempernick’s body, the hefty chain mail is at once supple and fragile.
The artist (previously), who is based on the island of Texel in the Netherlands, draws her understanding of motion from the surrounding water and environment. More Continue reading
“Family is intrinsic to my creativity,” says Ismail Zaidy about his photographic practice that’s grounded in color, emotion, and various aspects of Moroccan culture. In many of his conceptual images, Zaidy’s brother and sister serve as models positioned among swathes of pastel fabrics or balancing between taught ropes. Shot against the sandy backdrops of windswept deserts, each photograph amplifies movement and an interplay between light and shadow.
Pairing with the abstract and minimal aesthetic, Zaidy uses simple editing tools and only the camera on a Samsung Galaxy S5. More Continue reading
UPDATED (ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2020 4:17 PM) If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, we may receive an affiliate commission. A popular activity at birthday parties, tie-dyeing is an approachable craft for all ages that results in fun, wearable art. While the vibrant, psychedelic designs we […] Continue reading
With the pandemic hard upon us, what better time to settle in with a few of those art books you’ve always meant to read but never quite got to? Continue reading
The monochromatic assemblages of Amber Cowan (previously) are at once domestic narratives and homages to an abandoned industry. Delicate baubles frame a central figure or scene that the Philadelphia-based artist illustrates with scraps of pressed glass. Whether focused on a lone bridesmaid or a hen hoarding eggs, Cowan’s works explore the feminine experience through themes of “loneliness, the search for meaning, the search for love, and the following of symbolism in the mundane.”
Cowan shops at antique stores and markets for materials, although she more frequently scours scrapyards around the country for discarded bits of glass, which are known as cullets. More Continue reading
Adorable, cheery, and slightly dazed, this eccentric ensemble of miniatures is the latest from Moscow-based crafter Natasya Shuljak (previously). Made from raw fibers felted together, the expressive characters are imbued with whimsy and play. Flower petals sprout from ambiguous creatures, while other pudgy animals emit a calm and joyful air.
Because Shuljak’s style of dry felting emerged in recent years, she shares that her current preoccupation is with finding new ways to create without the help of tradition. More Continue reading
Wrapping a gallery space at the 2020 NGV Triennial is a bowed pavilion of tessellating wood. A collaboration between renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (previously) and Australian artist Geoff Nees, the large-scale installation is constructed with trees felled at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens during the millennium drought. The pointed slats interlock without the use of additional supports, a design derived from traditional Japanese joinery, and create a scaly pattern that allows light to stream through. More Continue reading
In an exquisite if not terrifying act of self-preservation, the Monkey Slug Caterpillar has evolved to disguise itself as a predator, mimicking the form and color of a Tarantula Spider on it’s back. Nature photographer David Weiller captured this particular specimen while in the Amazon Rainforest of Puyo, Ecuador. He shares:
This mesmerizing caterpillar mimics a hairy tarantula spider with its oddly long hairy arms curling out. When looking at the underside, it looks like a slug with its suction cups prolegs and its tiny legs.
Colombian illustrator Daniela Gallego takes us on a delightful journey through a world tinged with magic and brimming with plants. Her subdued color palette enhances the effect, firmly planting each of her drawings somewhere between fantasy and reality. The Barcelona-based artist creates works for children’s picture books, editorial, and corporate clients, and produces some of her own prints or calendars that you can request on Facebook. Explore more of her work on Behance. More Continue reading
Artist Nina Chanel Abney revitalizes the classic game of UNO with her distinct fragmented figures and bold blocks of color in a new collaboration with Mattel. Straying from the minimal, numbered cards, lively portraits and mirrored personas emblazon the transformed deck. Just like her larger body of work, Abney’s design is brimming with energy and captures the wildly chaotic experience of modern life.
“I wanted the cards to have personality,” Abney shares. More Continue reading
Here’s what we’re reading this morning. Continue reading
We’ll be tracking some of the best Black Friday deals on children’s art supplies, from watercolor pencils to cameras. Continue reading
It’s Black Friday weekend! We’ll be tracking some of the best deals on writing and drawing instruments, from drawing pens to markers. Continue reading