Colossal | A blog about art and visual ingenuity.

Fluorescent Mixed Media Animals by Louise McNaught

Fluorescent Mixed Media Animals by Louise McNaught mixed media illustration animals

London-based artist Louise McNaught creates mixed-media paintings of animals and insects using a wide variety of paint, pencil, ink, and backdrops that vary from traditional canvas to celestial star charts. Via her artist statement:

McNaught primarily uses a neon colour palette to depict the presence of nature in her work, where the animals are God-like, sublime and ethereal in their luminescence. Not wishing to limit herself or her subject matter, McNaught has a mixed-media approach which usually manifests in painted-drawings on traditional and sometimes unusual supports, such as celestial maps. [...] By drawing the viewers attention to the animals presence and energy, McNaught is hoping to share with the viewer the awe that the natural world inspires within her.

You can see much more of her work on her website as well as Facebook and she has original works available over on DegreeArt. (via visual news)

Light After Death: Mihoko Ogaki’s ‘Milky Way’ Figures Project Stars from Within

Light After Death: Mihoko Ogakis Milky Way Figures Project Stars from Within stars sculpture rebirth light death

In her ongoing series of figurative sculptures titled Milky Ways, artist Mihoko Ogaki explores ideas of life, death, and rebirth. The dead or dying human forms are constructed from Fibre-reinforced plastic and embedded with bright LEDs that when lit project fields of light resembling stars in the surrounding space. You can see many more installation views over on her website. (via mori yu gallery)

By Christopher on March 11, 2013 • death light rebirth sculpture stars

Japan Erects Massive Sculpture of the Last Standing Tree from a Forest Destroyed by the 2011 Tsunami

Japan Erects Massive Sculpture of the Last Standing Tree from a Forest Destroyed by the 2011 Tsunami trees monuments Japan earthquakes

As cleanup continues two years after the deadly tsunami that struck Japan, a decision was made to preserve the memory of the miracle pine tree. The towering 88-foot tall pine tree was the last standing among a forest of 70,000 trees that were completely wiped out along the coast in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. The tree survived for nearly 18 months after the tsunami but eventually died due to high levels of saline introduced into its environment, after which is was felled and giant molds were created to again form the trunk and branches as they stood when the tree was alive. The monument is set to be unveiled this week.

By Christopher on March 11, 2013 • earthquakes Japan monuments trees

Lego Watercolor Paintings by Los Carpinteros

Lego Watercolor Paintings by Los Carpinteros watercolor painting multiples Lego

Los Carpinteros is a Havana-based artist collective currently comprised of Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez (a third member, Alexandre Arrechea, left in 2003) who produce a wide range of works including sculpture, installation, and film. My favorite of their works are these lovely abstract paintings of Legos and other structural or architectural pieces. Via Sean Kelly Gallery:

Interested in the intersection between art and society, the group merges architecture, design, and sculpture in unexpected and often humorous ways. They create installations and drawings which negotiate the space between the functional and the nonfunctional. The group’s elegant and mordantly humorous sculptures, drawings, and installations draw their inspiration from the physical world—particularly that of furniture. Their carefully crafted works use humor to exploit a visual syntax that sets up contradictions among object and function  as well as practicality and uselessness. For Los Carpinteros, drawing has played an integral role as a mock technical draft or form of a blue print that suggests not only a process of artistic elaboration but also a form of architectural or carpentry plans.

You can explore over 100 of their paintings in high resolution on their website, and don’t miss this interactive 360 degree walkthrough of an exploded room at Hayward Gallery in 2008. (via faith is torment)

By Christopher on March 11, 2013 • Lego multiples painting watercolor

William Wegman’s First Animated GIF

William Wegmans First Animated GIF gifs dogs

Photographer William Wegman has created his first animated GIF. That is all. (via this isn’t happiness)

By Christopher on March 9, 2013 • dogs gifs

Black Hole: Photographs of Paint Flung by Centrifugal Force by Fabian Oefner

Black Hole: Photographs of Paint Flung by Centrifugal Force by Fabian Oefner paint high speed

Black Hole is the lastest project from Swiss photographer Fabian Oefner who is known for his photographic work with vibrantly colored paints, most notably manipulating it with sound and magnetic ferrofluid. For this latest project Oefner connected a metallic rod to an electric drill which was then covered in paint. Activating the drill then caused to paint to fling violently outward which he then captured with a precisely timed camera.

The motion of the paint happens in a blink of an eye, the images you see are taken only millisecond after the drill was turned on. To capture the moment, where the paint forms that distinctive shape, I connected a sensor to the drill, which sends an impulse to the flashes. These specialized units are capable of creating flashes as short as a 1/40000 of a second, freezing the motion of the paint.

To see a video of the entire process you can visit his page on Behance, and you can see many more high resolution photographs over on his website. If you want prints just get in touch.

Update: Now with video.

By Christopher on March 9, 2013 • high speed paint

A Hovering Magnetic Cloud and Other Kinetic Sculptures by Laurent Debraux

A Hovering Magnetic Cloud and Other Kinetic Sculptures by Laurent Debraux sculpture magnets kinetic sculpture

I’m really enjoying these kinetic sculptures by artist Laurent Debraux who works primarily with magnets, metallic objects and ferrofluid. The artist was just exhibiting at the Kinetica Art Fair in London and if you missed it head over to YouTube channel where you can catch over 30 videos of his work.