Art

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Art

Ten Massive Spanish Silos Transformed to Promote Social Inclusion

Mural by Bicicleta sem Freio, all photos courtesy Antonio Rivera & Elchino Po

Ink and Movement have partnered with the Spanish disabilities rights association Laborvalía to promote the integration of people with disabilities into society and the workplace through collaborative mural-making. The cultural project, Titanes, will bring 14 street artists including Okuda San Miguel (previously), Fintan Magee (previously), and Nychos (previously) to Spanish municipalities. Massive murals will transform old silos in Calzada de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Corral de Calatrava, Herencia, La Solana, Manzanares, Malagón, Porzuna and Villanueva de los Infantes.

Each artist will work alongside members of the Laborvalía association to make the realization of the large-scale works come to life through October 2019, and situate the region of Ciudad Real as a new art destination. The initiative marks the 15th anniversary of Urban Art, the first large-format art festival in Spain, which was founded bv Ink and Movement under their previous name Pluralform. You can learn more about the Titanes project on their website and Instagram.

Mural by Okuda San Miguel

Mural by Okuda San Miguel

Mural by Hell’o

Mural by Hell’o

Mural by Demsky J + Smithe

Mural by Demsky J + Smithe

Art

Dreamlike Narratives of Solitary Figures Lost in Thought

Los Angeles-based artist Andrew Hem paints stylized scenes of solitary figures caught in moments of motion, introspection, and reverence. While integrated into their surroundings through carefully modulated color palettes, the figures’ floating poses and distant expressions suggest a dreamlike state. In an artist statement, Hem cites an early interest in graffiti as informing his current narrative style, which he creates with a combination of gouache, oil, and acrylic paint.

Hem was born during his parents’ flight from Cambodian genocide and was raised in southern California where he graduated from ArtCenter College of Design with an illustration degree. The artist has exhibited and lectured widely, and his upcoming show is at Galerie Open Space in Paris, France from June 23 to July 20, 2019. You can see more of Hem’s paintings, illustrations, and murals on Instagram.

Art Photography

Winter Is Coming: A Photographic Tribute to ‘Game of Thrones’ by Kilian Schönberger

In honor of the final season of Games of Thrones, German photographer Kilian Schönberger (previously) has translated his ethereal photography of central Europe’s icy landscapes, mystical castles, and foggy forests into a photographic tribute. Inspired by the frozen fantasy world of George R.R. Martin’s books and by the geography of his native lands, Schönberger’s alternate storyline imagines snow-covered trees as menacing White Walkers, towering mountain ranges as The Wall, and ancient stone structures as home to the highborn families of Westeros.

Schönberger tells Colossal that the photographs published in his online tribute were taken in forests along the German-Czech border, in the rocky canyon landscapes of Saxon Switzerland, Saxony, and East Germany, inside of an ice cave near Germany’s Lake Königssee, and at the foot of the Dolomites this past winter. Using his background in geography studies and his knowledge of meteorology, Schönberger says that his process as a photographer involves a lot of preparation and waiting so that he can capture the “genius loci” (the pervading spirit of a place) at just the right time.

“Since I grew up myself in a remote forest area, my childhood was shaped by the local fairytales and a lot of experiences out in nature,” he said. “And that is what’s still visible in my work today. I try to capture the scenes that inspire people to make up their own stories with my photos as a visual backdrop.” To see the images in context with Schönberger’s narrative, check out the photographer’s Behance portfolio. To see even more of his landscape photography, follow him on Instagram.

Art

Muralist Kitt Bennett Paints Pavement With Sprawling Giants

All images via Kitt Bennett

From parking lots to skate parks, Melbourne-based artist Kitt Bennett paints large illustrative murals on an unconventional surface: the ground. The almost literal “street” art is best seen from a bird’s eye view and features people, objects, and skeletons that contort around their respective spaces as if they fell from the sky.

Bennett’s murals are painted much like the walls of a house. The artist uses large buckets of paint and rollers to cover the large areas and adds shading, highlights, and outlines to create the illusion of depth. A statement on his website explains that Bennett’s work is “often conceptually driven as exploring topics of individuality, existence and the mysterious phenomena that surrounds us inspires him to create art.” To see more of his ground paintings and other works on more traditional surfaces, follow Kitt Bennett on Instagram.

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A post shared by KITT (@kitt_bennett) on Jan 6, 2019 at 12:46am PST

Art Photography

Curiosity and Isolation Take Center Stage in Karen Jerzyk’s Lonely Astronaut Series

Photographer Karen Jerzyk explores themes of loneliness and isolation through her ongoing series, The Lonely Astronaut. Sparked by her purchase of an authentic vintage high-altitude space suit in 2017, Jerzyk has been traveling the world taking photos of women in the suit. Each subject is alone, placed in a deserted yet evocative environment, from an abandoned theater to an old-fashioned bedroom. In some scenes, the astronaut engages with their surroundings—reading a book or talking on the phone—where in others, the character stands apart from the world they inhabit.

Although many of the scenes have a fantastical tone, the photographer clarifies that she uses only practical effects to create the images. In staging the floating astronaut with butterflies, “I had the model on her stomach on a stool and had real taxidermy butterflies on wire and composited a bunch of shots so I could multiply them,” Jerzyk explains.

Jerzyk shares with Colossal that the astronaut series taps into her own affinity for exploration and her social anxiety. “I think at one time or another, we can all relate with The Lonely Astronaut—things in life can get bad, but there’s still no denying the beauty and wonder of the world, and we need to push on and keep exploring.”

The Boston and New York-based photographer will be capturing subjects in a pop-up scene at PS Kaufman Gallery in Los Angeles on May 16-17, as well as vending at the Oddities Flea Market on May 18-19, 2019. Jerzyk will also be at the Chicago Oddities Flea Market on August 24-25, 2019. You can explore more of Jerzyk’s unusual worlds on Instagram and Behance, and find prints of her photographs on her website. (via designboom)

Art Design

Interactive Beams of Light Examine Movements of the Human Body During Milan Design Week

All images by David Zanardi

Ergonomic design company Humanscale analyzes the structure of the human body to create health-conscious furniture that eases tension during long office hours. For this year’s Milan Design Week the company invited collaborator Todd Bracher to design an interactive installation that would speak to how our bodies operate in space. The piece, appropriately titled Bodies in Motion, mirrors the movements of its guests with 15 spotlights that swirl in tandem with users’ limbs.

The work is a reinterpretation of the original scientific method of motion perception developed by Swedish psychophysicist Gunnar Johansson in 1973. Johansson observed movements by placing lights on different points of actors’ bodies and then recording their movements in the dark so he could interpret their actions without distraction. Bodies in Motion uses a more complex system developed by Studio TheGreenEyl to bring the experiment into the 21st-century. The collaborative installation is open from 10 AM – 6 PM daily through April 14, 2019 at Salon del Mobile. (via dezeen)

Art Illustration

Solitary Worlds Explored in New Psychological Drawings by Stefan Zsaitsits

“Tablecloth”

Solitary protagonists investigate, embrace, or hide from emotions in evocative new drawings by Stefan Zsaitsits. The Austrian artist (previously) depicts individuals in situations that balance relatable everyday moments with surreal twists. Sitting at a dining table, one subject snorkels into the tablecloth, while another inexplicably emerges on a ladder from the seat of a chair. Zsaitsits works in pencil on paper, using crosshatching for shading and white-penciled details for subtle emphasis.

The artist shares with Colossal that, following his participation in Drawing Now in Paris, his work in currently on view in a group exhibition in Munich, Germany at Størpunkt gallery. An upcoming solo show at Vienna’s Gallery Gans opens in May. Explore more of Zsaitsits’s drawings on Behance and take them home with his latest book, House Drawings.

“Chair and Ladder”

“House with Cloud”

“Hear”

“Penumbra”

“House of the Big Door”

“Snow”

“Gina”

“White Socks”