Art

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Art Photography

Loose Threads Dangle from Bizarrely Expressive Portraits Sewn by Yoon Ji Seon

“Rag face #21004” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 112 x 73 centimeters. All images © Yoon Ji Seon, courtesy of CRAIC AM, shared with permission

The cheeky, uncanny works that comprise Yoon Ji Seon’s ongoing Rag Face series bring the knotted, twisting, and generally convoluted entanglements of a subject’s psyche to the forefront. Her photographic portraits are printed on roughly cut pieces of canvases and then overlaid with rows of tight stitches and loose strings that drip from an eye or loop across a face. Adding color and depth, the threads “can be seen or felt like internal conflicts, external stimuli, umbilical cord, blood vessels, sagging skin, hair, or time as a point of each viewer,” the artist says.

Zany and outlandish in expression, the portraits are a playful mix of confusion and jest that Yoon derives from traditional Korean comedies, called madangnori. Those performances consider “the suffering and reality of the people through humor and satire while arousing the excitement of onlookers,” she says, explaining further:

I think what I’m doing these days is to make (an) ‘image’ of these comedies. What I want to pursue through my work is ‘humor’ in the end, but this humor does not bloom in happiness. During intense, painful, and chaotic lives, humor can be like a comma, to relax and recharge.

Because the sewn works are unique on either side, they produce mirrored images that are a distorted version of their counterpart, bolstering the strange, surreal affect of each piece.

The Rag Face series now spans decades of the Daejeon City, South Korea-based artist’s practice, and you can browse dozens of those pieces on her site. (via Lustik)

“Rag face #16020” (2016), sewing on fabric and photography, 141 x 97 centimeters

“Rag face #21003” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 94 x 68 centimeters

“Rag face #21004” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 112 x 73 centimeters

“Rag face #16015” (2016), sewing on fabric and photography, 47 x 26 centimeters

“Rag face #17010” (2017), sewing on fabric and photography, 128 x 97 centimeters

“Rag face #19003” (2019), sewing on fabric and photography, 146 x 119 centimeters

“Rag face #21002” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 170 x 118 centimeters

“Rag face #17010” (2017), sewing on fabric and photography, 128 x 97 centimeters

Art

From Intricate Stencils to Vibrant Flowers, Nine New Murals Transform Blank Facades in Tbilisi

MonkeyBird. All images courtesy of Tbilisi Mural Fest, shared with permission

Since Tbilisi Mural Fest began in 2019, the streets of Georgia’s capital have seen the towering, large-scale works of artists like Collin van der Sluijs (previously), Case Maclaim, and Faith XLVII (previously), whose celestial, intersecting circles are a highlight of this year’s event. The 2021 festival features nine pieces in total that range in aesthetic and subject matter, including a mythological, black-and-white stencil by MonkeyBird (previously), bold botanicals by Thiago Mazza (previously), and a striking trompe-l’œil papercut by 1010. Each monumental work addresses an environmental, social, or other relevant issue affecting today’s world, and you can find 2021’s lineup below. (via Street Art News)

Thiago Mazza

1010

Faith XLVII

JDL

Left: Kade90. Right: David Samkharadze

APHENOAH

Art Photography

Infrared Light Enhances Versailles, Provence, and the Beaches of Normandy with Dreamy Shades of Pink

All images © Paolo Pettigiani, shared with permission

Previously having captured the Dolomites and New York City’s Central Park in a candy-colored glow, photographer Paolo Pettigiani now adds urban and rural France to his ongoing collection of infrared images. The magical series documents the rolling lavender fields of Provence in watermelon hues and Versailles’s landscaped terraces or the Gothic abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel in bright, saturated tones. Pettigiani shoots each location with a full-spectrum camera that unveils otherwise invisible wavelengths and enhances the trees, grasses, and stone surfaces that reflect infrared light with varying shades of pink.

See more from the France Infraland series on Pettigiani’s Behance and Instagram, and shop prints of the surreal landscapes on Lumas.

Art Craft

Abstract, Textured Patterns Woven With Natural Fibers Compose Massive Wall Hangings by Tammy Kanat

All images © Tammy Kanat, shared with permission

A decade into her weaving practice, Australian artist Tammy Kanat (previously) continues to explore the possibilities of fiber, texture, and knots. Her giant wall hangings rely on patches of tufted wool, concentric circles in linen, and fringed, silk motifs suspended in lopsided brass rings to evoke organic forms and naturally occurring patterns.

Focusing on energy and movement, each abstract piece contrasts high piles and flatweaves comprised of thousands of knots that Kanat composes without a preconceived plan. “I often think of my weavings as a novel, as I work on a piece it is one chapter at a time until I finish it. Not knowing what the end will be keeps me driven and engaged. I have been creating more intricate woven shapes, inspired by my surroundings in nature,” the artist says. “I have become more engaged and curious about the slow detailed process of weaving, experimenting with one knot at a time.”

In her most recent body of work A Woven Metaphor, Kanat utilizes more angled frames with vibrant gradients radiating outward. The wall hangings are “about the shapes and colors gently pulling you into the piece. A dark center which evolves gradually to a lightness on the outside providing relief,” she shares. “The works are a juxtaposition of complexity and simplicity.”

Kanat shares glimpses into her weaving and shaping techniques on Instagram, and you can explore an archive of her pieces, and find her celebratory 10-year project, on her site.

Art Illustration

Miniature Watercolor Works by Ruby Silvious Are Painted on Stained Teabags

All images © Ruby Silvious, shared with permission

Ruby Silvious’s quaint seaside scenes and bucolic landscapes nestle between the torn edges and wrinkled folds of a used teabag. The Coxsackie, New York-based artist (previously) paints miniature scenes of everyday life on the stained paper pouches, leaving the string and tags intact as a reminder of the repurposed material’s origin. Silvious sells prints of her watercolor pieces on her site, and you can follow her latest projects and news about upcoming exhibitions—she will be showing her upcycled works in France and Japan in 2022—on Instagram.

Art

In States of Ruin, Architectural Sculptures by Peter Callesen Spring from a Single Sheet of Paper

Detail of “Human Ruin.” All images © Peter Callesen, shared with permission

Towering over cut-out voids are artist Peter Callesen’s sculptures of existing architectural ruins and stately edifices. Constructed with a single sheet of white paper, the miniature buildings appear to surface from their original flat piece into three-dimensional forms complete with crumbling facades and tipped columns. Each work juxtaposes the soft, fragile material with the sturdy subject matter and “is a reminder of what once was present and that even material like stone can change and break,” the artist says, explaining further:

Almost as creation in reverse, the ruin as a motif for my works deals with the themes of rise and fall, through typical gothic architecture inspired by romantic painters. The ruins are rising from their intact and undamaged silhouettes. The work ‘17.8 Tall Tower of Babel’ is also linked to brokenness and failure, because of the Tower of Babel myth.

Callesen, who is based in Mors, Denmark, is showing some of these smaller sculptures at Vestjyllands Udstillingen through January,  and you can explore more of his intricate miniatures and sprawling installations on Instagram.

“Human Ruin”

“17.8 Tall Tower of Babel'”

“On The Other Side”

“Little Erected Ruin”

“Little Ice Castle”

“Erected Ruin”