Art

Section

Art

Antenna Telescopes on the Streets of Birmingham, UK

I love this piece seen on the streets of Digbeth, Birmingham, UK photographed by Davyd Samuels and Adrian Taylor. Anyone know the artist? (via street art utopia)

Art

New Mixed Media Assemblages by Kris Kuksi

De-Evolution

Artist Kris Kuksi is perhaps one of the most frequently submitted artists appearing in Colossal’s in box each month, so it’s with great honor that I finally share his work on this blog for the first time. Kuksi is famous for his Baroque-influenced assemblages that seem to splinter out like sculptural fractals, each component fused to another object or detail even smaller and intricate. Via his artist statement:

Kris Kuksi garners recognition and acclaim for the intricate sculptures that result from his unique and meticulous technique. A process that requires countless hours to assemble, collect, manipulate, cut, and re-shape thousands of individual parts, finally uniting them into an orchestral-like seamless cohesion that defines the historical rise and fall of civilization and envisions the possible future(s) of humanity.

Kuksi currently has work at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York and Mark Moore Gallery in LA, both through the 25th of August, 2012 and you’ll also have pieces at Pulse during Art Basel week in Miami this December. All images courtesy the artist.

De-Evolution (detail)

Reticent Affair

Reticent Affair (detail)

Hercules vs. Diana

Capricorn Rising

Reign of Caesar

Reign of Caesar (detail)

Exoneration

Exoneration (detail)

Art

Mirrored Geometric Animals by Arran Gregory

London-based sculptor and illustrator Arran Gregory recently opened a solo show entitled ‘WOLF’ at Print House Gallery in London. The exhibition which runs through September 6th, includes both illustrations and a pair of gorgeous faux-taxidermy animals including a wolf and rhinoceros head sculpted from mirrors. You can see much more on his Tumblr and a number of prints are available in his shop. Photos above by Ravi Sidhu and Tida Finch. (via fancy)

Art

Famous Paintings Recreated Using Wood Wrapped in Colorful Newsprint

Korean artist Lee Kyu-Hak creates beautiful mixed-media paintings (mosaics?) by wrapping small wooden wedges with colored newsprint that mimic the brushstrokes of famous artists. Lee’s artworks appear mostly to be reinterpretations of pieces by Vincent van Gogh, but I think I see a few original compositions as well. See much more over at Yesong gallery.

Art

Artist Beili Liu Embroiders Underneath Hundreds of Suspended Scissors

Photo by Rino Pizzi

Photo by Blue

Photo by Rino Pizzi

Photo by Christy Cochran

Photo by Art Night Austin

Photo by Art Night Austin

The Mending Project was a 2011 installation and performance art piece by Austin-based artist Beili Liu. The work involved an ongoing process wherein visitors were invited to cut pieces of fabric from a giant cloth upon entering the space, the fragments of which Liu then stitched back together creating a giant patchwork that gradually encircled the artist. The concept seems harmless enough if it weren’t for the ominous array of downward-facing scissors suspended above her workspace.

The installation consists of hundreds of Chinese scissors suspended from the ceiling, pointing downwards. The hovering, massive cloud of scissors alludes to distant fear, looming violence and worrisome uncertainty. The performer sits beneath the countless sharp blades of the scissors, and performs an on-going simple task of mending. […] As each visitor enters the space, one is asked to cut off a piece of the white cloth hung near the entrance, and offer the cut section to the performer. She then continuously sews the cut pieces onto the previous ones. The mended fabric grows in size throughout the duration of the performance, and takes over the vast area of the floor beneath the scissors.

The Mending Project was part of Art Night Austin 2011 and was on display at Women & Their Work Gallery

Art

Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto

Japanese artist Yamamoto Motoi was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1966 and worked in a dockyard until he was 22 when he decided to focus on art full-time. Six years later in 1994 his younger sister died from complications due to brain cancer and Yamamoto immediately began to memorialize her in his labyrinthine installations of poured salt. The patterns formed from the salt are actually quite literal in that Yamamoto first created a three-dimensional brain as an exploration of his sister’s condition and subsequently wondered what would happen if the patterns and channels of the brain were then flattened. Although he creates basic guidelines and conditions for each piece, the works are almost entirely improvised with mistakes and imperfections often left intact during hundreds of hours of meticulous pouring. After each piece has been on view for several weeks the public is invited to communally destroy each work and help package the salt into bags and jars, after which it is thrown back into the ocean, a process you can watch in the video above by John Reynolds & Lee Donaldson.

Yamamoto recently finished a new installation at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, South Carolina and will soon be in Los Angeles at the Laband Art Gallery where he’ll begin work on a new piece. You can stop by the gallery August 29, 30, 31 and September 4, 5, 6, 2012 from 12-4pm to see the work in progress which will finally open in its completed state on September 8th. You can follow along via his blog. (via fastco)