Design Food Photography

Everyday Objects Are Organized into Perfect Geometric Shapes in Kristen Meyer's Flat Lays

All images © Kristen Meyer, shared with permission

Kristen Meyer (previously) pinpoints the unique crossroads of organization and art in her meticulous flat lays. Influenced by interior decorating, prop styling, and floristry, the New Haven-based designer constructs precise geometric shapes and network-esque compositions from humble materials like eggshell shards, office supplies, candy, and disassembled bouquets. At once streamlined in material and rich in depth and texture, the dazzling works use implied outlines and negative space to construct interesting categorizations within squares and perfectly round circles.

Each work is a product of collaboration with Meyer’s husband Colin, who shoots all of the final images. You can explore an archive of her work on Instagram, and browse prints in her shop.

Art Photography

Explore Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' in Astounding Detail in an Interactive 717-Gigapixel Photo

All images courtesy of Rijksmuseum

Totaling a whopping 717 gigapixels, a new photo of Rembrandt’s 1642 painting “The Night Watch” unveils an astounding array of minuscule details and precise artistic choices behind the Dutch Golden Age masterpiece. A team at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, which is currently housing the art historical work, captured 8,439 individual images to create the gigantic composite that leaves just 0.0002 inches between each pixel, which themselves are smaller than a red blood cell.

One of Rembrandt’s most iconic works, “The Night Watch”—its formal titles include “Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq” and “The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch”—stretches 11.91 x 14.34 feet and is evidence of the artist’s famed use of light and shadow and ability to imbue movement into the cast of nearly life-size characters. Rijksmuseum’s composite now shows the cracked texture of the paint, brushstrokes, and slight pigment variations that wouldn’t be visible even if you were standing in front of the work itself. Zoom in on hard-to-see spots like the blurred fur of a reactive dog, the gleaming light that bounces off guns and the figures’ ornamental clothing, and the gray-blue tones underlying the captain’s facial features. The magnifiable image also retains evidence of the damage done by a knife gash in 1975.

In addition to this project, the team used artificial intelligence to restore pieces that had been cut off the original painting in 1715, including two shooters on the left side and part of a soldier’s helmet on the right. You also might enjoy this 10 billion pixel panorama of Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” (via New Atlas)

Opportunities

January 2022 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

Image © May Parlar

Every month, Colossal shares a selection of opportunities for artists and designers, including open calls, grants, fellowships, and residencies. If you’d like to list an opportunity here, please get in touch at [email protected]. You can also join our monthly Opportunities Newsletter.

Open Calls

Aperture Portfolio Prize
The Aperture Portfolio Prize is an annual international competition that recognizes innovative bodies of work that haven’t been featured in major publications or exhibitions. One winner will be published in Aperture magazine, receive a $3,000 prize, and have a solo show in New York.
Deadline: 10:59 p.m. on January 7, 2022.

The Other Art Fair
Applications are open for The Other Art Fair’s 2022 schedule in cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City, Chicago, Melbourne, and Sydney. Sign up for its newsletter to stay up-to-date with application deadlines.
Deadline: Varies by the city but the first are January 7, 2022.

Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards
Artists and collectives who’ve made video works (e.g. digital video art, animation, film) or videos about visual works (e.g. sculptures, photos, paintings, installations, or performances) that address the climate crisis are eligible for the Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards, which will give winners $15,000 each.
Deadline: January 20, 2022.

Booooooom’s New Photo Book Circles
Booooooom is hosting an open call for photos of the strange, beautiful, and unforgettable circles all around us. Chosen images will be compiled in the publication’s third book.
Deadline: January 21, 2022.

MediaFutures Support Programme
Artists and collectives who use data to inform their work are encouraged to apply for the MediaFutures program, which will grant up to €30,000 per awardee. Proposed projects should utilize data both critically and materially to question technology’s impact on society, including addressing misinformation and disinformation.
Deadline: 12 p.m. CET on January 27, 2022.

Prix Viviane Esders Photo Prize
The Prix Viviane Esders prize recognizes European photographers over age sixty whose careers have impacted the history of the medium. One winner receives a €60,000 award and showing in Paris.
Deadline: April 15, 2022.

Grants

NEW WORK from Prospect Art
Prospect Art awards a $500 mini-grant to visual artists twice each year as part of its NEW WORK program, which is designed to support projects that don’t fit into commercial galleries. Submissions should be representative of today’s moment.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

Robert Giard Grant for Emerging LGBTQ+ Photographers
Open to international applications, Queer|Art will award $10,000 to support the work of emerging LGBTQ+ photographers whose projects address issues of sexuality, gender, or identity. The first-runner up will receive $5,000, and funds can be used for new or ongoing work at any stage of development.
Deadline: January 17, 2022.

Sustainable Arts Foundation Grants for Artists with Children
Twenty artists and writers with children under age 18 are eligible for a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant for $5,000. Each award is unrestricted, and there’s a $20 application fee.
Deadline: 5 p.m. EST on February 25, 2022.

Creative Capital’s Wild Futures 2023/2024
During two years, Creative Capital will award 100 artists up to $50,000 each, with additional advisory services per project. 2023 is open to performing arts, technology, and literature, and 2024 is seeking visual arts and moving image/film.
Deadline: April 1, 2022, for 2023 applicants.

$500,000 Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Fund
Kickstarter, Creative Capital, and Skoll Foundation launched a $500,000 Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Fund to support projects by Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx creators. Awards are given out on an ongoing basis to creators in categories like Arts, Comics & Illustration, Design & Tech, Film, Food & Craft, Games, Music, and Publishing.
Deadline: Rolling.

Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund
Adobe’s Creative Residency Community Fund commissions visual artists to create company projects on a rolling basis. Awardees will receive between $500 and $5,000.
Deadline: Rolling.

Residencies & Fellowships

Caltech-Huntington Art + Research Residency Program
The Art + Research Residency Program provides two artists the opportunity to collaborate with the Caltech and Huntington research communities during a four-month stay. Residents will be awarded an all-inclusive stipend up to $35,000, must have an MFA or Ph.D., and their work should engage with social justice issues.
Deadline: 12 a.m. PST on January 5, 2022.

South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships
Open to visual artists in the South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), the South Arts Southern fellowship will award $5,000 to winners in each state. Each awardee will be eligible for an additional $25,000 and $10,000 prize.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST on January 10, 2022.

Right of Return USA Fellowship
The Right of Return USA Fellowship will award six formerly incarcerated artists a $20,000 grant each for a project that considers criminal justice reform. Fellows will participate in a group retreat in the spring of 2022.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST on January 14, 2022.

Sculpture Space Residency
Based in Utica, New York, Sculpture Space is offering a two-month residency slated for 2023. There’s a $35 application fee to apply.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

Artaxis Fellowship
The sixth annual Artaxis Fellowship will award two ceramicists up to $2,000 to fund a two-week summer workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Applicants can be at any stage of their careers.
Deadline: January 15, 2022.

StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program
The StudioWorks program offers a $2,000 stipend for a four-week term at the Tides Institute & Museum of Art. International emerging and established artists are encouraged to apply.
Deadline: February 1, 2022.

MacDowell Fellowship
Open across disciplines including architecture, film and video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual art, the MacDowell Fellowship awards 300 artists each year. The program is open internationally and requires a $30 application fee.
Deadline: February 10, 2022.

Curatorial Fellowship at the Center for Craft
Three fellows will be awarded up to $5,000 to develop an exhibition at the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina. They will work with program staff to produce the exhibition, develop didactic material and an exhibition catalog, and lead a curatorial talk.
Deadline: February 14, 2022.

Ceramic Artist in Residency at Clay Art Center
Held annually in September, the residency at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York, offers one emerging artist a year-long stay to develop their craft. The program includes a private studio, free firing, a $500 monthly stipend, paid teaching opportunities, and an exhibition.
Deadline: April 8, 2022.

Art Food

Dramatic Light Illuminates Crosscut Melons, Citrus, and Other Juicy Produce Rendered by Dennis Wojtkiewicz

“Citrus Series #33.” All images © Dennis Wojtkiewicz, shared with permission

Artist Dennis Wojtkiewicz (previously) finds creative nourishment in succulent slices of melons, lemons, and apples that appear to glow under studio lighting. Rendered in pastels with slightly blurred lines, his works focus on the seeds, fibrous veins cradling pockets of juice, and thick rinds visible only through clean crosscuts of the edible subject matter. Prints and originals of the luminous fruits are available on his site and from Moberg and M.A. Doran galleries. You can follow his latest pieces on Instagram.

“Rosette Series #35”

“Kiwi Series #8”

“Peach Series #10”

“Lemon Series #18”

“Melon Series #47”

“Horn Melon Series #6”

“Citrus Series #32”

“Apple Series #3”

“Melon Series #49”

“Melon Series #18”

Art

Meticulously Detailed Ceramics by Kaori Kurihara Concoct Fantastical New Fruits

All images © Kaori Kurihara, shared with permission

Japanese artist Kaori Kurihara (previously) creates otherworldly fruit-like ceramics that appear as though they have sprouted in a magical rainforest or exist in a children’s book. Kurihara’s sculptures take a creative spin on the shapes and textures found in thistles, tropical fare, and other fruits. One of her pieces, for example, resembles a purple durian with a brown seed-like head, while another is textured like pineapple and equipped with a top evoking an artichoke.

Kurihara studies the geometric repetition found in edible botanicals and reproduces their repeating patterns in similar ceramic forms, often enhancing their color. Each piece is delicately and meticulously crafted, and Kurihara first constructs the base then adds the details, sculpting patterns into the main shape using her hands and a series of tools.

The artist studied pottery at SEIKA University in Kyoto in addition to jewelry making in France, where she learned enameling techniques that she now uses when creating her sculptures. To view more of her work, visit her site and Instagram.

Photography

A Stunning Photo Documents the Colorful Comet Leonard Streaking Through the Nighttime Sky

Image © Andrew McCarthy, shared with permission

Set against a star-studded backdrop, Comet Leonard, aka the Chrismas Comet, blazed overhead on December 26, emitting a colorful stream of light that illuminated the dark skies. Andrew McCarthy (previously) documented the celestial body as it hurtled over the Arizona horizon and created this striking, magnified composite of 25 separate shots. The image, along with a wider photo shown below, captures the brilliant colors surrounding the nucleus as it flies 150,000 miles per hour through space. Comet Leonard was first spotted about 466 million miles away on January 3, 2021, and is making its closest pass to the sun exactly one year later, before it’s expelled from our solar system entirely.

McCarthy details his 12-minute process for documenting the body on PetaPixel—watch this clip to see how far the comet moved during that period—and explore his wide range of astrophotography on Instagram and his site, where he also sells prints.