assemblage

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Art

A Tyrannical Tabby Rules an Opulent Assemblage of Densely Layered Scenes by Artist Kris Kuksi

A bejeweled tabby presides over Kris Kuksi’s sprawling new landscape teeming with retro figures, ornate baubles, and mass-produced trinkets all blanketed with a thick coat of metallic paint. The Lawrence, Kansas-based artist (previously) melds found objects into complex, frieze-style assemblages that are infused with themes of “historical narratives, biblical subjects, animal worship, architecture, symbolic views on commerce and development, as well as human psychology and behavior.”

Titled “Tabby Tyrant,” the fantastical work is replete with juxtapositions: the individual and the collective, peace and war, industrial and classical architecture, and historic and modern. Minuscule soldiers wrangle a winged figure, a mouse swallows a human whole, and a team of warriors is outfitted with anachronistic weapons, although every action is in service of the feline ruler. Depicting disquieting and eerie actions, each scene is presented through opulent, gilded tableaus.

For more of Kuksi’s densely layered artworks, pick up a copy of his book Conquest and follow him on Instagram.

 

Photography

Crates Stacked in Beverage Yard Form Color-Coded Rows in Aerial Photographs by Bernhard Lang

Munich-based photographer Bernhard Lang (previously) is known for his aerial shots that capture the inexact repetition and geometry of everyday life. His latest project, “Crate Stacks,” focuses in on a German beverage production yard, a facet of an industry that employs about 60,000 people in more than 500 companies in the country. Captured in November 2019 while Lang was flying in a small plane over the area, the series shows thousands of crates sorted by color and assembled in long lines. Tiny squares and circles comprise the lengthy rectangular rows, highlighting the height differences of each stack. The artist says the shots remind him of “the computer game Tetris or graphic bar diagrams.” More of Lang’s prized work can be found on his Instagram and Behance, and some pieces are available by request on his site.

 

Art Craft History

Discarded Ceramic Shards Are Celebrated in Multi-Part Assemblages by Conservator and Artist Bouke de Vries

Bouke de Vries works with ceramic assemblage to reinterpret historical pottery in multi-part sculptures. The Dutch artist studied at the prestigious Central St. Martin’s in London and worked in high fashion before pivoting to ceramics conservation and restoration in the early 1990’s, which he learned at West Dean College. Confronting the moral dilemmas around valuation of imperfect artifacts in his vocational practice, de Vries challenges the value of imperfection, damage, and cultural history in his exploded artworks.

Broken blue willow plates amalgamate into a map of China, a shattered turquoise vase finds a new function as the contents of a clear glass vessel, and small shards of porcelain become the thorns on a blossoming rose. In a statement on his website, the artist explains:

Instead of hiding the evidence of this most dramatic episode in the life of a ceramic object, he emphasizes their new status, instilling new virtues, new values, and moving their stories forward… Where even an almost invisible hairline crack, a tiny rim chip or a broken finger render a once-valuable object practically worthless, literally not worth the cost of restoring. There’s something incongruous about the fact that such an object, although still imbued with all the skills it took to make it – be it first-period Worcester, Kang-xi or Sevres – can so easily be consigned to the dustbin of history.

De Vries’s work has clearly struck a chord with viewers: he exhibits widely and in 2019 alone has shown work at Hillwood House in Washington, Mesher Gallery in Instanbul, The Museum of Fine Art in Montgomery, Alabama, the Kuntsi Museum in Vaasa, Finland, the Museum of Royal Worcester, and at the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale in Yingge, Taiwan. The artist is represented by galleries in The Netherlands, U.S., and U.K. Explore more of de Vries’s work and stay up-to-date on his latest exhibitions via Instagram. (via The Jealous Curator)

Art Documentary

Repurposing the World’s Plastic Waste: An Interview With Assemblage Sculptor Thomas Deininger

Every year more than eight million tons of plastic are dumped into our oceans. This anxiety, coupled with fears of a dramatic decline in insect populations and a global climate crisis, fuel the assemblage-based works of Thomas Deininger (previously). In a new short film by gnarly bay, clips of Deininger in his studio are supercut with footage showing the many ways that plastic has laid damage to our world’s sea creatures and environment. It is these bits of mindlessly discarded plastic that the Bristol, Rhode Island-based artist uses to create his sculptural optical illusions—which are often of the exact same animals and insects that the plastic threatens. You can see more of Deininger’s three-dimensional works built from found objects on Instagram.

Art

Insects Sculpted Out of Repurposed Automotive Parts by Edouard Martinet

French artist Edouard Martinet (previously) sources junk metal and automotive parts from garage sales and flea markets to create detailed sculptures of various creatures including models of ants, wasps, and other common insects. The found objects are held together with screws instead of welded joints, and the completed works measure between 30 centimeters and 2 meters long.

Martinet’s fascination with insects began when he was 8 years old. He went on to study design at l’École Supérieure des Arts Graphiques in Paris and to work as a graphic designer before starting to experiment with sculptures made of repurposed parts. Each work begins with an extensive sketching phase, followed by a look through Martinet’s large cache of collected “junk.” The sculptor rarely modifies pieces to fit a certain application, and will instead wait several months or years if necessary to find the perfect component. He turns bicycle badges into chrome fish scales, chains into antennae, and other miscellaneous scraps into anatomical facsimiles that seem manufactured specifically for his art.

An exhibition of Edouard Martinet’s work opens on June 1 at Bettina von Armin Gallery in Paris, and you can also follow the artist on Instagram for more looks at his studio process and completed sculptures.

Art

Symbiotic Assemblages by Amy Gross Combine Animals and Insects with Fictionalized Habitats

South Florida-based artist Amy Gross creates hand-embroidered and beaded fiber sculptures that contain colorful nods to the natural world. Bees dot the surface of a work formed from leaves, honeycomb, and moss, while other works contain kaleidoscopic arrays of birds, mushrooms, and other fungi. Although the sculptures reflect a natural symbiosis, their structures are fictionalized in both their color and composition. None of the elements of her pieces are found objects, but rather each handmade from craft store supplies and objects like yarn, beads, wire, and paper.

“Making objects is my way of turning thought into something solid and real, and in a way, slowing time,” Gross tells Colossal. “I never use anything in my work that was ever alive, I collaborate solely with manufactured materials. They mimic living things but will not wither or die. It’s a very human desire to slow or control disintegration, to try to have a say in a volatile, uncontrollable world of change.”

Gross is included in a group exhibition titled Small Works, Big Impact which opens on November 15, 2018 at Momentum Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina. You can see more of her nature-inspired assemblages on her website.