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Art
Textile Sculptures by Lauren Pruen Preserve Elegant Botanical Specimens Under Glass

All images © Lauren Pruen
Protected under tall glass cloches, Lauren Pruen’s botanical specimens sprout from root to bloom. The artist shapes thin strips of wire into tubers and stems that hold fabric florals, which she sometimes paints for variation in leaf color and added detail. Each delicate sculpture is an ode to natural life forms and the biological studies of centuries past, recreated as precious three-dimensional specimens worth preserving. Find more of Pruen’s ferns, lilies, and other works on her site and Instagram.
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Art Craft
Metal Sculptor Shota Suzuki Crafts Exquisitely Detailed Blooms That Express the Passing of Time

All images © Shota Suzuki, shared with permission
Tender stems bear lush blooms and windswept leaves gather around new growth in artist Shota Suzuki’s delicate metal sculptures. Rendered in painstaking detail, the forms are inspired by flora around his home and studio in Kyoto, such as Japanese maple trees and dandelions that have gone to seed. “Recently, I have been adding rain and wind to my work,” he tells Colossal, sharing that he’s inspired by the way nature demonstrates the passing of time. He adds silvery water droplets to ginkgo leaves, ruffles the petals of flowers, or portrays a branch of cherry blossoms as if it has blown from a tree.
An early interest in jewelry led Suzuki to study metalworking, and the exquisite detail of florals and foliage suited his ability to work on a small scale. A wide range of patinas create a life-like appearance, achieved by combining an array of chemicals that produce specific hues and textures, including traditional Japanese copper coloration methods such as niiro. “I don’t want to create works in which time stands still,” he says. “I want to express a moment in time.”
Suzuki’s work is included in Natural Mastery: Lacquer and Silver Works from Japan at Stuart Lochhead Sculpture in London from December 1 to 9. You can find more work on his website and Instagram.
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Art Craft
Delicate Spikes and Lush Petals Bloom from Avital Avital’s Voluptuous Porcelain Vessels

All images © Avital Avital, shared with permission
The diverse world of plants and flowers is a source of fascination for ceramic artist Avital Avital, who crafts delicately detailed vessels from porcelain. In her studio in Ramat Gan, Israel, the artist sculpts slender petals, fragile spikes, and orbs dabbed with confectionary-like dots. She is interested in the relationship between functionality and decoration, drawing on the rich history of clay as a medium and mingling technical skill with conceptual ideas.
Inspired by nature’s boundless variety of forms and colors, her choice of material complements her subject matter: “I am interested in balancing between the delicacy of the porcelain and its strength and to use its potential transparency by sculpting colorful petals that are skin-like when directed to a source of light.”
You can find more of Avital’s work on Instagram.
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Art
Dried Flowers Are Arranged into Passageways and Processions in Installations by Rebecca Louise Law

“The Womb” (2019), Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. All images © Rebecca Louise Law, shared with permission. Photograph by Chuck Heiney
For millennia, dried flowers have been prepared for a vast array of uses ranging from decoration and fragrance to pigments and medicine. British artist Rebecca Louise Law taps into our perennial fascination with florals for her monumental, immersive installations. Exploring our relationship with the natural environment and the way blooms and botanicals have influenced cultures throughout history, her reinterpretations of existing architecture encourage the viewer to move around the space in a new way.
In Parma, she draws inspiration from the city’s culinary and medicinal history for “Florilegum,” and in Brittany, France, she was invited to reimagine the Château de la Roche-Jagu’s grand banquet hall. For “The Womb,” visitors walked inside a room delineated by delicate strands of flowers and approached a cocoon-like form in the center, suggesting a space that is simultaneously protective, potent, and fragile. By hand-sewing stems and fronds together and wrapping them carefully in thin wire, she constructs lengthy ribbons of foliage that can be draped from a framework to create long, curtain-like expanses or colorful volumes at various heights.
You can visit “Florilegium” at Chiesa di San Tiburzio in Parma, Italy, and “Awakening” at the Honolulu Museum of Art will be on view through September 10, 2023. Explore more of Law’s work on her website and follow updates on Instagram.

“Banquet” (2019), La Roche Jagu, France. Photograph by Julien Mota

“Florilegium” (2020), Chiesa di San Tiburzio, Parma, Italy

“Florilegium”

“Banquet” (2019), La Roche Jagu, France. Photograph by Julien Mota

“Awakening” (2022), Honolulu Museum of Art

Detail of “Awakening”

Details of “Awakening”

Detail of “Awakening”

Detail of “The Womb.” Photograph by Chuck Heiney
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Art Design Photography
In Bold Self-Portraits, Fantastical Masks Camouflage Noah Harders in Flora and Fauna

“First Time, Face to Face” (2021), blue jade flower. All images © Noah Harder, courtesy of Honolulu Museum of Art, shared with permission
Native Hawaiian artist Noah Harders takes a whimsical approach to style in Moemoeā, his first institutional exhibition opening next week at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Translating to dream or fantasy, the show’s title offers a conceptual, political, and aesthetic foundation for Harders’ vast array of works that transform crustacean shells, skeletal remains, lush jade flowers, and other organic matter into sculptural wearables. The fashions are intricately constructed and mask most of the artist’s face as he captures their sprawling forms through bold self-portraiture, which he describes as fostering a connection between himself and the found objects. He explains:
When I put on these masks, I feel like I am embodying the spirit and essence of seemingly ordinary materials that can be found around us…These pieces are a way for us to step out of the harsh reality we are consumed by every day and simply have a moment to dream and feel inspired by what surrounds us on this earth.
Moemoeā runs from November 3, 2022, to July 23, 2023. Dive into Harders’ extensive archive of headdresses on his site and Instagram.

“Resilience” (2020), plumeria (frangipani)

“Lead The Way” (2022), red torch ginger (etlingera elatior)

Left: “Modern Warrior” (2022), koa leaves (Acacia koa). Right: “Two Worlds Collide” (2022), lauhala (pandanus tectorius) and crinum amabile

“The Depths” (2021), lobster shell

Left: “ Looks Can Be Deceiving,” (2022), spiny lobster shells, 22.25 x 28.25 inches. Right: “Life After Death” (2022), fish bones

“Malolo” (2022), mink protea

“Pecking Order” (2022), white king protea (protea cynaroides)
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Art
Drips of Colored Paper Accentuate the Intricate Details of Joey Bates’ Layered Bouquets

All images by Jean-Baptiste Beranger, © Joey Bates, shared with permission
In Joey Bates’ sprawling floral sculptures, what appear as dried splashes of paint are actually meticulously cut segments of colored paper. The American artist, who is currently based in Dals Långed, Sweden, layers petals, leaves, and fronds into elaborate three-dimensional bouquets brimming with textured detail. Although most works primarily utilize white or black paper, Bates infuses spots of Yves Klein blue, fiery reds and yellows, and gold to accentuate a single bloom or pocket of foliage.
Currently, the artist is finishing a series of sculptures that will be available in November from Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, in addition to a few commissions and personal projects. You can follow his work on Instagram. (via Beautiful Bizarre)
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Editor's Picks: Design
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