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Art

Dramatic Pastel Drawings of Shifting Glacial Landscapes by Zaria Forman

Pastel artist Zaria Forman’s subject of choice is the glacier. The natural phenomenon that occurs around the globe is a critical element of cold-weather ecosystems, as well as a barometer of global climate health. The Brooklyn-based artist travels worldwide, often accompanying scientific expeditions, to experience and document glaciers firsthand, taking thousands of reference photographs to inform her enormous pastel drawings.

In translating her real-world travels on to paper, Forman shares that she draws from memory as well as from her reference photographs. “Occasionally I will re-shape the ice a little, or simplify a busy background to create a balanced composition, but 90% of the time I am depicting the exact scene that I witnessed, because I want to stay true to the landscape that existed at that point in time.”

Forman shares with Colossal that her passion for remote landscapes was sparked in childhood, when she traveled the world with her family—including her fine art photographer mother. As an adult she has channeled this fascination with our planet’s vast and varied landscapes into her art practice.

Climate change is arguably the largest crisis we face as a global society. I feel a responsibility as an artist to address this in my work, especially since I’ve had the rare opportunity to travel to remote places at the forefront of the crisis. Psychology tells us that humans take action and make decisions based on emotion above all else. Studies have shown that art impacts our emotions. I convey the beauty as opposed to the devastation of threatened places in my work. If people can experience the sublimity of these landscapes, perhaps they will be inspired to protect and preserve them.

Many of the works shown here feature Greenland’s glaciers. Last winter, Forman also re-visited Antactica and Patagonia’s southern ice fields, and she has just started working on a series around Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. “Impressively, Perito Moreno glacier is the third largest reserve of fresh water on the planet, surpassed only by the Antarctic and Greenland Ice sheets,” Forman explains to Colossal. “It also happens to be the only glacier in the southern ice fields that is not retreating. But it’s not advancing, either. I am excited to dive into its details and textures in these new compositions.”

Next summer, Forman’s solo show will be on view at Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle. The artist is also curating an exhibition for the National Geographic Endurance, a polar expedition ship, which will be installed in February, 2020. Follow along with Forman’s work and travels on Instagram.

Art Illustration

Drawings by WanJin Gim Capture the Nuanced Energy of Seemingly Simple Gestures

WanJin Gim (previously) continues to amaze with his detailed drawings that show the nuanced colors and textures of bare skin. Most often working on kraft paper, Gim uses cross hatching—a technique most commonly associated with ink drawings or prints—with an array of colors to capture hands, arms, feet, and the occasional cat. Though simple in subject, Gim’s drawings pulsate with the gestural energy that informs the postures of each carefully rendered limb. You can see more of the Seoul-based artist’s work on Instagram, and find prints of his drawings on Gim’s online store.

Art

Monumental Pastel Drawings of Endangered Icebergs by Zaria Forman

Zaria Forman (previously here and here) creates incredibly realistic drawings of Antarctica’s icebergs, producing large pastel works that capture the sculptural beauty of the quickly shrinking forms. This past winter, the artist had the opportunity to be side-by-side with the the towering ice shelfs, observing their magnitude aboard the National Geographic Explorer during a four week art residency.

The residency gave her the opportunity to further embody the natural formations, providing a new perspective to create her large-scale drawings.

“Many of us are intellectually aware that climate change is our greatest global challenge, and yet the problem may feel abstract, the imperiled landscapes remote,” says Forman. “I hope my drawings make Antarctica’s fragility visceral to the viewer, emulating the overpowering experience of being beside a glacier.”

Forman has a solo exhibition of her work titled Antarctica opening at Winston Wächter gallery in Seattle on September 9 and running through November 4, 2017. You can watch a timelapse of Forman completing her drawing Whale Bay, Antarctica no.4  in the video below. (via Juxtapoz)

Art Documentary

Perspective: Artist Zaria Forman Shares the Inspiration behind Her Large-Scale Pastel Waves and Icebergs

As part of his ongoing Making Art series, filmmaker Jesse Brass sits down with artist Zaria Forman (previously) who discusses the inspiration and intent behind her giant pastel drawings of icebergs and ocean waves.

 

Art

Impermanent Animal Murals Drawn with Chalk and Oil Pastel by Philippe Baudelocque

French artist Philippe Baudelocque is known for his street murals of animals created with impermenant mediums like chalk or white oil pastels. Each animal is created with a mosaic of delicate line work in the form of organic and geometric patterns that merge to form each piece. Baudelocque most recently participated in the ongoing BergeStreet art event along the banks of the Seine in Paris where he drew the rhinocerous pieces above. You can see much more over on his website. (via Arrested Motion)

Illustration

The Pastel Illustrations of Tyrus Wong That Would Inspire the Movie ‘Bambi’

Painter, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer, designer and kite maker Tyrus Wong was born in China in 1910 and emigrated to the United States with his father at the age of 9. As a child his teachers noticed he possessed exceptional artistic skills which would land him a scholarship at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. By 1930 he was working in Hollywood for Warner Bros. and from 1938 to 1941 he became a “Disney inspirational sketch artist” where his lush pastel drawings of forests and deer would serve as inspiration for the movie Bambi where he served as lead artist on the film. Wong retired in 1968 and began a second career of making kites which he would fly on the Santa Monica Pier. He is now 103 years old.

Wong’s work was most recently featured in “Round the Clock: Chinese American Artists Working in Los Angeles” at the Vincent Price Art Museum in 2012. You can see more of his pastel illustrations over on Magic Forces. (via Magic Forces)

Update: It’s also been brought to my attention that the Walt Disney Family Foundation in San Francisco actually just held a retrospective exhibition for Wong called Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong. If you’re interested, the catalog for that exhibition is available here. (thnx, Kelly!)