Tag: Art

More than 100 years after it was first exhibited, art historians still debate whether Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” submitted to the 1917 Armory Show in New York, was a wry joke or sly commentary on modern art—or both. That’s because the sculpture, a urinal the artist signed “R. Mutt,” was just a standard piece of plumbing. But Duchamp is also known to have coined the term “readymade,” in which he displayed objects like bicycle wheels or snow shovels as artworks unto themselves, posing the fundamental question that still thrills theorists: “But is it art?” If Duchamp were around today to know what an emoji was, he’d probably love comic artist ND Stevenson

Fidencio Fifield-Perez’s Dacaments series began as a response to the bureaucracy of the U.S. immigration system. The Oaxaca-born artist immigrated with his family as a child, making him eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). To qualify and retain his status, he needed to collect official documents, the envelopes from which became the substrate for his paintings. When the Trump administration terminated the policy in 2017, people like Fifield-Perez were thrown into limbo before the Supreme Court reinstated it in 2020. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a

When visiting his hometown of Runik, Kosovo, back in 2010, Petrit Halilaj realized that his elementary school was being demolished. He went to the site—which had miraculously survived the Yugoslav wars that spurred his family to flee to an Albanian refugee camp in 1998—and found a pile of desks, many with doodles and notes scratched into their surfaces. These etchings have now found their way to New York, where they’re perched atop The Met’s rooftop garden for Abetare, which translates to primer, as in the early education books used for learning basic literacy. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member

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.   $3,500 Artist Grants | The Hopper PrizeFeatured The Hopper Prize is accepting entries for Spring 2024 artist grants. The program offers two awards of $3,500 and four of $1,000. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The arti

Focused on the part of the sky where you can spot the constellation Orion (“The Hunter”) on clear nights, the James Webb Space Telescope’s latest dispatch blinks in astonishing images from an area known as the Orion B molecular cloud. At 1,300 light-years away—more than 7.8 quadrillion miles from Earth—the cloud is the closest star-forming region to our solar system. And rising from the turbulent field of gas and dust is Barnard 33, commonly known as the Horsehead Nebula. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article The James Webb

“You know how when you smell a fragrance that brings you to a specific time—like if you wore a certain scent for a year in college or if your grandmother always smelled like Channel No. 5—each time you smell that fragrance it brings you right back,” says Suzanne Saroff. “The process of chewing the gum for this series did that in a jarring way.” Saroff is referring to a new body of work highlighting tiny bubblegum sculptures on the brink of deflating or popping. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Suzanne SaroffR

Whether deep in slumber or perched on ornamental pedestals, Willy Verginer’s bold, whimsical sculptures (previously) invite us into a surreal dream world. His latest series, The Lost Garden, draws on the paradisiacal notion of Eden and the alpine landscape and animals of the Dolomite Mountains near the artist’s home in northern Italy. Verginer uses linden, or basswood, to chisel life-size sculptures of birds, bears, and human figures who merge with their natural surroundings. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article

In the mid-20th century, a bold, angular architectural style emerged as a celebration of post-war renewal, innovation, and symbolic strength. Brutalism, known for its bare, monochrome, industrial materials like concrete, brick, and steel, became a way for centers of influence like municipal hubs, government buildings, and cultural institutions to convey magnificent resilience and contemporaneity. Religious architecture was no exception. There is hardly a more symbolic building than a church or cathedral, from the pilgrimage-like progression down the nave toward the altar to the lofty height and sweeping arches that draw the eye upward as a metaphorical connection to Heaven. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a

When a massive star dies, it collapses with an enormous explosion that produces a supernova. In some cases, the remains become a black hole, the enigmatic phenomenon that traps everything it comes into contact with—even light itself. The life cycle of stars informs the most recent works by artist Lauren Fensterstock, who applies the principles of such stellar transformations to human interaction and connection. From her studio in Portland, Maine, she creates dense mosaics of fragmented crystals and stones including quartz, obsidian, and tourmaline that glimmer when hit by light and form shadowy areas of intrigue when not. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independ

For the last two years, Yuko Nishikawa (previously) has prioritized traveling. Chasing the unbridled inspiration that new environments bring to her practice, the Brooklyn-based artist has found herself in Japan, participating in residency programs and appreciating time on her own. Using local materials, crossing paths with people, and immersing herself in different landscapes has become the starting point for much of her recent work. Nishikawa’s previous body of work incorporates more bulbous vessels, whereas the artist’s newest solo exhibition, Mossy Mossy, returns to the classic paper pod mobiles she’s known for and evokes a physical reflection of her musings from Hokuto-shi. More Do stories and artis