Colossal

“The cloak is a talisman from harm, keeping one safe and secure throughout transitions,” says Chilean artist Catalina Swinburn, whose elaborate sculptures use thousands of pieces of folded paper to explore world history. Living and working between Buenos Aires and London, she is drawn to ideas around migration and displacement, turning material derived from books, documents, and maps into large-scale wall pieces and intricate, robe-like compositions. Swinburn is interested in liminality, the process of transitioning across borders or boundaries in space or time that often requires formal procedures. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a...

Inspired by the short stories of the late Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, Mary Maka illustrates woodland creatures with fantastical characteristics as part of her Endless Forest series. The Portugal-based artist has always been interested in mythology and nature, and after reading Tutuola’s works, she decided to render spirited animals that could plausibly emerge from the pages of his books. Often hybrid in form, the beasts are based on unique fears. 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 Endless Forest:...

Though Lorna Simpson is known primarily as a photographer, she doesn’t limit herself to one particular medium, working across photography, painting, collage, and sculpture in an intuitive process she discusses in a new interview. I think in terms of making art or working, it’s not always comfortable. It’s not always assured…A lot of times, there’s maybe a lot of questions, or it can have that thing where I’m not quite sure if I’m pulling it off. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as...

Sarah Zapata is interested in the presence of textiles. Her large-scale, immersive installations are architectural, with feet-high columns looming over interiors, ladders holding stitched works on their rungs, and structural forms arranged like walls or distant skylines. Expanding the realm of textiles beyond physical touch and practical use, Zapata considers how fibers occupy space and the way traditions and notions of community continue to evolve. “What I’m always thinking about in installation, and why I find it to be so important, is the viewer is literally part of the work,” she says, noting that she tends to use space as...

Extending nearly 230 feet from end to end, the billowing panels of Janet Echelman’s newest installation capture the sun as it wafts above an intersection in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The first of the sculptor’s works (previously) to be installed over a street, “Current” is composed of 78 miles of blue and red twine tied into more than half a million knots. Alluding to currents of electricity—central to the city’s industrial heritage along the Scioto River—and the currents of the river itself, the artwork visualizes the flow of energy and nods to the area’s iconic illuminated arches, which were among the...

In the hands of Eva Jospin, humble cardboard transforms into atmospheric forests, architectural wonders, and mysterious monuments. For more than a decade, the Paris-based artist has explored the possibilities of the corrugated material, layering it to create solid pieces that can be carved to reveal detailed landscapes and interiors. In her solo exhibition Folies at Mariane Ibhrahim, an immersive, site-specific installation challenges notions of scale, while a range of drawings and three-dimensional pieces expand on the possibilities of paper with the addition of bronze and silk tapestries. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member...

Vying to be the world’s largest bathtub toy is a game that two can play. Ten years after his enormous rubber duck sailed through Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman marks the occasion with Double Ducks. The identical inflatable artworks sit side-by-side in the waterway, designed to be hitched to tugboats and escorted in all of their sunny splendor, foregrounding the famous panoramic views of the city’s skyline. 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 It...

The home of Ellsworth Kelly’s iconic modernist chapel titled “Austin,” the Blanton Museum of Art has expanded its outdoor art environment with a sculptural installation by Snøhetta. The architecture and design firm (previously) began the project in 2018 with the ambitious task of reinterpreting an area of 200,000 square feet, containing two large buildings that are part of The University of Texas at Austin’s campus. 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 A Grove of Petal-Like Sculptures by...

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 hello@colossal.art. You can also join our monthly Opportunities Newsletter.   ArtPrize Call for ArtistsFeatured ArtPrize is an open art competition that takes place for 18 days from September 14 to October 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and any artist working in any medium from anywhere in the world can participate. More Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts...