Las Vegas isn’t one of my favorite places (sorry, Nevada), but I’d gladly make a trip west to see Ugo Rondinone‘s Seven Magic Mountains public art piece with my own eyes. The Swiss artist’s installation sits just south of Vegas smack in the middle of the desert, each of the seven towers of locally-sourced limestone masses standing between 30 and 35 feet tall. The neon painted columns appear either lined up in a row or clustered together depending on where you’re standing. The monumental piece of land art will be on view for two years as of May 2016.
Courtney Mattison creates amazing large-scale sculptural installations, the most impressive of which is a series of three called Our Changing Seas. The first is based on interviews conducted with marine researchers, artists, and marine environmental professionals, the second depicts a 360º transition of a healthy coral reef to a bleached one and back again, and the third explores the rapid transition corals in the tropics and subtropics are making as a result of climate change.
1/Edward Hopper’s paintings are brought to life by film director Gustav Deutsch. 2/Ralph Graf documents the emptiness of abandoned houses and military bases. 3/In Pizza Hunt friends travel the world taking photos of old Pizza Huts. 4/Laura Zalenga creates dreamscapes inspired by the Brothers Grimm. 5/Lee Stewart‘s minimal tattoo style mimics brushstrokes. 6/Haruka Misawa‘s 3D printed waterscape aquariums. 7/Molekule, the molecular air purifier. 8/A wheelchair that might actually change lives. 9/Truck-A-Float, a hotel in Rockaway. 10/Vivid Sydney cloaks the city is a display of vibrant lights.
Los Angeles-based Katy Ann Gilmore is a multidisciplinary wonder – illustration, installation, painting, and sculpture are all within her wheelhouse. Her work is heavily influenced by topography and the relationship between 2D, perpendicular planes, and their distortions into 3D space.
1/Jidouhanbaiki is a photo series that explores Japan’s obsession with vending machines 2/Chihiro Ogura creates cookie masterpieces inspired by cultural Japanese motifs 3/Inks, a modernist art app disguised as a pinball puzzler 4/Rippling liquid marble mimics a flowing river in Petit Loire5/Serpentine tattoos by Mirko Sata weave black and white ink together 6/A model painted with glowing makeup lights up beautifully under UV light in Neon Dream7/Paper flowers by Haruka Misawa8/Hair stenciling in the new trend everyone will be trying 9/France has a wine theme park, La Cité du Vin10/The Beach Vault will keep your stuff from getting stolen at the beach
A mixed bag of illustration projects from Venice, California-based Allison Kunath. The thing they all have in common? An underlying theme of connectivity, each one exploring different aspects of the word, such as connection to self, connection to others, and connection to nature.
New York-based Ana Cardoso creates some truly inspiring painted installation pieces. Historical references, conceptual and structural concerns, and distribution are all key elements that go into each balanced piece.
During some time spent in Oakland, CA, Matt W Moore constructed a new body of work fusing his bold, graphic vocabulary with extruded mosaic forms. Light plays an important role in activating the series according to its angle, creating depth through shadows. More on SHADOVVS:
The exhibition is comprised of 5 chapters, each with its own concept and aesthetic. A series of greyscale cut-paper mosaics created in Montreal in Fall 2014 is displayed as evidence of the explorations that led to the layered sensibilities of the more elaborate colorful works created during this Bay Area residency. A series of 4 pure symmetry colorful compositions reminiscent of sacred geometry grids, timeless diamond cuts, and architectural monuments hangs as a family on one side of the space. Opposite this wall is a series of 12 square works that bring Moore’s signature graphic syntax into three dimensions, playing with the eye when viewed from different vantage points. One extra large modular construct composed of 5 pieces that hang synchronized is displayed void of color to allow the viewer to explore the subtle nuances of light and shadow without the distraction of color… On the back two walls… Moore has constructed a large mosaic dimensional mural comprised of the same forms used in the rest of the series. This in-situ installation has been left to chance and intuition, with Moore opting to freestyle the build spontaneously rather than reference drafted blueprints.
Brussels-based artist Ann Veronica Janssens is behind the yellowbluepink installation at Wellcome Collection in London. Janssens has filled the white walled gallery with a heavy mist, brightly lit in different colors throughout the space. While the installation aims to disorientate, it also challenges perception and the way we interact with our external environment. If you’re in town you can see it in person through January 3, 2016.
