Art
Transforming Fabric into Flesh, Tamara Kostianovsky Fuses Cruelty and Beauty
If you walked into an exhibition featuring work from Tamara Kostianovsky in recent years, you likely encountered life-sized carcasses dangling from meat hooks. The Argentine-American artist (previously) is perhaps best known for these carnal sculptures of bone and flesh made from patterned fabric scraps. Newer additions include botanical vines winding through ribs and tropical birds perched inside that vacillate between beauty and brutality.
“I see these works in terms of metamorphosis,” Kostianovsky says. “The idea is to transform the image of the carcass from a place of carnage into a matrix where life takes root—in the manner of a utopian environment.”
Some of the carcasses will be on view starting April 23 at the Museum of Hunting and Nature in Paris for The Flesh of the World, Kostianovsky’s latest solo exhibition. Featuring about 30 works including multi-colored tree stumps and wall-based panels, the show brings forth the artist’s enduring fascination with the entangled relationship between bodies and the environment.
Stitching recycled clothing and various textiles into patterns that resemble marbled muscle, skin, and other tissues, she asks viewers to consider their consumption habits and the cyclical nature of life and death. By contrasting such soft, domestic materials with the grotesque qualities of the animal body, the subtle cruelties of slaughter and gluttony many partake in daily become more visceral.
Much of Kostianovsky’s works also address the impacts of colonialism and violence, particularly in her recent Carnal Geographies series. Layering maps, foliage, and patchwork, she visualizes North and South America and Africa, delineating the outer continental borders with flesh-like parts. Dotted with colorful birds, the works confront the historical and continued brutality waged in these places and the potential for new growth and life in a post-colonial world.
See The Flesh of the World through November 3. The artist also has work in two group exhibitions, one on view through April 27 at Chart Gallery in New York City and the other through June 2 at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff. You can also peruse an archive of her work on her site and Instagram.
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Art
Cyrus Kabiru Fashions Elaborate Mixed-Media Masks and Goggles from Found Objects
Ranging from mechanical parts and cooking utensils to plastic caps and beads, Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru fashions dazzling eyewear and helmets from salvaged and found objects. The futuristic forms often obscure the eyes like an ornamental veil, and motorbike helmets provide a fitting canvas for fins and frills.
Kabiru (previously) originally began making innovative glasses after being denied a pair when he was young. The variety of materials the artist found around his hometown of Nairobi inspired him to create playful versions, bringing joy to those around him. Over time, his creations have grown and become more elaborate, hinting at mysterious technological functions.
Kabiru has recently begun larger standalone sculptures, and you can explore more of his work on Instagram.
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Animation Craft
In ‘Felt Love,’ a Young Boy and His Mother Learn the Value of Spending Quality Time Together
A mother working overtime at home as a seamstress finds it difficult to carve out a few moments for her son in “Felt Love,” a poignant short film about family, togetherness, and quality time. Created by a group of students at San Jose State University as a senior thesis project in 2020, the piece combines a miniature 3D set with 2D animation to tell the story of a young boy who learns the depth of his mother’s hard work and adoration and how she learns to share that with him.
Go behind-the-scenes of “Felt Love” on the project’s Instagram, and you might also enjoy the stop-motion short “Visible Mending” by Samantha Moore.
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Art
Stunning Paper Scenes Unfold in Shannon Taylor’s Miniature Compact Dioramas
On New Year’s Eve in 2022, a huge storm swept through the Bay Area, causing major flooding and damage to Shannon Taylor’s studio. “I had been preparing pieces for an upcoming show and had to move my entire studio to a small table in our dining room,” she tells Colossal. “Due to stress and lack of space, I started making these diorama pieces as a way to relax.”
Each exquisitely detailed miniature work is created from tiny watercolor paintings on paper, layered into antique cosmetic compacts that Taylor finds at flea markets, vintage shops, rummage sales, online, or from friends. “My favorite thing is when people have sent me their own, or oftentimes, their grandmother’s collections,” she says. “I love objects with history, and these cosmetic pieces are such personal items.”
From tiny seabeds brimming with clams, fish, and coral to elaborate buffet spreads in the Italian countryside, Taylor creates each tiny component by painting a picture and then snipping out the shape using detail scissors or an X-acto knife. Through trial and error, she figures out new scenes as she goes and ways to keep the itty-bitty pieces organized. “I learned to secure all of the cutouts in bead organizers because our Roomba dislodged a tray of hand-cut flowers… and then vacuumed them.”
Taylor has pieces in two group shows, including Wunderkammer at Beinart Gallery through April 21 and a twelfth-anniversary show at Arch Enemy Arts through April 28. She will also have work in Yokai at Haven Gallery, which opens on May 4, and a solo show opening in June at Arch Enemy Arts titled Star Garden. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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Books History Illustration Nature Science
Flip Through More than 5,000 Pages of This Sprawling 19th-Century Atlas of Natural History
In the early 19th century, German naturalist Lorenz Oken quickly established himself as a leader in the Naturphilosophie movement, a current of Idealism, which attempted to comprehend a total view of nature by investigating its theoretical structure—a precursor to the natural sciences as we know them today.
Oken’s seminal work Allgemaine Naturgeschichte Für Alle Stände, or General Natural History For All Classes, was published as a series of seven volumes between 1833 and 1843. At more than 5,000 pages in its entirety, the atlas depicts known species ranging from beetles and fish to birds and ferns. In many cases, insects or plants are shown in various stages of development, like a butterfly displayed alongside its larval and pupal forms.
Containing illustrations engraved and printed by a number of contributors, the vivid portrayal of wildlife and botanicals attempts to classify similar specimens, labeling them with both their common and scientific names and grouping like examples into compartments.
Explore Oken’s entire Allgemaine Naturgeschichte in the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s digital archive, where you can also download tens of thousands individual illustrations. You may also enjoy flipping through an eclectic array of rare Japanese schoolbooks, admiring Elizabeth Gould’s detailed bird illustrations.
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Photography Science
In Sicily, Mount Etna Blows an Unprecedented Frequency of Rare Volcanic Smoke Rings
Known to locals as the “Lady of the Rings,” Sicily’s Mount Etna is both the highest island mountain in the Mediterranean and the most active stratovolcano in the world. The magnificent landform has even more impressive qualities considering it emits elegant smoke rings, known as volcanic vortex rings, high into the sky. A video from The Straits Times documents the fascinating formations as they drift through the atmosphere.
The rings appeared for the first time since last December when a small vent opened on the Southeast cater. This phenomenon rarely occurs because of the specific conditions required for the vapors and gases to produce the forms. When enough pressure builds up inside the volcano, magma inside the crater propels condensed gases like water vapor up through the vent.
Scientists say Mount Etna produces more vortex rings than any other volcano on Earth. The New York Times reported that the frequency this month “has broken all previous records,” according to Boris Behncke, a volcanologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Catania.
If you’re up for some more drama in the earth’s crust, you might enjoy exploring an aerial view of Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano or an award-winning animation about some unsuspecting birds and a sudden BOOM.
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