Colossal

Through abstract, prismatic acrylic paintings to garment-like sculptures and textile collages, Jeffrey Gibson explores questions of identity, lineage, and cultural translation. Working across media, the artist intricately beads monumental works and incorporates a wide range of fabrics and materials. Jeffrey Gibson: A Real Love Thing at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center delves into the cross-disciplinary breadth of the artist’s practice throughout the past decade. Fifteen works a

An eye peers from a goblet. A disembodied finger creeps from beneath a curtain. A supine figure, lost in a dream, envisions an uncanny array of game and fruit. For GaHee Park, landscapes, figures, and still lifes merge into seamless, surreal tableaux. Her signature glassy-eyed female characters move through spaces where the boundary between reality and fantasy blurs. Park’s new solo exhibition, Soft Shell at Jessica Silverman, delves into a realm where protection and a sense of security

Gall wasps, also known as cynipids, have a unique mutual relationship with plants. Their name is derived from the deposits, called galls, which they induce on host plants to support their larvae. The benign growths are created by chemicals that the larvae insert into the plant, drawing on its resources. These phenomena are often very tiny, occasionally appear in clusters, and can range from ruddy brown to vibrant pinks and yellows. Nature photographer Timothy Boomer can’t get enough of the

“Everything Twice” is a quiet meditation on disability and the ways we orient ourselves in the world. Since childhood, Cy Kuckenbaker noticed that one of his eyes drooped, something he attributed to a snowboarding accident. But doctors quickly dismissed that theory, and after innumerable tests and many, many years, the photographer learned he was born with a rare disease. Kuckenbaker chronicles this realization alongside a slow, analog process he began to combat burnout. Utilizing

In the second half of the 17th century, when early American colonists were well into producing their own furniture, makers drew upon the motifs and techniques common in England. Chests and cabinets were chunky, and chairs and tables often incorporated spool-like legs. In Boston, a particular interpretation of the high-backed Windsor chair emerged, inspiring furniture-maker and artist Aspen Golann to create uniquely sculptural, contemporary iterations as a nod to this heritage. “Meeting

Every month, we share opportunities for artists and designers, including open calls, grants, fellowships, and residencies. Make sure you never miss out by joining our monthly Opportunities Newsletter. $4,500 Artist GrantsFeaturedThe Hopper Prize is now accepting entries for $4,500 and $1,000 artist grants from a total pool of $13,000. Two artists will each receive $4,500 and four artists will each receive $1,000. This is an international open call, and all visual media is eligible. T

Gretchen Scherer’s paintings of affluent homes, studios, and libraries appear to expand before our eyes. Brimming with ornately framed paintings installed salon-style on richly papered walls, her half-imagined spaces are inspired by real places, which she infuses with a playful brightness and whimsy. When we home in on one particular floral arrangement, framed artwork, or piece of furniture, it seems that there’s a sudden increase in how much more there is to explore. Scherer’s ne

Mr. Bigglesworth, Jinxy, Keanu, and Thackery Binx all scamper back into the limelight in a new catalog of felines on screen. Released this month from A24, The Encyclopedia of Movie Cats is a playful, exhaustive compendium of the four-legged friends that have appeared in films throughout the ages. From main characters to helpful sidekicks to the accomplices of villains, these furry actors are iconic in their roles, sometimes even stealing the show from their human counterparts. The Encyclopedi

Tethered to the spiritual realm, blue connotes a sense of serenity and healing in Yoruba culture. It’s also the color of peace, and for Romuald Hazoumè, it’s an apt metaphor for considering the legacy of colonial violence, climate catastrophe, and the global crises transforming life today. In My Blue Period at October Gallery, the artist meditates on the contemporary geo-political landscape through a series of masks made from plastic jugs and found objects, like feathers, netting

Armed with high-magnification macro lenses, filmmaker Sandro Bocci journeyed through coral reefs to document a striking array of color, texture, and pattern. A project for Bocci’s collective Julia Set Lab, the short film homes in on the intricacies of a life form we can’t see with the naked eye. Subtle shifts in gradients, bold color juxtapositions, and a seemingly endless diversity of recurring motifs explode across the frame, revealing the beauty and complexity of the extraordinary

For more than a decade, Berlin-based artists Lynn Lehmann and Dennis Gärtner, a.k.a. Zebu, have been transforming otherwise mundane walls and surfaces into vivid, geometric paintings. Moving between patterns and representational abstraction, the duo draw on their adjacent work in illustration and graphic design to create eye-popping compositions. Indeed, much of their practice is studio-based, so murals introduce broader possibilities in a variety of settings. “There’s something spec

In its current form, the global transition away from fossil fuels will depend on the earth’s rare minerals. According to ClimateWorks, we’ll collectively need to mine 6.5 billion tons of cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, and other materials before 2050 in order to keep up with energy demands. Most of these resources are found in regions already facing the greatest impacts of the climate crisis, from Chile’s Atacama Desert to Indonesia’s nickel reserves to the cobalt deposits of the De

In Izumi Kato’s surreal paintings, stones appear to float, bodies disappear in water, and feet become fish tails. In his new eponymous solo exhibition at Perrotin, two- and three-dimensional works converge in a dreamlike grouping where time slips, bodies morph, and space is simultaneously flattened, compartmentalized, and stretched. The Tokyo- and Hong Kong-based artist’s practice has evolved from painting to include wood forms, soft vinyl sculptures, and cast metal. As Kato explores ma

From the atmospheric tones of the Pacific Northwest to Victorian-era textile patterns to antique dishware designs, Rebecca Zwanzig—the artist behind High West Wild—draws on a wide range of influences. “I grew up in the bluegrass state of Kentucky, and some of my earliest visual memories come from going to auctions and estate sales with my grandma in rural Kentucky,” the artist tells Colossal. “I was always drawn to the patterns on old plates, the embroidery on tablecloths, vint

Until a few years ago, painter Scott Kahn was living in his cousin’s attic, with a studio filled with work that he hadn’t had a lot of luck selling. Then, he began a chance correspondence with the late Canadian artist Matthew Wong, who related to Kahn’s own self-taught background and interest in magical realism. “Matthew was really a great champion of my work,” Kahn told Artnet News. “The only way I can explain it is that we were soulmates.” When Wong’s career took off in

Like many artists, Rose Sanderson began a body of work during the early days of the pandemic as a sort of balm for the harsh realities of the world. “I started playing with escapism and imagination, mixing reality and fiction, and the blurring of childhood memories and nostalgia,” she says of her surreal paintings on vintage postcards. “Many of the images are in seaside towns, influenced by growing up in one myself through the ’80s and ’90s.” Playing with s

From the markets of Dakar and Lagos to the sidewalks of Abidjan and the Beherawi neighborhood of Addis Abab, a bold new book by Nadine Barth and Azu Nwagbogu travels from country to country to present a vast portrait of life on the continent. Street Photography Africa compiles hundreds of images from 33 photographers who each turn their lens to public spaces, documenting cultural moments with musicians and dancers alongside more everyday fashions and routines. While vast in scope, location, and

In 1963, following nearly 70 years of British colonial rule, Kenya declared independence. The nation was not alone on the African continent; in the 1960s, Gambia, Guyana, Malawi, Nigeria, and others freed themselves from Britain’s control in a watershed period of democratic redevelopment and socio-cultural shifts. Wangari Mathenge, who was born in Nairobi, looks to the not-so-distant past in an ongoing series of vivid oil paintings. Many of the works shown here are part of the artist&#8

In Fustat, a historic district of Cairo that was once the ancient Islamic capital of Egypt and a major trading center, centuries-old pottery known as Fustat ware has been excavated throughout the area. Typically featuring a luster glaze in a wide range of hues to produce an iridescent effect, the surfaces were sometimes incised with designs. For artist Ibrahim Said, who was born in Old Cairo and grew up observing the ceramics industry in the dozens of workshops comprising the area’s Potter

Bondi Beach, a neighborhood east of central Sydney, is about as iconic a surf spot as they come. Its eponymous crescent beach glows with golden sand, and its cliffs frame stunning scenery. In December 2025, it was also the site of a tragic terrorist attack, when two men opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people. (Gun deaths, let alone mass shootings, are exceedingly rare in Australia, especially compared to the U.S.) At Bondi, heroism and a sense of community converged in its beau