The Fox is Black

22 January, 2024

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Art

Liam Lee Tufts Together Fantastic Seating and Tapestries

What if you could sit in a fungi of microscopic proportions? Liam Lee makes dreams comes true, a New York artist is a furniture and textile designer who works in felted wool, crafting fantastical objects that look like the things you see in 70s science books. Vibrantly colored, oddly shaped, and beautiful to admire, his chairs and tapestries are wondrous objects. In an interview with Curbed, he loves the idea of his work being both desirable and repulsive. “I like that some people might be disgusted because you’re in this weird space where an object is either considered really beautiful or just this gross, unapproachable thing,” he says. “I want the viewer to approach it without any preconceived notions of what it is supposed to be.”

For myself, they are a perfect blend of form and function. Are they decorative? For sure. Would I want to sit in one of his chairs for a lengthy period? Absolutely, yes. I think they look so funny, yet so comfortable. These days, we don’t have fancy chairs such as these, everything replaced with “minimal IKEA” that lacks any artistry. Liam’s work is much needed in a time of banality, of household items all starting to look the same.
16 January, 2024

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Art

Embroidered Landscapes from Artist Jordan Nassar

Jordan Nassar is a Palestinian artist who creates embroidered landscapes which are framed by, and built up through, repeating patterns adapted from traditional Palestinian motifs. I love the way he utilizes such a classic medium to tell these stories of places through such delicate, colorful means. I would highly recommend reading his interview in BOMB Magazine which explains the duality of identity he experiences and how the manifests in his work, which is extremely interesting, especially with everything happening in the world right now.
4 January, 2024

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Art

2024 Risograph Poster Calendar by FU

It’s still early enough in the year where a new 2024 calendar still isn’t out of the question. Japanese artist FU created these gorgeous risograph printed poster calendars that would look amazing hang side-by-side. The way she was able to capture a lens flare, or like staring into the sun, in such exquisite colors, is stunning. And they’re only ¥3,000, which is about $20! Such a steal for such lovely pieces of art.
2 January, 2024

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Art

Bjørn Lie Paints Eccectric, Flamboyant Flowers

Bjørn Lie is a Norwegian artist creating what he calls “Flamboyant Flowers,” a series he started at the beginning of 2023. He describes the series as “a vehicle for me to play and experiment with mark making, to appropriate and reassemble patterns and shapes from as many different sources of inspiration as possible.” The results are similar to botanical illustrations except they’re filled with trippy patterns and textures, creating over-the-top, otherworldly flora.
5 December, 2023

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Art

The Horst Janssen Museum Comes to Life Thanks to Christoph Niemann

I feel like I’ve been posting About Christoph Niemann a lot lately, but he’s been creating such a wide range of interesting pieces that I feel like it’s warranted. He created a large scale mural in collaboration with The Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg, Germany, illustrating a person drawing, with their creations springing to life along the outside of the building. What’s quite novel is that what you see during the day is then transformed at night because of a carefully laid out white neon, giving the space an entirely new meaning. Such a wonderful public intervention, I bet this is lovely to see throughout the day and the night.
20 November, 2023

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Art

Rashid Johnson Breathes New Life Into The Whitney

New Poetry is a recent addition to Rashid Johnson’s ongoing series of steel-grid sculptures, which he began in 2004. This installation, which is located at The Whitney in New York, consists of an illuminated grid structure made of steel bars, spanning both indoor and outdoor spaces of the museum. The grid features live plants nurtured by grow lights and placed in ceramic pots handmade by the artist.

Additionally, the installation incorporates poetry books, carved blocks of shea butter, and TV monitors displaying Johnson’s 2010 silent short film titled Black Yoga. The intention behind this work was to create a brain-like space that combines diverse materials and information, enabling the generation of new connections and modes of thinking. The living elements and exposed location of the installation explore the boundaries of institutional stewardship and engage the empathy and responsibility of viewers.

I love how the piece bisects the space, living both inside and out, transporting your eye through. His work reminds me of a contemporary version of that scene from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with each shelf holding some kind of wonder or curiosity. I’m sure the work is even more impactful now, as New York in winter can be quite cold and snowy, and this exhibit gives you the exact opposite feeling.
15 November, 2023

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Art

Justin Chance Quilts Together Moments of Memories and Nostalgia

I stumbled upon an interview with artist and writer Justin Chance, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a BA in Visual & Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His series of quilts are fascinating, combining his love for making with his interest in painting.

These quilts are so ethereal, like stitched together memories, assemblages of random fibers and feelings coming together to tell a new story. I love the colors and textures he’s able to achieve, they’re so stunning. I keep seeing a resurgence of tapestries and knit pieces living on walls as fine art, which I think is great. Pieces like Chance’s are beautiful because of the warp and weft of the material. They’re imprecise and a bit chaotic and it leads to such gorgeous character.
30 October, 2023

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Art

“On the Road II,” A New Calendar from Christoph Niemann

The ever-inventive Christoph Niemann has released a 2024 calendar called “On The Road II”, featuring a series of pieces of Niemann made of iconic locations. The calendar is meant to be a minimal in it’s presentation of information, only the month and location are jotted on the bottom of each. I assume most people use Google Calendar at this point, so you can think of this calendar as a piece of art that helps mark the passage of time. It helps justify the steep price tag, €120 each, so you may want to consider this an investment for future you, who will have twelve beautiful pieces of art framed around your home.
25 October, 2023

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Art

Craig Green Unveils Limited Edition “Jumbo Wooden Tools”

Craig Green, you wild for this one. In collaboration with Dover Street Market, the avant-garde designer, who’s known for his extremely creative take on fashion, released a limited edition series of “JUMBO WOODEN TOOLS”, of which, only 11 were made. Their phallic appearance certainly grabbed a lot of attention, many sites calling them “sex toys” which is pretty laughable. I think they look pretty rad, the colorways are especially amazing, and I love that you can see the natural wood grain showing through. Honestly, these would fit in perfectly in my apartment, though I’m also a stylish queer person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I will always love art like this that makes certain kinds of people uncomfortable.
18 October, 2023

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Art

Akiko Nakayama Brings the Art of Painting to Life

“Why is a painting dry?”

This is the sort of thesis for Akiko Nakayama’s “alive paintings” where she combines different liquids combined with projectors to bringing painting to life. The stills of her work look like galaxies or alien micro-organisms, while her live work is like a fascinating journey through an alien universe. I’m so impressed by the way that she’s been able to figure out, I’m assuming through trial and error, how to manipulate these liquids to do such extraordinary things, while also putting on a captivating show at the same time. Be sure to watch the video below in it’s super high-res, full-screen glory for the optimal experience.
16 October, 2023

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Art

Dripping, Organic Ceramic Forms from Linda Nguyen Lopez

Linda Nguyen Lopez, a first-generation American artist of Vietnamese and Mexican heritage, creates “abstract works that uncover the emotional depth within ordinary objects, revealing the poetic essence of the everyday.” There’s a lovely organic, kind of alien vibe to her pieces, or perhaps like something out of a children’s book. Her ceramic pieces are so full of life and whimsy, and the gradient color palette she creates is mystifying. I want to own one of these so that I can walk by and run my hands over the surfaces, I bet they feel amazing.
18 September, 2023

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Art

Nicolas Party Explores Unsettling Landscapes in His New Show ‘Swamp’

There’s something old and familiar in the paintings of Lausanne-born artist Nicolas Party. His new show at Hauser & Wirth New York, simply titled Swamp, feels like wandering through a dream, with tinges of arcane wisdom and occult-esque imagery. His use of pastels, employed at incredibly large scales, and his oil-on-copper paintings, are evocative of pieces you may see in a museum. He’s exploring familiar ground, building off the primal elements of life, and bringing them to life in such a contemporary way.

For me, there’s something so magical about his jewel toned palette that’s extremely alluring, especially the contrast of colors. And of course, playing with scale is always an effective tool for making things feel grandiose and beyond the norm. If you’re in New York, please go see this show for me, it runs until 21 October.

Nicolas Party
Swamp
Hauser & Wirth, 22nd Street