“I have spent over 40 years bearing witness to the ways in which modern civilization has dramatically transformed our planet,” says the renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky (previously). From the salt ponds of Spain to the eerie tunnels of Russia’s potash mines, Burtynsky has traveled the globe for the last four decades documenting the indelible impacts of industry.

Above, “Thjorsá River #1, Iceland (2012).” Which I think is stunning.

Jacob Kassay: An Adverse Possession of Light

When was the last time you sat in stillness? Turned off your phone? Closed your eyes and allowed your brain to neutralize and excavate an instinct deep inside, opening the senses to risk and exposure? Likely not recently. You’ve probably run far away from that place since 2020 when that was the only thing that we knew. You’ve gone back to work. To your friends. To your life. To music and dancing and laughter. Where the sun warms the skin and a cool breeze brushes softly across the face.    Sarah Lee’s mind has not left that place. It is the essence of her artwork, probing the vulnerability of silence and its echoes across nature, where it is most inherent. She paints scenes of a winter wonderland with no footprints to mark the way. A dark ocean where you could blink your eyes and believe the water is the sky. Twisted trees that contort across an unearthly green forest. Moonlight that mimics a spotlight following across a stage.

Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage, a.k.a. Pinaffo & Pluvinage, have worked together since 2015, fascinated by the physics, mechanics, and even pyrotechnics of our ever-evolving technologies. During 2023, the pair produced three major projects exploring ephemeral interactions and shifting textures. “If we were to find a common thread among the three major projects… it would be soft, blurry, and challenging-to-control materials: smoke, sand, fabric,” the duo tells Colossal. “Each time, there is a play in mastering and manipulating these materials.”

Detail from WASTED, Peggy Chiang, more at link

Ji Zou. They make provocative, often sexual works but with a hint of surrealism and mystery, beautifully rendered in acrylic.

Anna Uddenberg. (I sent this one to Lordess Foudre last night – right out of PHANTOM PLEASURE)

Rather than capture a single moment, Jason Chen (previously) weaves together photographs taken just seconds apart, creating disjointed portraits that convey movement and the passage of time. The Philadelphia-based artist often splices snapshots of the same setting and subject with slight differences in the tilt of the head, gesture, or gaze. Laced into a grid or hypnotizing circle like a photographic tapestry, the resulting images are uncanny and disorienting, nodding to fragmented identities and skewed perceptions of the self and others.

Mark Rothko, Harvard Mural Studies, 1962

Watercolor on Construction paper Dimensions7 x 6 1/8 in. (17.8 x 15.6 cm) Estate/Inventory Number91.79 Collections of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko. 

© Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Sabina Savage draws narrative pictures and prints them on scarves.

Composition, colors, details, and characters are dictated by research into my subject. When customers purchase from our website, they receive a storybook showing the mood board followed by the original illustrations. In The Treasures of Pompei, for example, compositions, colors, and subject were inspired by mosaics uncovered during excavation of the city. Combined with my invented narrative, I add details and clues to tell my story, always aware of the finished details to ensure each beautiful element shows however the scarf is worn. 

Let’s go more deeply into your preparations. I imagine you pouring over medieval manuscripts, in addition to wandering through forests. 
My initial challenge each season is to develop my new tale. I collect inspiration and make notes, hoping to spark a new idea at the right time. I visit a lot of museums and galleries when it’s time to get started. I delve deeply, reading and making copious, hand-written notes. A physical mood board sits above my desk with my detailed research close at hand while I draw. I wasn’t well-traveled until recently, and I wish I had the time now, so exploration is still through my work. With this knowledge and experience, it is increasingly important to ensure my work is respectful of the histories and cultures I reference. 

Blacklillybee’s little coffin-house stories: