Whether portraying a quiet domestic scene or a sweeping landscape, Awodiya Toluwani’s striking paintings are connected through a unique surface. As much a subject of the work as his portraits, each canvas is covered in relief marks that imitate scars, or tribal marks, historically common to several indigenous cultures in …...Read More

In the painstakingly detailed canvases of Nidhi Mariam Jacob, myriad flowers and fronds bloom in a vibrant visual symphony. The Bangalore-based artist draws on a longstanding love for the environment. “Nature has been my biggest healer since I was a child,” she tells Colossal. “I spent a lot of my …...Read More

One day, as Helena Hafemann was unloading the dishwasher, one of her porcelain saucers shattered. Breaking into several fragments, the beloved plate lost its functional use within a split second, but Hafemann continued to think about its value, reflecting on how much emotional weight the piece still held even in …...Read More

Next week marks the biggest and busiest art week of the year in Colossal’s back yard, EXPO CHICAGO returns to the Navy Pier from April 11 to 14 with hundreds of galleries, site-specific projects, talks, and satellite programming across the city. Numerous galleries, museums, artists, and curators are also partnering …...Read More

Bats can be found nearly everywhere on the planet, except for extreme deserts and the poles, and there are more than 1,400 species with an incredible variety of traits. The tiniest is Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, also known as a “bumblebee bat,” because it’s less than 1.5 inches long and weighs …...Read More

Dating back to the late 18th century, retablos are small devotional paintings created to thank God or a saint for their protection during a particularly trying or dangerous event. In his show, Si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana, Guadalupe Maravilla (previously) conjures this tradition as he nests narrative works inside …...Read More

We’re excited to share a Colossal-curated project debuting April 11 at The Other Art Fair Chicago. On opening night, usher in spring with a magical edible installation by Chicago-based artist Hyun Jung Jun of Dream Cake Test Kitchen. In “Dreamscape,” sweet meringues float amid an ethereal garden, with delicate drawings …...Read More

One of the drawbacks of balloons or beach balls is that they’re temporary; the helium eventually leaks out or the seams burst, squashing the fun. But Belgium-based Home Studyo came up with a way to add the playful touch of inflatable objects to your home without worrying about the air …...Read More

Walk into 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Chicago, and you might encounter a medicine cabinet filled with felted products by Lucy Sparrow, a photo from Carrie Mae Weems’s Kitchen Table series, and Angela Ellsworth’s unsettling bonnets made of pearls and pins, all within the lobby alone. The works were part …...Read More

From paraffin to beeswax to various plants, candles have been made from all kinds of materials throughout the millennia—there’s even a fish called a “candlefish,” and we’re sure you can guess why. Thankfully, contemporary makers have a veritable wealth of ways to pour these waxy light sources in myriad shapes, …...Read More