“I want to explode the idea of beautiful ikebana,” says Kosen Ohtsubo, one of the foremost conceptual artists working in the Japanese tradition. Since the 1970s, Ohtsubo has been unsettling the ancient art of flower arranging. Incorporating atypical botanicals like cabbage leaves or weaving in unconventional materials like bathtubs and scrap metal, the artist approaches…
On candy-colored paper, Rhea Mack draws a world in which all misfits are welcome. The Massachusetts-based artist lovingly renders curious characters with three heads, flowers growing from their palms, or a penchant for plump, strawberry hats. Mack has a soft spot for these strange oddballs who develop organically, often springing from her Sunday morning sessions…
Nature has always been a subject of fascination for Clara Lacy, who roamed the fields and streams around her home in Hampshire when she was young, spurring an interest in studying biology. Art also emerged as a way for her to channel her interest in animals and plants, tapping into the long-held tradition of artists…
“To have something be uncanny, you must first introduce the familiar,” says Lizzie Gill. Likening her compositions to a dining table’s place settings, the artist paints elaborate still lifes that explore the matriarchal lineages and how objects passed down shift in meaning over time. The vivid works feature flat backdrops met by boldly striped or…
Arranged by size and hue, the blooms in Krzysztof Grzybacz’s large-scale oil paintings appear in comfortable togetherness, each individual’s features amplified by its placement next to those that differ. His Floral Compositions series organizes the flowers against swaths of green fabric, exploring their potent symbolism. Grzybacz taps into the age-old tradition of flowers in oil, rendering their…
Every year, Lili Arnold’s mother would block-print holiday cards to send to family and friends. When she was old enough to wield a carving tool, Arnold began to make her own, too. But it wasn’t until college, when she took an Intro to Printmaking class, that she became enthralled with the practice’s myriad methods. Block…
Many of us are familiar with titans of the Dutch Golden Age like Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and more. Yet fewer of us have probably heard of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), renowned during her lifetime for her original style but under-acknowledged through the centuries in the canon of Western art history. Co-organized by…
Beauty and nature’s resilience are at the core of Vasilisa Romanenko’s work. The Connecticut-based artist paints faithful depictions of common yet dignified birds amid clusters of fruits and flowers, exploring the power of opulence in times of upheaval. A stately crow poses amid rust-colored roses, a great blue heron poses amid clusters of tangerines and…
The early 1780s produced a medical training tool that today seems unusually macabre and unsettling: the Anatomical Venus. A waxen model with real human hair and strings of pearls around her neck, the reclined figure appeared incredibly realistic, although pulling back the plate on its abdomen or chest revealed a series of internal organs and…
Fantastical flowers burgeon and bloom in the digital animations of Zachary Corzine. The Portland, Oregon-based generative designer takes what he describes as a variety of software like Cinema4D, Houdini, Substance, Octane, Redshift, and After Effects to create dynamic, atmospheric visuals. Between projects for clients like Apple, Audi, Disney, Nike, and many more, Corzine explores new…