Month: April 2025

“We’re going to make stuff out of beads that is going to take people’s breath away,” says Ralph Ziman in the trailer for “The MiG-21 Project,” a military jet that he and a transcontinental team coated nose to tail in millions upon millions of glass beads.

For the past 12 years, the Los Angeles-based artist has examined the impacts of the Cold War Era and the global arms trade through a trilogy titled Weapons of Mass Production, motivated by his upbringing in Apartheid-era South Africa. More than half a decade in the making, “The MiG-21 Project” completes the series.

The first installment, “The AK-47 Project,” reimagined the aesthetic of one of the world’s most ubiquitous wartime weapons, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, by sculpting dozens of the guns and coating them in colorful glass beads. The second project revolved around the Casspir, a heavy-duty Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAPV) introduced in the 1970s, which he likewise ornamented in vibrant geometric patterns.

“The idea was to take these weapons of war and to repurpose them,” Ziman says, flipping the narrative about icons of violence and transforming them instead into symbols of resilience, collaboration, and collectivity. Vehicles and firearms morph into a theater of hope and strength in the face of a terrible 20th-century legacy.

Apartheid, which in Afrikaans means “separateness,” is the name assigned by the minority white-ruled Nationalist Party of South Africa to a harsh system of racial segregation that began in 1948. The period lasted until 1991 and was closely linked within the context of international relations to the Cold War as tensions erupted between the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R. Spurred by the deterioration of the two countries’ WWII alliance and fears about the spread of Communism into the West, the war began in 1947 and also ended in 1991 when the U.S.S.R. was dissolved.

During this time, the Russians produced a fighter jet called the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. The plane is “the most-produced supersonic fighter aircraft of all time,” Ziman says. “The Russians built 12,500 MiG-21s, and they’re still in use today—just like the Casspir and just like the AK-47s. But it’s one thing to say, hey, I want to bead a MiG, and then the next thing, you’ve got a 48-foot MiG sitting in your studio.”

“The MiG-21 Project” combines photography and costume design with historical research and time-honored Indigenous craft. The project encompasses not only the jet but a series of cinematic photographs and elaborate Afrofuturist regalia inspired by military flight suits, African tribal textiles, and space travel.

Ziman’s team comprises numerous skilled artisans from Zimbabwe and Indigenous Ndebele women from South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province, who are renowned for their beadwork. For the Ndebele, beadwork is a means of expressing cultural identity and rites of passage, taking on powerful political connotations in the 20th century as it became associated with pre-colonial African traditions and identity.

Tapping into the lessons of our not-so-distant past, Ziman addresses current conflicts like war and the global arms race, modern colonialism, systemic racism, and white supremacy through the lens of Apartheid. Funds raised throughout the process, part of the mission of the Weapons of Mass Production trilogy as a whole, are being donated to the people of Ukraine in support of the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia.

You’ll be able to see the “The MiG-21 Project” later this year in Seattle, where it will be on view from June 21 to January 26, 2026, at the Museum of Flight. Explore more on Ziman’s website.

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For Marianna Simnett, sticking to one medium or theme defies her interpretation of what art can be. She fights the natural proclivity of galleries, collectors, and art enthusiasts to typecast her practice as one thing. “Trying to shed those expectations every time—trying to do something different—it’s exhausting but so worth it,” she says in an interview for Art Basel. “Now the signature is that people don’t know what to expect, and that’s the best outcome possible.”

Among myriad strains of her practice—which include filmmaking, sculpture, installation, painting, and performance—a collection of bronze crowns created between 2022 and 2024 command our attention. Situated on top of bespoke velvet cushions, Simnett’s Crowns are cast in an alloy that would make the elaborate headpieces burdensome or even painful to wear, yet the meticulously formed arches, band, and spikes manifest as delicate mammals and birds.

“Simnett uses vivid and visceral means to explore the body as a site of transformation,” says a statement from SOCIÉTÉ, which represents the artist. “In psychologically charged works that challenge both herself and the viewer, Simnett imagines radical new worlds filled with untamed thoughts, strange tales, and desires.”

Named for powerful female figures from ancient lore like Discordia, the Greek goddess of strife, or Lilith, a she-demon in Jewish and Mesopotamian mythology, Simnett’s Crowns examine the power, ferocity, and sublimity of allegorical female figures. One can imagine that only supernatural beings could wear these pieces and feel comfortable.

Simnett’s sculptures were first shown in her exhibition OGRESS in 2022. “In fairy tales and folklore, the ogress is a voracious monster who deceives men and torments children in her quest to ravish them whole,” says an exhibition statement. Simnett wielded “the ogress’ insatiable hunger as a radical force,” illuminating the role of women in myth and legend, especially the symbolic tension between embracing and fearing those who are different.

Simnett’s solo exhibition Charades opens at SOCIÉTÉ on May 1, coinciding with Berlin Gallery Weekend. Explore a wide range of the artist’s multimedia work on her website and Instagram.

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As if splashed onto the wall with a monumental brush, Anne von Freyburg’s installations visualize fabric and fiber as gestural splotches of paint. Colors bleed into one another and drips extend to the floor in what the London-based Dutch artist describes as “textile paintings.”

Drawing on 17th and 18th-century European painting traditions like the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age and the stylized exuberance of Rococo, von Freyburg reframes relationships between craft and fine art.

References to Rococo artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher play prominently in von Freyburg’s solo exhibition, Filthy Cute, at Saatchi Gallery. Tapping into “the clichés of heterosexual romance and societal expectations of women…she explores the pressures women face, particularly the expectations of being ‘caretakers’ and ‘pleasers,’” says a statement. Von Freyburg turns her attention to themes of compassion, freedom, and women as sovereign individuals.

Filthy Cute celebrates sensuality and the feminine while highlighting unexpected associations between materials. The artist’s abstract compositions often reference florals that are blurred, dripping, and verging on complete abstraction. Glossy fabrics in a range of colors swirl without fully mixing, resulting in sensual shapes that are beguiling and strange.

Von Freyburg describes one undergirding theme as “commodity fetishism,” tapping into the 17th-century fashion for Dutch floral still lifes and the infamous economic speculation bubble that characterized Tulip Mania between 1634 and 1637.

The show continues through May 11 in London, running concurrently Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture, which also includes work by von Freyburg. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

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“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 making with the mindset of a jazz musician, a genre he frequently listens to while working. Improvisation and experimentation are at the core, along with an unquenchable desire for the unexpected.

An exhibition at Kunstverein München in Munich pairs Ohtsubo with Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham who, after discovering the ikebana icon’s work in a book in 2013, became his student. Titled Flower Planet—which references a sign that hangs outside Ohtsubo’s Tokorozawa home and studio—the show presents various sculptures and installations that invite viewers to consider fragility, decay, and the elusive qualities of beauty and control.

Given the ephemeral nature of the materials, photography plays an important role in most ikebana practices as it preserves an arrangement long after it has wilted. This exhibition, therefore, pairs images of earlier works with new commissions, including Ohtsubo’s standout orb titled “Linga München.” Nested in a bed of soil and leaves, the large-scale sculpture wraps willow with metal structures and positions a small candle within its center.

Similarly immersive is “Willow Rain,” which suspends thin branches from the ceiling. Subverting the way we typically encounter fields of growth, the work is one of many in the exhibition that seeds questions about our relationship to the natural world and the limits of human control.

Flower Planet is on view through April 21. Explore Ohstubo’s vast archive on Instagram.

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Renewal is at the center of Richard Haining’s practice. The Brooklyn-based artist and designer (previously) sculpts supple vessels and functional goods from reclaimed wood sourced from local workshops or buildings destined for demolition. Intrigued by signs of wear and former uses, Haining has a deep reverence for the material and its history.

In his ongoing STACKED series, small offcuts nest together in intuitively laid grids. An angle grinder and hand tools help to smooth any jagged edges and create the soft, sleek forms Haining is known for.

The artist shares that his inspiration comes from a wide array of sources, “from Classical Antiquity to East Asian design (to) 17th-century European Craftsmanship.” His holy trinity, though, is beauty, craftsmanship, and mindfulness for the environment. He adds:

By juxtaposing repurposed ‘low-value’ materials with ‘high-art’ forms, I invite viewers to reconsider what is truly valuable. Ultimately, I hope to spark a conversation about sustainability, showing that art, craftsmanship, and environmental responsibility can coexist—and that beauty can emerge from the most unexpected places.

Haining is participating in two group exhibitions in New York, one at Lyle Gallery through April 20 and Paraphernalia Exhibition: Desire opening on May 7. Follow the latest on Instagram.

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Anyone who’s stood to inherit a family business knows the difficulty of charting one’s own course. “Legacy is complicated,” says Violet Oliphant-O’Neill, the daughter of the wildly prolific artist Sarah Oliphant. “(When you have) parents who are successful, being their child is complicated.”

Directed by Anna Louise Andersen, “The Promise of Spring” is an intimate portrait of a mother and daughter and the struggle of inheriting a parent’s passion. The film visits Oliphant Studios, which has painted backdrops gracing the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New York Times and stood behind icons like Michelle Obama and Simone Biles, to name a few. It’s been in operation since 1978.

Oliphant’s output is revered globally, but for her daughter, stepping into an essential role in the studio isn’t simple. The film follows the pair as they work together and unravels each of their journeys to art-making—Oliphant through a natural proclivity that began in childhood and Oliphant-O’Neill by way of her mother.

As Andersen writes, the film grapples with “the tension between honoring family traditions and creating one’s own destiny.”

Watch “The Promise of Spring of Above,” and find more from the filmmaker on Vimeo.

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From the center of a gridded structure made of striped orbs and oblong shapes are two elements redolent of eyes. Seeming to peer out from the largely abstract composition, these facial features are augmented by forms that mimic ears, noses, and mouths all nested within the vivid patterns.

The work of Chicago-based artist Geoffrey Todd Smith, these ambiguous portraits rendered in gouache and ink reference masks or mirrored reflections, revealing a distant figure without a defined identity. “To be honest, I keep thinking of them as evolving forms,” he tells Colossal. “I try to find new things in them when I look at them. I’m not entirely sure I want to figure them out because I probably won’t want to make them if I understand them.”

Continually drawn to abstraction and geometry, Smith is known for his mesmerizing works that infuse elaborate, often zigzagged motifs with simple structures. Vibrant spheres seem to spill across the paper, creating trippy, symmetric compositions bursting with energy.

The artist departs from pure abstraction in this new body of work as he incorporates humanoid components amid his interlocked shapes. Geometry still provides a scaffolding, though. He adds:

If there is a break from logic, that sense of order can quickly collapse, creating tension, sort of like removing the bottom pieces in a game of Jenga. Either way, geometry helps me construct a sort of game board to which I respond with more decorative or ornamental decisions. Even the decorative hand-drawn elements play an optical and structural role. They either assert or interfere with order, depending on how I manipulate them.

These ornamental additions are the product of a slow, introspective process. Smith prefers not to mix colors and instead layers materials to achieve a particular palette.

“The mark from a gel pen is so immediate and relatable. I like that they were marketed to teenagers because nobody feels quite as deeply as they do at that age,” he says. “I think of the intensity and rigor of my marks as mysterious emoting or like writing a gut-wrenching, abstract love letter.”

If you’re in Chicago, you can see Smith’s solo show Assembly at Western Exhibitions through April 12. Otherwise, find more of his work on his website and Instagram.

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Set against mountains, desert plains, and the cobalt blue skies one finds at high elevations, Chloe West’s striking oil paintings merge Dutch Golden Age iconographies with both mythic and everyday motifs of the American West.

West was born and raised in Wyoming, the peaks and pastures of which continue to influence her hyperrealistic figurative works. In her current solo exhibition, Games of Chance at HARPER’S, the artist draws on European portraiture and still life traditions in a series of self-portraits and tableaux challenging stereotypes of the West as a frontier molded by machismo.

“Cowboy Philosopher,” for example, portrays the artist in direct confrontation with the viewer, seated beside a mountain lion skull at a table covered with a celestial tapestry. The painting evokes Salomon Koninck’s “A Philosopher” (1635) and works by other Flemish artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who often depicted alchemists and scholars in their studies accompanied by skulls, devices, and documents.

West subverts our understanding of cowboy culture as predominantly masculine, juxtaposing her own body with bones, small weapons, and fabric backdrops that establish a tension between life and death, folklore and daily life, and the sacred and the profane. Animal bones, thorns, and knives nod to memento mori, a reminder of the impermanence of life, while also invoking the supernatural and a sense of cyclical time. Casting deep, dark shadows, the glaring sun reveals all.

Portraying herself in western wear, West bonds to the continuum of the landscape and its customs and narratives while considering the way European attitudes and actions like Manifest Destiny shaped our understanding of the region. The artist taps into legend, history, and magical realism to blur distinctions between the past and contemporary experience. “Ultimately, throughout Games of Chance, West confronts the idealization of frontier heroism, dismantling its pre-established boundaries and expanding upon the legacy it left behind,” the gallery says.

Games of Chance opens today and continues through May 10 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West appeared first on Colossal.