Chicken wire and shredded dollar store table cloths are all Crystal Wagner sees over the multiple days it takes her to weave and sculpt one of her signature installations. Her work mimics organic shapes found in nature but betrays its artificiality with its fluorescent color schemes. Wagner recently debuted her latest installation, “Elasticity,” on view through February 6 at Bagwell Art Gallery at the Pellissippi State Community College campus in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made from the aforementioned materials, the colorful piece dominates the exhibition space and is one of Wagner’s most elaborate works to date.
From NYC’s blighted metropolis of the 1970s to São Paulo, Brazil today, graffiti has served as a powerful visual tool for acknowledging, reclaiming and beautifying neglected urban spaces. In "Life as It Is," an exhibit at San Francisco's 
Brian Tolle's startling sculptures are said to be a dialogue between "history and context." His ability to manipulate what appear to be the most stubborn of structures is more than just a clever use of materials such as styrofoam and urethane (as is th case in the top piece, "Eureka.") Tolle forces us to consider our own relationship with the materials around us.
A dizzying array of laser-cut mirrors make up