Madrid-based sculptor Irma Gruenholz refers to her work as "three-dimensional illustration." Her quirky style lends itself to imaginative scenes, which she renders in clay rather than digitally or in any other medium. In her humorous work, offbeat characters interact with one another or with animal companions. Many of her pieces have a storybook-like quality, as if they are part of a narrative we can't quite grasp. Take a look at some of her latest works below.
Madrid-based sculptor Irma Gruenholz refers to her work as “three-dimensional illustration.” Her quirky style lends itself to imaginative scenes, which she renders in clay rather than digitally or in any other medium. In her humorous work, offbeat characters interact with one another or with animal companions. Many of her pieces have a storybook-like quality, as if they are part of a narrative we can’t quite grasp. Take a look at some of her latest works below.
A careful collector of found objects and (ethically sourced) animal bones, Jessica Joslin creates delicate sculptures that gracefully encase skeletal remains in baroque ornamentation. Using antique metals from chandeliers, samovars and other Victorian-era relics, Joslin gives the creatures whose bones she utilizes a dignified appearance even in death. Her work is both decorative and visceral, as her intricate craftsmanship belies her haunting subject matter. The artist recently created a new body of work for her solo show, "The Immortal Zoo,"opening October 24 at the non-profit gallery Firecat Projects in Chicago. Watch a teaser video and check out our preview of her latest work below.
Erika Sanada's canine sculptures are both endearing and unnerving. There's something sweet about her ceramic puppies (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 31) despite their zombie eyes and pale, hairless skin. The dogs play, wrestle, and cuddle, but the ambiguous details in each sculpture make it possible to interpret their gestures as either tender or malicious, or perhaps a bit of both. Sanada began creating these creatures as a way of coping with anxiety. She says they represent dark elements of her mind she's had to tame. The latest installment of her ongoing, autobiographical body of work will debut in her upcoming solo show, "Odd Things: Daydreaming," which opens November 28 at Antler Gallery in Portland and runs through December 31.
London artist duo Mariana Fantich and Dominic Young, collectively known as Fantich & Young, create innovative sculptures using found objects. Fantich & Young's humorous series "Apex Predator" envisions a fantastical twist in the history of evolution. The artists glued individual teeth from dentures on to various types of footwear to create menacing-looking shoes with a bite. Stacked in rows like sharks' teeth, the dentures give the shoes menacing grins that warn one not to get to close.
In Alex Chinneck’s recent work, the sculptor bends and warps otherwise stubborn objects to his will. "Growing up gets me down" is a working oak grandfather clock "knotted" by Chinneck. "Birth, death and a midlife crisis" was an indoor sculpture that "tied a 450-year-old column in the German museum of Kirchheim Unter Teck." The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
