Oakland-based artist 
Oakland-based artist Jaime Lakatos’ sculptures have risen from the ashes — quite literally. Lakatos imagines a dystopian world not far along on our trajectory of environmental destruction. She burns her hunting trophy-like busts of various animals until their surfaces become blackened and charred. Lakatos created this technique to portray her animals in a “confused state of cross-species evolution” in order to broach the topics of unchecked scientific progress and human expansion. Coming up at Empire Seven Studios in San Jose, Lakatos’ solo show “Cinderscape” will debut a new series of sculptures, installations, and paintings on May 8.
Masaya Hashimoto's images of pure white plants might not look like anything remarkable until you realize what they are made out of: the self taught artist crafts them out of the fine bone and antlers from deer near his home in Japan. In some ways, his sculptures are a byproduct of where he lived for nearly a decade, a mountain Buddhist temple where he was given the chance to closely observe the life cycle of plants and flowers like irises and chrysanthemums.
Every year in Niigata, Japan, artists take the leftover straw from their annual rice harvest and turn it into works of art. Called Wara art, or Rice-straw art, aspiring young artist Amy Goda has been creating such works since 2013. Her latest series featuring giant animals was completed last week and has already gone viral. Measuring 16 feet tall, they are her largest to date, fashioned after a roaring T-rex and tricerotops, and other animals like a coiled cobra, a crab clapping its claws, and even a rubber ducky.
Geng Xue’s ceramic sculptures, with their traditional coloring and textures, appear as beings evolving and emerging from our shelves. She’s used these creations in multimedia exhibition and even filmmaking, animating them into mythology-inspired narratives. As she creates representations of humanity, Xue seems to be reflecting on our own fragility.