Researchers Digitally Unfold a Renaissance-Era Letter Using X-Ray Technology
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Six centuries after it was penned, the contents hidden inside a Renaissance-era letter plucked from a trunk at The Hague are finally readable. The correspondence, which we now know was likely spurred by questions about an inheritance, was part of a larger col
We’re Back! The Colossal Shop Is Restocked
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We just added a few fun goods to the newly reopened Colossal Shop, including these (reversible!) face masks featuring some of art history’s most iconic works. Head to the shop for pins, magnets, and pop-up greeting cards that’ll find a permanent sArchaeologists Uncover a Lavish Marble Floor from Ancient Rome in Southern France
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Developers of an apartment building in Nîmes, France, had to halt construction this month when archaeologists discovered an opulent tiled floor that once blanketed a Roman villa, or domu. Dating back to 1-2 A.D., the checkered design is comprised of marble fDozens of Mushroom Characters Populate a Family Tree in Whimsically Painted Photographs by Jana Paleckova
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An affinity for fleshy spores runs in the long line of ancestors laid out in a family tree by Jana Paleckova. The Prague-based artist layers antique photographs with playful oil paintings of spindly enoki or ribbed chanterelle, creating hybrid characters brimPlants Embedded in Wax Sprout from Fragile Hands in Memory-Infused Works by Valerie Hammond
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In Valerie Hammond’s series of wax drawings, protection is two-fold: the artist (previously) encases dried flowers and ferns in a thin layer of wax, preserving their fragile tissues long after they’ve been plucked from the ground. In outlining a pairA Dazzling Series of Photos Captures the Soft Glow of Firefly Mating Season in Japan
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An enchanting series by Russian photographer Daniel Kordan (previously) frames a sea of flickering fireflies as they populate a dense bamboo forest. Captured in pockets and trails of light, the insects radiate across the thick vegetation on Japan’s KyusPoetic Sculptures by Valérie Hadida Cast Composed Women with Coiffed Hair in Bronze
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For Valérie Hadida, the deep, protective partnerships fostered between women provide the foundation for her practice. The French artist casts bronze sculptures that are poetic and nuanced, depicting female figures wearing contemplative and composed expressioSwaths of Tulle Billow from Site-Specific Installations by Ana María Hernando
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Fueled with a sense of rebellion, yards of colorful tulle cascade from windows and down staircases in site-specific installations by Ana María Hernando. The soft, pliable material breaches existing architecture and entwines trees in swaths of mesh, creatingArchitecture and Bold Geometry Fragment Cubist Portraits by Patrick Oberhi Akpojotor
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In his architectural portraits, Patrick Oberhi Akpojotor visualizes the exchange between humans and their built environments, whether real or imagined. The artist’s spatial body of work, which explicitly contemplates the relationship between interioritIntricate Paper Animals Spring from Textured Sculptures by Artist Calvin Nicholls
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In Calvin Nicholls’s sculptural forms, feathered and furry creatures are meticulously crafted from small pieces of white paper. When viewed up-close, their texture resembles the fullness of a wintery landscape, but in full form, the Canadian artist’s animA Field of Dried Grass Is Suspended from the Ceiling in ‘French Exit’ by Artist Tadao Cern
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In Tadao Cern’s sweeping installation “French Exit,” a cloud of feathery grasses looms over the room. The immersive artwork juxtaposes the ephemeral, dried material with the viewers who stand underneath as it creates a soothing and introspectivSheets of Frosted Glass Obscure Floral Bouquets in a Photographic Series About Ambiguity
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Exuding elegance and obscurity, Foggy Flowers is a two-photograph series by Sander Plug and Lernert Engelberts that centers on our collective outlook for the future through a blur of frosted glass. The duo, who work under Studio Lernert & Sander, unearthRich Gradients Flow Through a Luxe Set of Chocolate Bars with Matching Packaging
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Whether subtly shifting from lemon balm to mint or more dramatically from chestnut to beet-soaked maroon, Little MOTHERHOUSE’s sweets are infused with elegant gradients that permeate both bar and packaging. The white-chocolate treats are produced from cocoAlgae Sequins Embellish a Petroleum-Free Dress Designed by Phillip Lim and Charlotte McCurdy
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“Sequins are synonymous with plastic waste,” says renowned designer Phillip Lim about an endeavor to combat the egregious amount of pollution generated each year by the fashion industry. He’s part of the 2020 cohort for One X One—a Slow FA Serendipitous Shot Frames a Meteor Soaring Over Russia’s Klyuchevskaya Sopka as It Erupts
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In a single, fortuitous photograph, Daniel Kordan proves his astute eye as he documents two of nature’s rarely seen phenomena: the brilliant trail of a meteor streaking through the sky and Klyuchevskaya Sopka as it spews a mass of glowing lava. StrikinCountless Paper Seeds Comprise the Fluctuating Landscapes in Ilhwa Kim’s Sculptural Works
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In Ilhwa Kim’s sculptural landscapes, innumerable paper seeds form precise rows, indented pockets of densely packed folds, and multi-color valleys that wind through the feet-wide works. The South Korean artist arranges individual units of the rolled materiaClothesline Farm Animals Graze the Countryside in Playful Illusions by Helga Stentzel
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Instead of tossing an old pair of pants or T-shirt, Helga Stentzel puts her tired garments out to pasture. So far, the London-based artist has added Pegasus and Smoothie, a pair of clothesline equine and bovine, to her herd of playful interventions hung in buA Striking Curved Wall Swells Upward Across Three Stories of a Taipei Home by Yuan Architects
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Nestled in the mountainous region of Taipei’s Xindian district is a new home by Yuan Architects that mirrors the stately landscape outdoors. In “Lan Villa,” the international design firm constructed a central, curved wall that sweeps upwardGleaming Water Drops Bead on the Canvas in Kim Tschang-Yeul’s Hyperrealistic Paintings
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Swollen, glistening, and saturated with illusion, the ubiquitous water drop absorbed Kim Tschang-Yeul throughout his career. The Korean artist, who died earlier this year, was faithful to the seemingly mundane subject matter, choosing to depict the dewy orbGleaming Water Drops Bead on the Canvas in Kim Tshchang-Yeul’s Hyperrealistic Paintings
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Swollen, glistening, and saturated with illusion, the ubiquitous water drop absorbed Kim Tshchang-Yeul throughout his career. The Korean artist, who died earlier this year, was faithful to the seemingly mundane subject matter, choosing to depict the dewy orbGleaming Water Drops Bead on the Canvas in Kim Tshcang-Yeul’s Hyperrealistic Paintings
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Swollen, glistening, and saturated with illusion, the ubiquitous water drop absorbed Kim Tshcang-Yeul throughout his career. The Korean artist, who died earlier this year, was faithful to the seemingly mundane subject matter, choosing to depict the dewy orbHilarity Ensues as Everything Goes Catastrophically Wrong in an Ad for Etisalat
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Strap on a helmet and fasten your kneepads before watching this ad for international telecommunications giant, Etisalat. Nalle Sjoblad’s “Moonwalk” uses brutal Home Alone-esque sequences of poor planning, office rage, and failure to appreciA Massive Seven-Volume Collection Chronicles the Pioneering Legacy of Abstract Artist Hilma af Klint
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Following a wildly successful retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2018, Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) has firmly secured her place as a groundbreaking figure in abstract art. In recent years, her colorful, spiritually-minded body of work has reshaped art historA Rare Yellow Penguin Has Been Photographed for the First Time on a South Georgia Island
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On a trip to a small island in South Georgia in December 2019, Yves Adams spotted an unusually bright creature bobbing through a sea of 120,000 king penguins. Whereas most of the flightless birds sported the typical tuxedo-like suit, one paraded around with yThe First USPS Stamp Designed by an Alaska Native Artist Features a Trickster Raven as It Steals the Sun
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When it’s released later this summer, a new stamp from the U.S. Postal Service will illuminate a piece of Indigenous culture that’s long been associated with an escape from darkness. Titled “Raven Story,” the history-making postage featurElegantly Subversive Paintings Position Somber Women in the Throes of Domestic Struggle
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In her poetic body of work, Chidinma Nnoli draws on her experiences growing up in a patriarchal, Catholic home. It “felt very stifling, and I existed in an environment of anxiety and fear where it felt uneasy to relax,” says the 22-year-old NigeriTokyo’s Kadokawa Culture Museum Houses an Arresting Kengo Kuma-Designed Bookshelf Theater
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Although it boasts more than 50,000 books, the massive library at the heart of the Kadokawa Culture Museum (previously) isn’t just for bibliophiles or curious readers hoping to stumble upon a new title. Designed by renowned architect Kengo Kuma (previoContorted Limbs and Bodies Disrupt the Mundane in Surreal Photographs by Cristina Coral
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Photographer Cristina Coral has an eye for subtle alterations that transform seemingly ordinary scenes into surreal images brimming with illusion. Often centered on a solitary woman, the conceptual photographs rely on texture, pattern, and the figures’Fantastical Cartoons, Robotic Pets, and Vibrant Architecture Populate Digital Illustrations by Ori Toor
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In Ori Toor’s Gibberish universe, it’s not uncommon to see bulbous cartoon creatures, leaves sprouting from pockets of machinery, or tunnels wrapped in rainbows. Set against solid backdrops, the digitally rendered dreamlands are teeming with fantasticFiery Crayon Sculptures and Busts by Herb Williams Confront the Climate Crisis
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Herb Williams addresses some of the most pressing issues of our time—uncontrollable fires, hurricanes, and an impending lack of natural resources, to name a few—through an unusually playful medium. The Nashville-based artist creates colorful sculptures an‘Black Art: In the Absence of Light,’ a New Documentary, Celebrates the Rich Legacy of Black Art
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“I saw the need to build cultural awareness by helping to revise and redefine American art,” says the renowned professor, artist, and curator David Driskell in Black Art: In the Absence of Light. His words echo throughout the new HBO documentaWrite for Rights: An Illustrated Campaign for Amnesty International Aims to Free People Who Are Imprisoned
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A new campaign for Amnesty International exemplifies the power of the pencil in a moving series of illustrations by Bristol-based Owen Gent. Led by creative agency Cossette, the initiative was was designed for Write for Rights, an annual effort striving toA Stellar Panorama Frames the Milky Way and Other Celestial Bodies Through a Snowy Forest in Poland
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On a cold night at the end of January, astrophotographer Łukasz Żak traveled about 150 kilometers from his home in Wołomin near Warsaw to a rural region in northeastern Poland. Near the village of Siemiony, he ventured into -12 degree cold to snap a remarkOneClock: A Modern Take on the Analog Alarm Never Plays the Same Melody Twice
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Say goodbye to the days of being jarred awake by the alarm blaring from your iPhone. The creative team over at OneClock designed a streamlined device with the intention of rousing people in a more peaceful manner, one with soothing melodies that are in starkOtherworldly Ecosystems Populate Dense, Cross-Hatched Illustrations by Song Kang
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Packed with texture and depth, Song Kang’s ink-based drawings begin with “I wonder…I wonder how this will look compared to that, or I wonder if I can mix this and that,” she says. The Atlanta-based illustrator renders rich labyrinths populA Trio of Monumental Macramé Installations Stretch 37 Feet Across a Seaside Structure in Bali
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In just 12 days, Jakarta-based fiber artist Agnes Hansella fashioned a staggering trio of macramé installations that hang from a ceiling in Bali. Each of the knotted works spans more than 37 feet wide, cloaking the open-air structure in fringed fibers that eMixed-Media Portraits by Nelson Makamo Reflect Childhood Innocence and Wonder
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Nelson Makamo (previously) is known for his oversized, lively portraits of the children and teens he meets around Johannesburg. Using a distinct blend of acrylic, watercolors, monotypes, silkscreen, and oil paint, the South African artist often delineates the‘Same Energy’ is a New Visual Search Engine That Finds Related Images by Style and Mood
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Toronto-based developer Jacob Jackson just launched a simple visual search engine that’s particularly adept at gathering results with similar patterns, compositions, and textures. Aptly named Same Energy, the tool is still in beta and minimal by designPockets of Landscapes and Still Lifes Adorn Subjects in Lavish Portraits by Aniela Sobieski
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Aniela Sobieski is intrigued by “the human impulse to self-decorate,” a fascination that permeates every aspect of her portraiture. Evoking both baroque paintings and contemporary fashions, Sobieski adorns women and the occasional dog with elabora
