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The Future of Orion

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Dinosaur Cosmics
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Guybrush
5 days ago
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JayM
5 days ago
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Hahaha.
Atlanta, GA
marcrichter
5 days ago
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🔥
tbd

Step Into Beguiling Bygone Eras in Jeff Bartels’s ‘Urban Glitch’ Series

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Step Into Beguiling Bygone Eras in Jeff Bartels’s ‘Urban Glitch’ Series

Around the time he turned 50, Jeff Bartels (previously) found himself thinking more and more about memory and nostalgia. “It occurred to me that I could remember certain things from my past exactly, while other memories were mixed up or even wrong,” he tells Colossal. “So I decided to explore that confusion.”

Bartels’s ongoing series Urban Glitch consists of five paintings so far, each focusing on different years from the recent past, ranging from 1979 to 2001. Each painstakingly detailed composition highlights pop culture of the era, from the latest cars and products to pastimes, music, and fashion.

Detail of “Urban Glitch 1983”

The imaginary buildings stack on top of one another and connect via bridges, platforms, and staircases reminiscent of M.C. Escher’s mathematically puzzling architecture.

Locked in time and space, as if the scenes are “glitching,” Bartels’s thriving urban hubs invoke the sights and sounds of bygone eras. People peer into their fridges, walk their dogs, play games at the arcade, and view paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat or Damien Hirst’s seminal 1991 work of a tiger shark preserved in a tank.

The artist employs 3D modeling software to create references for each painting rather than photographic sources, so “there is a lot of work done on my computer before I even pick up a brush and being the painting,” he says. “This way, I can create realistic-looking scenes that could not exist in the real world.”

Each piece takes hundreds of hours to complete due to the meticulous process of defining each building, figure, and tiny, stage-like scene. The artist estimates “1983” took about 850 hours altogether, and while the time commitment alone makes it “easy to burn out on them…” he says, “I do plan on continuing the series with at least a few more.”

Find more on Bartels’s website and Instagram.

“Urban Glitch 1985,” oil on linen, 30 x 30 inches
Detail of “Urban Glitch 1985”
“Urban Glitch 1979,” oil on linen, 30 x 30 inches
Detail of “Urban Glitch 1979”
Detail of “Urban Glitch 1979”
“Urban Glitch 1991,” oil on linen, 30 x 30 inches
Detail of “Urban Glitch 1983”
“Urban Glitch 2001,” oil on linen, 30 x 30 inches
Detail of “Urban Glitch 2001”

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 Step Into Beguiling Bygone Eras in Jeff Bartels’s ‘Urban Glitch’ Series appeared first on Colossal.

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Guybrush
58 days ago
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Virginia Mori’s Wistful Illustrations Tap Into Reverie

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Virginia Mori’s Wistful Illustrations Tap Into Reverie

Visually simple yet conceptually unbounded, Italian illustrator Virginia Mori continues to create scenes that proliferate from her imaginative world of inner emotions. “I often take inspiration from dreams, nightmares, hallucinations, and long walks in nature,” Mori says. Rippling water, nested doorways, and liquefied lenses lend to an air of surrealism, indicative of the artist’s distinctive style.

Mori has a busy year ahead, as she is currently working on an animated short film, book illustration, and preparing for a group exhibition opening next month at Blu Gallery in Bologna. If you’re into tarot cards, the artist just designed a deck that you can find on Stay-Hop. Keep up with Mori’s upcoming works on her website and Instagram.

a black and white illustration of two extended legs donning ballet flats. in the background, a door inside of a doorway opens to reveal a figure's eye looking inward.
a drawing of a woman covering her face with two gloved hands
a gif of a figure in a swimsuit looking down at their shadow in rippling water. the shadow seems to swim away like a fish.
a woman with hair in the shape of a cube sunbathes on a pool bed
a gif of a woman in a swimsuit lounging on a beach blanket as it levitates above rippling water
two illustrated tarot cards. on the left a head floats in front of three swords. on the right two dogs stand in front of a pool with a lobster as the sun shines.
an overhead photo of tarot cards

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 Virginia Mori’s Wistful Illustrations Tap Into Reverie appeared first on Colossal.

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Guybrush
62 days ago
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Living at Sea for a Decade, Benjamin Sack’s Elaborate Drawings Cruise the World

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a black-and-white drawing of an undulating, imagined city in a circular composition surrounded by gold paint like a frame

All images © Benjamin Sack, shared with permission

When Benjamin Sack (previously) graduated from university, he sought a new adventure. “I wanted to travel and see and draw the places that inspire my work,” he tells Colossal. One day, he inquired with Holland America Line, which led round-the-world sea voyages, to see if the company might be interested in a novel trade: in exchange for a spot on the ship, Sack would lead classes and lectures and create a large drawing. “Long story short, they loved the idea and welcomed me aboard, saying it would only happen this one year,” he says. Ten years later, he’s something of a “court artist” on a vessel called the King Neptune.

Sack is influenced by historical cartography and architectural designs, and many of his black-and-white urban renderings evoke etchings popularized in 17th-century London. The artist adds elaborate metallic borders that suggest antique gilded frames, yet the compositions swirl with a contemporary flair.

Each meticulous, large-scale piece takes its cues from places Sack travels while on board the ship. Like a sailing microcosm of a city, the vessel’s rhythms, schedule, and international denizens provide endless inspiration. “My position onboard is unique in that I’m kind of in the grey zone between passenger and crew member,” the artist says. “I have access to both worlds as it were, much like how art is in the real world, where all practices and divisions in society overlap.”

During the past two years, voyages that have inspired new work include itineraries around Africa, South America, and twice around the world. The sea itself lends a hand to Sack’s work sometimes, too, especially if traveling through rougher regions like the Drake Passage between South America’s Cape Horn and Antarctica or while the captains maneuver through changeable weather. “Most of the time, though, it’s a joy to draw with the lilt and lull of the sea,” Sack says. “She gives the page life!”

Explore more of Sack’s work on his website, and follow updates about his art-filled experiences at sea on Instagram.

 

an oblique view of a black-and-white drawing of an undulating, imagined city in a circular composition surrounded by gold paint like a frame

a black-and-white drawing of South America surrounded by circular bubble-like images of different features of the continent

a black-and-white drawing of an imagined historical cityscape with a spiraling cloud mass in the center

artist Benjamin Sack shown from behind as he works on a large-scale drawing with a map of the world in the center, surrounded by "bubbles" of images of places around the globe

a large drawing of a world map in the center surrounded by circular images of sites around the globe

a detail of a drawing with a circular city in the middle and a ship in the sea

a vertical black-and-white drawing with a white rectangle inside, framing an imaginary, spiraling urban landscape

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Living at Sea for a Decade, Benjamin Sack’s Elaborate Drawings Cruise the World appeared first on Colossal.

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Guybrush
128 days ago
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A Pair of Staggering Infographics Organizes 1,600 Planets Beyond Our Solar System by Color

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an infographic poster with various round planets, some with rings, arranged in a dense color gradient

“The Exoplanet Zoo.” All images © Martin Vargic, shared with permission

Not until 1992 did astronomers confirm that there were planets outside our solar system, and in the 30-plus years that have followed, researchers have discovered at least 6,660 exoplanets across nearly 4,900 systems. In his latest project, artist and author Martin Vargic turns that staggering number into a pair of striking infographics.

Utilizing a trio of public databases—The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia, NASA Exoplanet Archive, and ExoKyoto—Vargic gathered information on the sizes and equilibrium temperatures of about 1,600 exoplanets, along with their possible colors. Current technology isn’t capable of discerning their exact textures and color, so he based many of his renderings on existing illustrations, the likelihood of clouds and haze, and the Sudarsky scale, which organizes planets into five categories according to the properties of their atmospheres.

“We have discovered many diverse exotic worlds such as hot Jupiters with clouds of molten rock, water worlds covered by a world-spanning unfathomably deep superocean, red-hot lava planets, or planets darker than coal,” the artist writes.

 

a detail image of bright warm colored planets in a grid

Detail of “The Exoplanet Zoo”

For “The Exoplanet Zoo,” Vargic arranged about 1,100 renderings by the amount of heat they receive from stars, creating a mesmerizing gradient of color and size for easy comparison. “Icy and Rocky Worlds” is similar, although it features approximately 900 exoplanets believed to be terrestrial like Earth.

As with any discussion of distant galaxies and the unknown possibilities within them, Vargic also addresses the question of life beyond our solar system. He says:

As the first lifeforms developed on Earth very soon after its formation, it’s likely that many planets in the habitable zone might possess at least primitive single-celled life. The longer a planet spent in the habitable zone after its formation, there is a higher likelihood of complex life on its surface… It has been calculated there are almost nine billion Earth-sized planets within their star’s habitable zone just in our own galaxy, more than one such planet for every living person!

Each poster is available in Vargic’s shop, where he shares additional detail images. It’s also worth reading his full explanation of the differences in exoplanets and taking a look at the high-resolution versions of the posters.

 

a detail image of bright cool colored planets in a grid

Detail of “The Exoplanet Zoo”

an infographic poster with various round planets, some with rings, arranged in a dense color gradient

“Icy and Rocky Worlds”

a detail image of bright warm colored planets in a grid

Detail of “Icy and Rocky Worlds”

a detail image of bright cool colored planets in a grid

Detail of “Icy and Rocky Worlds”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article A Pair of Staggering Infographics Organizes 1,600 Planets Beyond Our Solar System by Color appeared first on Colossal.

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Guybrush
131 days ago
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My latest cartoon for New Scientist

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A figure stands before a large screen bearing the words 'Current Research' and says "Investors are so overexcited about AI that we can get pretty much any project funded if it has the right initials.  The image on the screen changes to research display projects in turn: Attack Insects, Airborne Icebergs, Arm Improvements, Antelope Internet…ALT

My latest cartoon for New Scientist

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Guybrush
199 days ago
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