The Photography and Sculptures of Mari Katayama
Mari Katayama’s photography uses her own body as one of her materials. Born with a rare congenital disorder, the artist had her legs amputated as a child, and at times, her sculptural work emulates the features of her body that the condition caused. The resulting work explores identity, anxiety, and other topics.
“Her belief is that tracing herself connects with other people and her everyday life can be also connected with the society and the world, just like the patchwork made with threads and a needle by stitching borders,” a statement says. “In addition to her art creation, Katayama leads ‘High heel project’ in which she wore customized high-heeled shoes specially made for prosthesis to perform on stage as a singer, model, or keynote speaker. The motto of this project is to take advantage of any means including art and disabled body if it helps to expand the ‘freedom of choice’ for those in desperate need.”
Cai Guo-Qiang's work, including the monumental “Sky Ladder,” transforms the space with seemingly minimalist strokes. However, much of the work comes out of meticulous planning and labored execution. Recent portraits also continue the artist's use of surprising materials, such as the gunpowder portraits below.
The personal work of Brooklyn-born sculptor Dave Cortes is forged from varying types of woods and precious metals. These pieces, whether a dramatic face distorted from brute force or a quieter, grotesque mediation, “represent an encapsulated moment of inspiration,” Cortes says. The artist has created commercial work for DC Comics, Sideshow Toys, Toy Biz, and MacFarlane Toys.
Alien meets House of Wax in Matthew J. Levin's melted, mutilated statuettes. The spine-chilling creatures have glistening skin stretching over elongated bones and folding over protruding ribs. Many objects appear organically self-actualized; as if the creatures emerged alone out of a solid substance. Though their appearances may be repulsive, Levin's method of positioning his small-scaled creatures in dance-like movements imbues them with a sort of grace and unearthly beauty.
Olaf Breuning is a Swiss-born, New-York based artist known for his experimental multimedia works, spanning photographs, videos, drawings and installations, sometimes mixed together, that regularly make use of pop-culture imagery. Often described as "outlandish", his art also addresses ideas about consumerism, stereotypes, gender clichés, and analyzes the relationship between art and kitsch. Among these is his bizarre photo series "The Art Freaks", which originally debuted in 2011, and is being revisited in the artist's 15-year retrospective, "The Madness That We Call Reality".