A sense of unease surrounds the buildings in Lee Madgwick’s paintings, their sides crumbling or coated in thick vegetation as they stand alone in fields or swamps. The neglected structures appear lifted from cities and towns and dropped directly into rural landscapes, where nature slowly envelops their brick facades or sprouts trees from their eaves. “I’m forever drawn to places of abandonment and isolation,” Madgwick tells Colossal. “I’m compelled to explore these enigmatic wonders. There’s a poignancy and an unwavering silence and fragility that hangs in the air.”

Containing only remnants of human life, the scenes prompt questions about the buildings’ origins and caretakers. Some pieces, like “The Veil,” depict a home long-deserted by inhabitants as thick vines cover the lower windows, while others like “Fen View” suggest that people remain, as a small window is neatly trimmed out of an overgrown hedge.

Working in what he terms “imagined realism,” the artist uses a mix of water-mixable oil and acrylic paints layered during the course of several weeks. “The skies are painted with the palms of my hands and fingertips. It’s the most expressive part of the process,” he shares. “Together with a brooding sky and concentrated light a sense of drama is formed and a narrative is set in motion.”

Madgwick has a solo show slated for October at Brian Sinfield Gallery in Burford, Oxfordshire. Until then, find his work on Instagram and shop limited-edition prints on his site. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

“Fen View”

“The Flood”

“Summer House”

“Gatehouse”

“Kingdom”

“Fragments”

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 Mystery Abounds in Lee Madgwick’s Uncanny Paintings of Derelict Buildings appeared first on Colossal.

Each summer, a handful of students are selected to present at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. The AAAF has the New Art, New Artists (NANA) program through which college students receive one-on-one mentoring from staff of the art fair.

Additionally, the Guild of Artists and Artisans has the Emerging Artists Program, which teaches participants how to apply for art fairs, price their work, select tools/technology necessary for a great display, market their work, prepare for shows of various sizes, and more.

For Emily Mann (Stamps, ’24), Sophia Gallette (Stamps, ’23) and Tyler Dunston (Rackham, ’24) of the University of Michigan, this summer’s fair will be their first time selling their work in the art fair circuit.

For Mann, a printmaker, connecting with four different mentors through the NANA program gave her new insight into the business side of art making. In an art fair setting, “not only are you an artist, but you are a business person providing a product for people to buy and you need to engage with customers, which is different from the classroom where we focus on the making of art and our ideas,” Mann said.

Most of the prints she will be selling were created in the classroom from wood blocks, lino prints, etchings and lithographs.

In an artist statement written as part of Mann’s Writing in Art and Design course, she said, “I am preoccupied with visual dichotomies of order and chaos, rational and irrational, geometric and organic, which are realized as surreal spaces that one could imagine themself inhabiting. Creating these landscapes is my way of processing my place in a world that is bigger and more complex than I could ever understand. They are a form of escape, as well as a reflection of my own worldview and experiences.”

Gallette is a jewelry and accessory designer who just graduated from U-M’s Stamps School of Art & Design. Her collection at this summer’s fair is inspired by nature, focusing on contemporary and unique styles that are worn on the body using precious metals, stones, sustainable materials and found objects.

“Nature Scapes is a jewelry collection inspired by interactions around nature,” she said. “Replicating exactly what I see allows me to manipulate nature on the human body. Using patterns in nature for my designs can be literal or can lead to more abstract interpretations.

“Throughout each season, nature changes and inspires me. This past winter, icicles were growing on window sills, each one completely unique. The sterling silver earrings evolved from this scape: freezing the beauty of icicles into a more permanent formation.”

Coming to U-M already knowing she wanted to pursue jewelry design, Gallette found ways to incorporate this work into her required coursework, which allowed her “to play around with a lot of different materials and technologies to add to my craft and explore different routes of how I can make jewelry and discovering my own style and way of creating.”

This is not the first time Gallette has designed jewelry inspired by nature. During her time studying abroad at Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London, she participated in a partnership with Swarovski’s sustainability team creating “Suffocation of the Sea”—a statement necklace featuring fishing net, Swarovski crystals and a brass cage around the neck of the model as a commentary on ghost fishing and the pollution of our oceans.

She sees the art fair as a way of understanding how the public responds to her work to guide her design process moving forward with sales in mind, and as her first step postgraduation toward creating her own brand.

With an entrepreneurship minor through the Ross Business School to supplement her arts degree, Gallette has armed herself with essential tools to not only create jewelry she is passionate about, but to market it in a way that will lead to a sustainable career in her chosen craft.

On the other hand, Dunston, a Rackham graduate student and future intern at the U-M Museum of Art, is a poet and a painter.

“The pieces I am exhibiting at the art fair are mostly oil paintings with some acrylic and mixed media. A lot of them are from a series in which I was trying to explore landscape through abstraction,” he said.

This shows up in his art in two ways: creating landscape paintings that are guided by interactions between form and color, and painting pure abstraction with a suggestion of landscape, such as adding a line across the piece that evokes the idea of a horizon.

“I was thinking about the kind of disappearing landscape that you can get through abstraction, and how that resonates with some of the context and anxieties around the climate crisis … not in a direct commentary way, but there is something that appeals to me about abstraction as a way of approaching landscape because it feels so not solid, and that was evocative of some of the feelings I have been having about the situation,” he said.

Through biweekly meetings with the Guild, participants learn more about submitting their work to juried shows, updating their websites, dealing with customers and how to make a living through selling their work.

“The Guild was really generous with their time and giving artists who have a sense of the kind of art they want to work on but don’t have as much of a sense of some of the more practical knowledge that is really helpful for someone trying to sell their work to know,” Dunston said.

The Ann Arbor Art Fair is free to the public and takes place July 20-22.

As theatre operators look to rebound from the pandemic, MJR recently announced they are bringing state-of-the-art technology to MJR Marketplace Cinema in Sterling Heights that will blow audiences away.

“We will be providing moviegoers with something they cannot replicate at home,” said Joel Kincaid, vice president of operations for MJR Digital Cinemas and a member of the original team put together by former owner and founder Mike Mihalich.

Coming soon to Sterling Heights will be a new auditorium featuring a massive wall-to-wall screen, a 4K laser projection system, Dolby Atmos immersive sound and zero gravity heated recliners.

“When combined these features will provide the ultimate theatrical experience in sight, sound and comfort,” said Anthony Taylor, director of marketing, in a news release announcing the upgrades.

One would think food and drinks were among the amenities that attract people to theaters but MJR surveyed Michigan movie goers and they said for them it’s the big screen and sound they love.

However, that’s not to say concessions aren’t important.

“Our focus has always been to make sure people enjoyed their movie experience,” Kincaid said, and that includes buttered popcorn, candy and other snacks, beverages and even cocktails.

MJR was among the first theaters in its market to add a bar, where patrons can catch the last quarter of a big game before seeing a show or gather with friends for cocktails inspired by blockbuster movies like “Barbie’s” Pink Dream or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Minds” Eternal Sunshine of the Watermelon Lime.

This summer audiences attending MJR theaters will see several new food items added to the lineup along with movie merchandise, but again it’s all toppings.

“This market has a really solid movie audience,” Kincaid said, which means they want to experience the story from the best perspective possible.

That’s what MJR is showing with its new technology.

“The 4K laser projector, unlike a standard projector, gives you the crispest colors imaginable, the blackest of black and the brightest colors and the closer you get the crisper the details,” Kincaid said. “It’s amazing.”

Now add the sound featuring 40 channels that will bring on the rain, the screams and all of the background noises one might appear in a scene without distorting the narration of the characters. Sound editors no longer have the last say when a theater has this kind of system, which first debuted at MJR Brighton Cinema last year.

“The feedback we’ve received has been tremendous,” Kincaid said, noting the new auditorium in Sterling Heights will also feature a new concept, the Premium Sofa Lounger, which is a heated loveseat recliner designed to enhance the viewing experience for those near the front of the auditorium and provide a unique product that doesn’t exist in this market.

“It’s really going to be an immersive experience,” said Kincaid, whose management team and employees average about 800.

It’s been about four years since MJR Digital Cinemas was purchased by a European cinema chain.

Kinepolis Group acquired the Bloomfield Hills-based MJR, the Belgium company’s first venture into the United States market, for an estimated $152.2 million and after its purchase in 2019 continued to operate under its existing brand name and management team.

It was good timing on the part of its founder Mihalich as the following spring COVID-19 hit and theaters were closed.

Despite the bottom falling out of the entertainment industry, MJR, which operates 10 movie theaters in Macomb and Oakland counties, managed to come up with ways to stay connected to its patrons like takeout popcorn and distance seating options, until it was eventually able to reopen all of its venues.

MJR Marketplace Cinema 20 is at 35400 Van Dyke Ave., in Sterling Heights. The new auditorium is expected to be finished sometime in August.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the start of the I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop, a statewide commemoration of the genre’s 50th anniversary on August 11, 2023. Hosted in partnership with renowned cultural organizations including Lincoln Center and The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, the I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop will feature a line-up of concerts, exhibitions, performances, and other family-friendly programming across the State.

“The birth of hip-hop in New York set off a musical revolution that reverberated around the world,” Governor Hochul said. “Fifty years later, the hip-hop genre is an essential part of New York’s cultural fabric as it continues to tell the story of our great state. I am excited to celebrate that legacy with our Summer of Hip Hop series and urge New Yorkers and visitors to visit one of our events, participate in our ticket giveaway, and learn more about hip-hop’s rich history in New York State.”

“Hip-hop is more than a genre of music; it is a culture rooted in four principles – peace, love, unity and having fun,” said Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. “Incredibly, this culture took shape from the margins of society, and was created by communities too often unseen and unheard. Now the culture is a global phenomenon for all to see, hear and be influenced by. And to think it all started right here in New York, the Bronx to be exact. I can’t think of a better place to celebrate the impact of 50 years of hip-hop than the Empire State.”

The I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop will feature four anchor events hosted and co-presented by New York State:

Great New York State Fair (Central New York)

Adding to the star-studded Chevrolet Music Series line-up featuring performances from Ludacris, Salt-N-Pepa, Doechii, and Yung Gravy, Governor Hochul today announced that hip hop pioneer and 2023 GRAMMYs Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Slick Rick will perform at the Great New York State Fair’s Suburban Park Stage at 2:00PM on Saturday, August 26. In addition, the much-anticipated, 180-ton Sand Sculpture located in the Center of Progress building will feature a large-scale tribute to 50 years of hip hop in New York State. The Fair begins Wednesday, August 23 and continues through Labor Day, Monday, September 4. Admission tickets, expected to go on sale soon at NYSFair.ny.gov, will cost $6 for adults, and are free for those who are 12 years old and younger, and 65 years old and older.

Lincoln Center Hip-Hop Week (New York City)

Governor Hochul today announced that New York State is the Lead Civic Partner for Hip-Hop Week at Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City series. Taking place from August 9-12, Hip-Hop Week will invite New Yorkers to experience hip hop past and present with 12 free events ranging from live performances by Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, to family-friendly silent discos and creative workshops, to freestyle battles and dance competitions.

Strong National Museum of Play (Finger Lakes)

In Rochester, New York State is partnering with the Strong Museum to present Re-Play: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Fun. The year-long exhibit opening in August will explore hip hop’s wide-ranging cultural influences and its emergence as a creative outlet and source of joy, fun, and play amid a period of cultural unrest in New York City. Visitors will be able to connect with hip hop history through artifacts like the dual Technic turntables that DJs used to spin the genre’s first beats in the 1970s to rapping Mickey Mouse dolls and DJ Barbie Mini Boomboxes that brought hip hop’s influence to the main stream and homes across America.

New York State Office of General Services Summer at the Plaza (Capital Region)

This year, the New York State Office of General Services’ Summer at the Plaza will feature a 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop show as part of its Capital Concert Series followed by the return of the Black Arts and Cultural Festival in a new, extended format. The August 2 concert will feature a Capital Region Battle of the DJs hosted by DJ Biz of Hot 99.1 and performances from Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shanté and Black Sheep. The fun continues with a three-day Festival celebrating Black art, culture, community, history, music, and dance. The Festival program includes Teen Night (August 3) featuring young, aspiring singers, steppers, dancers, rappers and lyricists; Gospel Night (August 4) featuring the best of the Capital Region’s choirs; and the Grand Rising Health and Wellness Fair leading into Old School Meets New School R&B Night with Keri Hilson and Sonny Bivins Manhattans (August 5).

In addition, Governor Hochul announced the launch of an I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop ticket sweepstakes for Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium. New Yorkers can enter the sweepstakes for a chance to see headliners including Run DMC, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, Lil Kim, Wiz Khalifa, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Fat Joe, and Kid Capri perform live at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the birthplace of hip hop. Learn more about how to enter for a chance to win a VIP experience for two here.

To promote these events and dozens more, I LOVE NY unveiled a dedicated landing page for the I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop. The website features a map of hip hop programming taking place across the State around the 50^th Anniversary of Hip Hop and throughout the summer. I LOVE NY will also launch a digital marketing campaign celebrating New York’s central role in hip hop history and encouraging visitors to experience the I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop first-hand.

Today’s announcements complement the I LOVE NY Black Travel initiative, announced by Governor Hochul in February 2023 as part of Black History Month. The program actively promotes New York State as a great vacation destination for Black travelers. Efforts will include a dedicated presence on the I LOVE NY website and a promotional campaign based on market research and stakeholder outreach that highlights existing assets and supports new programming to provide a direct invitation welcoming Black visitors and their families to experience New York’s unparalleled Black history, culture, food, arts and events.

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “The I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop will showcase the music and culture that was born in The Bronx and has grown to embrace a global audience. New York State’s partnership on this series of commemorative concerts and events will celebrate that legacy and encourage visitors and residents alike to explore different regions of the state this summer.”

Empire State Development Vice President and Executive Director of Tourism Ross D. Levi said, “New York State is proud to celebrate hip hop’s golden anniversary with special events and tributes throughout the Empire State. I LOVE NY is excited to promote the state’s hip hop history, highlighting everything from commemorative concerts and block parties, to unique exhibits and dance and DJ performances. With I LOVE NY’s new dedicated anniversary website, it’ll be easier than ever for hip hop fans to plan a trip and fall in love with New York.”

New York State Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy said, “New York is the birthplace of one of the world’s most influential and transformative music genres and cultures, and no matter where you are from, hip hop has touched you through song, fashion, or art. For a half-century, hip hop has influenced the world by breaking down barriers and creating a space where everyone has the ability to express themselves. The Office of General Services is proud to participate in New York State’s celebration with a 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop show that will place a spotlight on New York hip hop artists and DJs.”

New York State Council on the Arts Executive Director Mara Manus said, “Hip hop’s phenomenal influence on arts and culture cannot be overstated. Fifty years later, hip hop has shaped and inspired all genres of music, dance, drama, literature, and visual art. An explosion of expression, New York is the home of hip-hop and we are thrilled to see so many celebrations across the state recognizing this important cultural anniversary.”

Great New York State Fair Interim Fair Director Sean Hennessey said, “The Great New York State Fair is proud and honored to be included in New York State and I LOVE NY’s Summer of Hip Hop. Survey results and feedback from fairgoers show that Hip Hop draws big crowds at The Fair. Last year, we saw four of our largest concert crowds to date – and three of them were for Hip Hop shows! This year, Hip Hop musical acts make up about one-eighth of the national recording artists and entertainment acts in our Chevrolet Music Series. We look forward to bringing legends like Slick Rick, Salt-N-Pepa and Ludacris to The Fair this year, and introducing fairgoers to up-and-coming talent too. The Fair, which runs August 23 through Labor Day, is the best value in entertainment! Watching every performance is included in the admission cost to The Fair.”

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer Shanta Thake said, “We’re excited to celebrate Hip-Hop, which is so quintessentially New York and influences so many areas of art-making and elements of our culture. We’re proud to join so many organizations in this celebration and are thankful to the State for their support.

The Strong National Museum of Play President and CEO Steve Dubnik said, “Hip hop channeled the angst of a generation into a communal site of play and musical innovation. We’re excited to explore that history in Re-Play: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Fun and to join with Governor Hochul and New York State in support of the statewide Summer of Hip Hop celebration.”

New York Yankees Senior Vice President Scott Krug said, “We are thrilled to commemorate the history and cultural influence of a musical genre born in the Bronx when we host Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium on August 11. It was extremely important to our organization that this event take place at our venue, to ensure that Hip Hop’s anniversary is celebrated within the community where it first took root. Great care was taken to reflect the different generations of artists that have contributed along the way — from DJ Kool Herc, who brought the Hip Hop sound to life on Sedgwick Avenue in 1973, to legends such as Run DMC, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and the Bronx’s own Fat Joe. We are also excited to be part of the Governor’s I LOVE NY Summer of Hip Hop initiative, which is shining a spotlight on music that has profoundly impacted art and culture around the world.”

SAN ANTONIO: The Public Theater of San Antonio has announced a new leadership structure, with two new positions. As part of the new structure, the theatre has named Asia Ciaravino their new president and CEO. Recently appointed producing artistic director Jimmy Moore, who holds the same title with the Classic Theatre of San Antonio (now a resident company at the Public), will continue to lead the company along with Rick Sanchez, the director of marketing and audience experience, and Christina Casella has returned to the theatre as its new managing director.

The executive team will work with Ciaravino to oversee the direction and vision of the theatre, focusing on three priorities: artistic experience, audience experience, and sound business practices.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to return to my home in the theatre,” Ciaravino said in a statement. “Our theatre needs to continue focusing on inclusion, communication, transparency, and creating art that tells everyone’s stories. The Public Theater has a unique opportunity to build community and create a safe artistic space for all.”

The news comes after a series of artistic leadership changes at the Public. In April, the theatre announced that executive artistic director Claudia de Vasco would leave the company this month, in the middle of the ongoing summer season. De Vasco, a Texas native, was the first Latina woman to lead the Public Theater and produced José Cruz González’s American Mariachi in 2022, which was also the first time the theatre had produced a play by a Latinx playwright, despite San Antonio’s predominantly Hispanic or Latino population.

The Public Theater hired de Vasco after artistic director and CEO George Green left in the fall of 2020 after he was placed on Actors’ Equity Association’s (AEA) Do Not Work list. Staff and actors accused Green of creating a toxic work environment and of flouting safety regulations for the theatre’s reopening.

Under the Public’s new partnership with the Classic Theatre of San Antonio, the Classic’s 2023–24 season productions will be produced in the Cellar Theater, a 60-seat theatre in the San Pedro Playhouse, which is also home to and operated by the Public Theater. And Classic Theatre leader J. Robert “Jimmy” Moore will share his decades of experience in musical theatre by taking the additional role of producing artistic
director for the Public Theater’s upcoming productions, to be performed in the Playhouse’s larger
350-seat Russell Rogers Theater.

The Public Theater of San Antonio aims to create dynamic professional theatre and arts programming to unite the diverse communities of San Antonio through transformative storytelling. The company was previously referred to as the San Pedro Playhouse and as the Playhouse San Antonio. As of 2022, the theatre had a budget of approximately $1.5 million.

Slender pieces of beechwood connected by strings of elastic form a playful menagerie of toys by Brooklyn-based designer Yoshiaki Ito. Morphits begin as cubes, carefully packaged in a box, then expanded to reveal a stable of animals, which currently include a giraffe, monkey, pig, hippo, or a tiger. Bendable and posable, they can be displayed on a surface or puzzled back together into a compact form.

Find more of Ito’s work on his website, where he sells the toys in his shop in both color and natural options. You can also follow Ito and the monkey’s world travels on Instagram.

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 Spritely Animals Spring from Cubes of Wood in Yoshiaki Ito’s Series of ‘Morphits’ appeared first on Colossal.

Marina Perez, a contemporary Indigenous arts PhD student at the University of New Mexico, struggles with the concept of the art world.

The art world often creates barriers for communities of color, which makes it harder for them to enter it, Perez said. It produces a binary between fine arts and community arts, contemporary arts and ancient arts. The separation, they said, often makes it hard for people of color to participate in the art world.

“The art world is a colonial construct. To even think that we need to construct a completely different world away from our everyday lives … Communities of color don’t have access to be able to enter the art world,” Perez said. “Our knowledge is not embraced or acknowledged.”

Perez attended “In Context: New Mexico in the Art World” as a panelist. The event was co-hosted by Southwest Contemporary and 516 Arts on July 13. Perez said they saw their role on the panel as a graduate student representing the next generation of the New Mexico art scene.

The talk centered around the relationship New Mexico has to the art world and the hierarchies present within the local art scene, Perez said. They are working to use their past art experience to start to break down those hierarchies – a topic that they wanted to focus on during the event.

“A lot of my work revolve(s) around community arts, and I’m trying to figure out (in) what ways that we can integrate this fine arts world with community arts. I do see that as one of the challenges currently,” Perez said.

516 Arts, a contemporary art museum, focuses on public programming and does not charge admission for their events, according to Daniel Ulibarri, the education and engagement coordinator at 516 arts.

“We want to bring contemporary art and contemporary artists to everyone, to make it available to everyone … Every chance that we have to engage with the community is really great,” Ulibarri said.

The gallery worked with Lauren Tresp, the publisher and editor-in-chief at Southwest Contemporary – a contemporary arts and culture magazine – to assemble a panel of art educators and professionals that are active and knowledgeable of the art world, Ulibarri said.

Tresp moderated the event and said that the goal was to examine and think about New Mexico art as an economy, community and as its own art world. The panelists were challenged to define and question the “art world.”

Nancy Marie Mithlo – a UCLA professor in gender studies and American Indian studies – spoke about the connotations and feelings that the term “art world” often creates. The art world refers to something we are outside of – something we are arguing with – Marie Mitho said.

“Usually it is used in a negative fashion … It usually is something that you are not, and maybe you want in. It does stand for institutions – it stands for power and there’s a lot wrong with that,” Marie Mithlo said.

The panelist addressed how New Mexico is often thought of as a time capsule – thinking of art created here as inherently old as well as romanticizing and exploiting native life, even when the art is contemporary. This makes it seem as though New Mexico is “removed” from the traditional art market, both spatially and intellectually. Perez said that these ideas are rooted in colonial logic and legacy.

“This construction of a myth that New Mexico is somehow removed completely from communities and art ecosystems … We need to start reframing or rethinking the way we talk about the art market here in New Mexico because it’s very localized,” Perez said.

The art world requires a redesign, Marie Mithlo said. Many of the legacies and stereotypes that it upholds don’t support communities that want to enter it or are excluded.

“We need to outgrow a lot of the systems that we have normalized – that are pathological, unhealthy. They are built on unsustainable systems,” Marie MIthlo said. “I think the sooner we get to that conversation, the better.”

Addison Key is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @addisonkey11