Will humanity know when singularity has arrived? This is a central question propelling the ascent of young Spanish-Croatian artist Filip Custic.

His works in response have focused on the human body as a canvas, lavishing it with color, layering it with 20th-century motifs of art and psychoanalysis, and fragmenting it with mirrors and screens. Often, the results appear like fantastical scenes composed for high-end fashion magazines and not by accident: the 30-year-old began in marketing working with the likes of Vogue, Esquire, and GQ, and remains, perhaps surprisingly, un-jaded by the creative potential of the commercial world.

Filip Custic, virtualhypermetasuperultramegaconnected. Photo: Filip Custic, courtesy Onkaos.

Fitting, then, that one of Custic’s first solo shows has opened inside a luxury shopping mall, Tokyo’s Parco Museum. The exhibition, “Human Product,” stages many of the Madrid-based artist’s founding works that present the body, most often his own, as a site for tweaking and upgrading, just like an operating system, as the artist puts it. Three new sculptural works place Custic within the context of collectible doll culture. Again, Custic believes presenting such works in Japan, the main developer of collectible dolls, makes Parco an ideal location.

“In the show, I basically want people to experience new paradigms, new situations, so we can think out ‘human programming,’” Custic told Artnet News. “I would like to open a conversation focused on how consumerist culture attempts to turn us into ‘commodities.’”

In zzz (2023) and human product (2023), new works in which Custic recasts himself as miniaturized dolls, he calls attention to the somnolent qualities of technologies, but not as you might expect. “I want to express the possibility of being able to sleep in the system and then wake up,” Custic said. “It is a big pressure to be a human being and we must look for moments of relaxation of our consciousness.”

This line of thinking applies to the overall exhibition. In his “Bolso de Pantalla” series (2021), a collection of handbags with incorporated screens that play his own branded messaging, he highlights the idea that carrying a handbag turns a human into a walking advertisement, but not to revolutionary ends.

“Consumerist culture turns us into commodities,” Custic said. “Our existence is more valid if it can be monetized.” A far-cry from calls to reclaim our digital identities.

Installation view of “Human Product” at Parco Museum, Tokyo. Photo courtesy Onkaos and Filip Custic.

Custic’s arrival in Japan marks the latest in a series of commercial breakthroughs for the artist. In 2018, he provided the visual thematics for Catalan pop star Rosalía’s sophomore album El mal querer. In a series of moving digital sculptures, Custic portrayed Rosalía as a divine figure immersed in worlds of modern spiritualism—think golden crucifixes, moon cycles, and energy circles all cast in scenes of flashing radiance. He later created work to accompany music projects for Julia Stone and Lil Nas X.

These projects stayed true to Custic’s glossy aesthetic, repeating much-used symbols such as cracked mirrors and the fragmented body, but left behind technological considerations. There’s little evidence of Custic making such a turn in his own work.

“It’s difficult to separate the role of technology in my artistic practice and in my life,” he said. “Technology is the only innovative element of our era. I think we will look super-bionic in the future and we will ask, ‘at what point did all this happen?’” Some would argue that moment has already arrived.

See more images of the exhibition below.

Installation view of “Human Product” at Parco Museum, Tokyo. Photo courtesy Onkaos and Filip Custic.

Filip Custic, “Bolso de pantalla” (2021). Photo: Filip Custic, courtesy of Onkaos.

Installation view of “Human Product” at Parco Museum, Tokyo. Photo courtesy Onkaos and Filip Custic.

“Human Product” is on view at Parco Museum, 15-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, through April 24.

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Reflecting her interest in drawing and photorealism, Lucy Simpson of Peacocks and Pinecones embroiders the glinting edges of glass and metallic objects in painstaking detail. Each piece is composed by directly observing decorative items like crystal tumblers and decanters, with some of the larger compositions taking upwards of 200 hours to complete. “It’s a slow process, and as a person who isn’t naturally patient, it’s a real endurance test for me,” she says. “I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I finish a piece.”

Simpson’s interest in needlework goes back to childhood and spending time with her grandmother, from whom she learned some basic skills at an early age. Fast forward to around five years ago when the artist had just given birth to her third child, and she took up cross-stitching from patterns as a way to relax. “I had been diagnosed with postnatal depression and anxiety, and my sister bought me my first kit to try and take my mind off things,” she says. “I loved how I had to completely focus on what I was doing, which left no room for intrusive thoughts. After a while, I decided I wanted to stitch my own designs and came across an embroidery style called thread painting and decided to have a go myself.”

First, Simpson began experimenting with rendering metallic objects, enjoying how single strands in a specific color could evoke a realistic depiction of light glinting off of an edge or seam. She spent time honing her craft on subjects like birds and animals because the stitches lent themselves naturally to the lines of fur and feather, but during the pandemic when she was spending extra time at home, she began to yearn for something more difficult.

“I think the biggest challenge using thread to depict glass is stitching the illusion of transparency,” she says. “I love the intricacies of cut glass and the way it distorts the liquid and makes light bounce around.” Typically working on a neutral background, Simpson sometimes incorporates patterns like gingham or polka dots, and she is constantly experimenting with new ways of realistically translating light and color, one stitch at a time.

Simpson occasionally takes commissions, and you can follow Peacocks and Pinecones on Instagram for updates.

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 Crystal Tumblers and Decanters Glint in the Sun in Photorealistic Embroideries by Lucy Simpson appeared first on Colossal.

Stagwell’s Annual Competition Acts as Incubator for Tech-Focused Marketing Startups with $1M in Funding to Start

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) Marketing Cloud has announced the winner of its 2022 Innovation Competition, a program designed to unleash employee innovation and fund technology that solves the modern marketer’s pain points. SmartAssets is an AI-powered SaaS platform that uses AI to extract creative components from ads. It then uses performance data from those ads to guide and support the creative process by reporting, forecasting, and optimizing ads for effectiveness. With AI-powered asset categorization, performance analytics, and instant creative adjustments, brands can better optimize production timelines and overall media performance.

“We were inspired once again by the visionary ideas that were presented in this year’s internal ‘Shark Tank,’ where the competition was fiercer than ever,” said Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn. “The potential and capabilities of SmartAssets perfectly align with the needs of modern marketers – bringing data-driven decision making to the creative process – and we’re excited to leverage the Stagwell ecosystem to perfect the platform, bring  it to market and let it go to work.”

SmartAssets was developed by a team from multilingual content and media consultancy Locaria, part of Stagwell’s Brand Performance Network: Chief Operating Officer Lindsay Hong, Data Scientist Eric Walzthöny, and Innovation Lead Vitaly Boitelet. The platform has three core capabilities:

• AI-powered asset management: SmartAssets reads the full content of a brand’s creative library and categorizes its attributes. It ensures assets meet industry and brand standards.
• Performance analytics: By connecting with a brand’s advertising platforms, SmartAssets provides performance reporting data not only to the creatives, but to media teams.
• Instant creative adjustments: After identifying opportunities, SmartAssets lets users quickly act on them by adjusting creative within the platform instantaneously.

“Global brands know that great creative drives performance just as much as a smart media strategy, and are looking for greater understanding and control of their increasingly complex creative asset portfolio. They want to be sure that the assets they produce not only meet quality and branding guidelines but will also land with the intended audience and drive results,” said Lindsay Hong, COO, Locaria. “By leveraging AI and the existing media infrastructure of the Brand Performance Network, SmartAssets will derive insights at scale to inform the creative process and expedite media strategy activation, allowing brands and agencies to unite their creative and media teams around one goal.”

Stagwell Marketing Cloud’s Innovation Competition provides funds and expertise for Stagwell’s 13,000+ employees to develop transformational ideas for technology-driven marketing solutions. The brief is simple: create a concept for a client-facing product at the intersection of technology, marketing, and business transformation.

“Our annual innovation competition, which we colloquially refer to as ‘Shark Tank,’ taps into the network’s global, cross-functional talent and deep understanding of the modern marketer,” said Stagwell Marketing Cloud Chief Marketing Officer Elspeth Rollert. “We pair that industry knowledge with the vast technical resources we have at Stagwell to build SaaS solutions that solve some of the industry’s biggest pain points.”

Past winners of the Stagwell Marketing Cloud Innovation Competition have developed into successful products, including: 

• Harris Brand Platform (2018 Winner), an industry-leading brand management software tool that collects critical brand and marketing data on brand competitors and consumers, to help marketers segment, target, measure and optimize campaign effectiveness.
• PRophet (2019 Winner), the only generative and predictive A.I-driven PR tool that helps professionals draft releases and social content in minutes. PRophet was recently named the winner of the Innovation SABRE Awards North America 2023 in the PR Software and Services category.
• ARound (2020 Winner), a first-of-its-kind fan engagement platform that delivers stadium-level augmented reality experiences, in use by the MLB, NFL, and launching soon in the NBA.
• WonderCave (2021 Winner), a peer-to-peer texting solution helping to grow brands and build communities with 1:1 text conversations at scale. WonderCave was crowned the 2022 Campaign Tech Award Winner for Best Texting Platform. 

About Stagwell Marketing Cloud

Stagwell Marketing Cloud (SMC) is a suite of data-driven SaaS solutions built for the modern in-house marketer. Born out of Stagwell’s network of award-winning marketing agencies, SMC’s technology empowers marketers to drive business impact by giving them intuitive tools equipped with proprietary, actionable data. SMC’s portfolio of solutions powers strategic customer research, communications, and media activation for brands worldwide by leveraging technology such as generative artificial intelligence, shared augmented reality, and more. Get your head in the cloud at www.stagwellmarketingcloud.com.

About Stagwell

Stagwell is the challenger holding company built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

Media Contact
Sarah Arvizo
[email protected]

SOURCE Stagwell Inc.

Ronda Knight is the artist who created ”Live Like Emily,” an adult coloring book that she hopes will inspire others to live their best life. It honors the memory of a woman known to many as a friend, teacher and coach.

“Live Like Emily” shares the story of Emily Harris, who was born in Yakima and lived most of her life in Selah. Emily was a mother of two young children when she was murdered in her Selah home by her estranged husband on Jan. 24, 2020. He later killed himself.

Since then Emily’s parents, Brian and Fran Harris, have raised more than $400,000 for YWCA Yakima in her memory. Brian and Fran strongly support the YWCA’s efforts to help women and families impacted by domestic violence. They also want to raise awareness and do what they can to ensure no other families have to suffer the same profound tragedy they did.

Knight approached Brian and Fran, whom she and her husband have known for some time, about making the book and illustrating it. The book is available on Amazon and 100% of the royalties from sales go to the Emily Harris Memorial Foundation, which in turn donates all of those funds to YWCA Yakima.

Copies of the book are also available at Brian Harris Used Cars in Selah for $17.50 each or two or more for $15 each. Purchase is by cash or check only with checks made out to the Emily Harris Memorial Foundation. Brian and Fran Harris also plan to attend the YWCA Leadership Luncheon on April 17 and, along with providing copies to those attending, will be selling copies there as well.

Along with “Live Like Emily,” Knight has created other books and artwork. She feels strongly about several causes and hopes to make a difference. She and her husband, Ric, live in Terrace Heights. To get an idea of her artwork, visit Amazon.com and search “Ronda Knight books” or search for the Ronda Knight author page.

Some questions and answers:

Where did you grow up and at what point did you first begin pursuing art, or become interested in art?

I grew up primarily here in the Yakima Valley. I went to high school in Port Townsend. My stepfather was stationed at the Point Wilson Lighthouse in Port Townsend. The family moved back to Yakima in 1976.

I’ve always loved to draw and create things. Though I don’t have any real formal training, I have always tried to learn new things from others. One of my first real loves was working with pen and ink, drawing wildlife.

Raising three sons didn’t allow much time for art and it got “put away for several years.” I guess you could say COVID was responsible for kick-starting my renewed interest in art. I was working as a massage therapy instructor in Selah, and when COVID came along I realized there was no real way to “distance” myself from people in this profession, so with my husband’s blessing, I retired.

I took up painting and at almost age 65, it’s kind of snowballed.

How did you become the artist you are today, and how do you describe yourself as an artist?

I started painting and going to art shows and bazaars with my work. My art is whimsical and humorous. I began painting comical chickens and other farm animals and people found themselves laughing. One lady came into my booth at an event and saw a painting I had made of these silly hens and she started laughing, then quickly apologized. I told her, “Don’t apologize! You’ve just given me the greatest compliment!”

My daughter-in-law is the one responsible for me shifting my art to the book market. She had looked into how people can put their artwork onto low-content books like journals, sketchbooks and day planners, and sell them on Amazon. I started marketing myself through Amazon and I also continued to go to local bazaars and other events with these books. I found I could reach a much larger audience this way.

Why was it important for you to create the coloring book in memory of Emily Harris?

Emily Harris’ death impacted not just her family, but it impacted a whole community. I watched the Harris family take something so horrific and turn it into something that would honor their daughter’s life as well as try to prevent this from happening to any other family. Their daughter was a beautiful light in the community and I wanted to do something to help.

The Harris family has raised and donated almost a half a million dollars to the YWCA’s women’s shelter and programs through donations, golf tournaments, local concerts, T-shirt and sweatshirt sales, candy sales and more. The “Live Like Emily” movement was accomplishing big things. I decided I wanted to make a coloring book called “Live Like Emily” as a gift for the Harris family.

It shares who Emily was, her accomplishments and her life as well as telling a story of “what Emily would want you to know.” It has coloring pages with phrases like “You are not alone,” “You deserve to feel safe” and “You can be the Hero in your life.”

The book also talks about the 10 warning signs of domestic violence and includes the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233), which offers help in English, Spanish and 200-plus other languages through interpreters.

What other artwork have you created in the form of coloring books and other media?

I have started putting original artwork on low-content books like journals, sketchbooks, etc. But more recently I have done some really fun coloring books. The first one was called “Chicken Scratch” and it was full of comical drawings of “chicken puns.” This was aimed at adults and has sold very well.

The second book was called “Just Ursula” and ended up being a coloring/story book. It was a book for children about a silly chicken named Ursula who felt she just didn’t “fit in.” Through several comical attempts to change herself, she learned a great lesson about self-acceptance and that she was more than OK just the way she was. This book has been purchased by teachers, parents and even grandparents and has been so much fun to share.

I have great fun creating these books, especially the ones that have a message.

What hobbies or pursuits do you enjoy by yourself and with your family?

I have recently begun a new adventure with my husband called retirement. We are looking forward to traveling. There are so many beautiful places to visit here in the Northwest alone. We love Long Beach and Port Townsend and traveling with friends. We’ll just have to see where the road takes us. We have three wonderful sons and their families that we love spending time with. I belong to Vintiques and share my husband’s interest in old cars and car shows. I also enjoy “junkin’,” looking for antiques and oddities in unusual places.

We’ve also started enjoying going out to local concerts at The Seasons Performance Hall and looking for new hole-in-the-wall places to eat here in Yakima and the surrounding area.

What other artistic or personal goals do you hope to accomplish?

I don’t want to sit still. Some people retire and life stops. I want to continue to learn and grow. I want to continue to make my art, hopefully art that conveys a message. I have several causes I am passionate about and may look at creating another book that could somehow educate and support one of those causes. I want whatever I do to make a difference.

Through pen and ink renderings, Virginia Mori continues her elegant and surreal interpretations of the prosaic. The Italian illustrator and animator (previously) gravitates toward the everyday and turns moments of relative simplicity into strange otherworldly scenes. Plucking a book off of a shelf reveals a figure lurking behind the volumes, for example, while an enormous detached head plummets to the earth where a team awaits with a cushion for a safe landing. Often featuring minimal palettes of pastel colors, the introspective works meld relatable feelings of anxiety, hesitation, and fear with dreamlike inventions.

Currently, Mori has works on view in a group exhibition through May 7 at the Seoul Museum and is preparing for another opening in September at Jiro Miura Gallery in Tokyo. Shop prints of her illustrations at Librera di Fursaglia and stay-hop, which also sells t-shirts, cards, and her latest book Feeling Bed. You can follow her projects and collaborations 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 Virginia Mori Twists Everyday Anxieties into Dreamlike Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

Real estate brokers are giving bidders until the end of next month to make an offer on football legend Terry Bradshaw’s ranch north of Dallas.

The 744-acre spread overlooks the Red River near Interstate 35 on the southern edge of Oklahoma.

The horse and cattle ranch has been for sale on and off for more than five years. The property has been back on the market since a deal fell through last year.

“We are doing a final sale call for offers,” said real estate broker Bernard Uechtritz.

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Bradshaw and his wife, Tammy, have been asking $22.5 million for what’s described by the property brokers as a state-of-the-art equine breeding facility, cattle and recreational ranch.

“He built this place from the ground up,” Uechtritz said.

The Bradshaws have moved along with their quarter horse breeding operation to a smaller Texas ranch south of the river.

Located in Love County, Okla., Bradshaw’s ranch is near WinStar Casino and about an hour from Dallas.

“What’s happening around there is huge,” Uechtritz said. “The I-35 corridor is bursting at the seams and the WinStar Casino is growing.”

The Bradshaw ranch in Thackerville, Okla., includes a large estate home, several stocked fishing lakes and ponds, horse care and livestock infrastructure.

The 8,600-square-foot main house has six bedrooms and a large swimming pool. The ranch has been featured prominently in The Bradshaw Bunch reality TV show, which stars the Bradshaws and their three daughters.

Uechtritz said ranch sales haven’t been slowed yet by the rise in financing costs and tighter lending standards.

“We just sold two big ranches in New Mexico and have another one we are about to go under contract,” he said. “I have a bunch of stuff coming up in East Texas.”

Uechtritz’s Icon Global Group is also marketing one of Texas’ largest ranches — the more than 80,000-acre Turkey Track Ranch in Texas’ Panhandle near the town of Borger.

“We’ve already had our first round of offers,” he said.

Icon Global Group has sold some of Texas’ legacy ranches, including the 510,500-acre W.T. Waggoner Ranch near Vernon.

-Pre-show festivities at the Music Making Waves concert village include local food trucks, pop-up experiences, activity zones, a 360-degree beer garden, and more-

-Concert proceeds support the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation, saving marine life and  habitats throughout the Bahamas and surrounding Caribbean seas-

PARADISE ISLAND,  Bahamas, April 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Atlantis Paradise Island, the leader in delivering live entertainment experiences in the Bahamas and Caribbean, announces GRAMMY® Award-winning global superstar, education advocate, business entrepreneur, and motivational speaker Pitbull to perform at the resort’s Casuarina Beach on Sunday, May 28th, 2023. The performance is a part of the Music Making Waves concert series and will feature Pitbull’s biggest hits, including “Give Me Everything,” “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho),” and more.

“For 25 years, Atlantis Paradise Island consistently delivers experiences that create lifelong memories for our guests and community. We are so happy to welcome the legendary Pitbull to Atlantis and the Bahamas next month. With his extraordinary showmanship and chart-topping hits, Pitbull will join our yearlong anniversary celebration along with the 2023 Music Making Waves’ performances by Lizzo, The Chainsmokers, DJ Nick Cannon, and Kesha,” said Audrey Oswell, President and Managing Director, Atlantis Paradise Island.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 11^th, on atlantislive.com. Tickets range from $69 for silver seating to $189 for diamond seating. The Music Making Waves concert grounds open at 6:30pm, where guests of all ages will enjoy the concert village filled with local food trucks and pop-up experiences in the Atlantis activity fun zone. A 360-degree beer garden will offer a selection of cold brews, cocktails, wines, and plenty of seating. A complimentary round-trip shuttle service is provided for all concert guests to Atlantis’ hotel towers and parking garages.

A portion of the proceeds from the Music Making Waves concert series will support the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with the mission of saving marine life and their extraordinary habitats throughout the Bahamas and surrounding Caribbean seas.

Guests of Atlantis Paradise Island can expect an unrivaled vacation experience. With close to 200 acres of wide-open spaces, five distinct properties, diverse dining, endless shopping, five miles of white sand beaches and tranquil waters, Aquaventure water park with multiple one-of-a-kind pools, slides, and river rides, and the largest open-air marine habitat in the world, Atlantis Paradise Island offers travelers a destination of immersive programming connecting guests to the rich environment, history, art, people, cuisine, and festivities of the Bahamas.

Please visit atlantislive.com for ticket information and atlantisbahamas.com for room reservations and details about Atlantis Blue Project Foundation (ABPF). For more information about traveling to the Bahamas, visit Bahamas.com.

About Atlantis Paradise Island:
Throughout 2023 Atlantis is rolling out bold multimillion-dollar renovations and exciting new partnerships throughout the resort – from a complete renovation of The Royal Towers to a reimagined Atlantis Casino and much more. The resort’s 25^th anniversary launches a new chapter for the first-of-its-kind celebrated entertainment resort and destination, ensuring that travelers will continue to experience the best at Atlantis Paradise Island, with stunning accommodations, innovative cuisine, and extraordinary experiences ranging from live musical performances and concerts to internationally acclaimed food and wine festivals.

Bahamian culture and the spirit of its beloved team members are the heart and soul of this iconic legendary resort. The immersive programming connects guests to the rich history, art, people, food, and festivities of the Bahamas while remaining dedicated to sustainability and environmental conservation for over 25 years.

Atlantis has committed to a meaningful connection with the ocean, marine life, sustainability, and environmental stewardship through its purpose-led efforts with Dolphin Cay and the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation (ABPF), the resort’s nonprofit 501©3 organization dedicated to saving sea species and their extraordinary habitats throughout the Bahamas and surrounding Caribbean seas.

For more information and reservations, please visit atlantisbahamas.com.

About Pitbull:

Pitbull invites disruption on a global scale as a GRAMMY®-winning independent international superstar, education advocate, business entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. With countless awards, dozens of international number ones, hundreds of gold and platinum certifications, millions of single sales, 25 million album sales, and cumulative video views in excess of 15 billion, one of the most impressive careers in music history set the stage for him to make true change. Not only did he successfully help establish Sports Leadership Arts and Management (SLAM!) tuition-free public charter schools across the country, he was honored by the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of Clean Water Here; he is a partner in eMerge Americas, the annual tech and innovation summit held in Miami; and he was honored alongside music legends as well as Nobel Peace Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners at the 2019 International Achievement Summit. Pitbull and Horizon Media have partnered to launch 305 Worldwide, a new multicultural marketing agency. After announcing several partnerships in 2020 such as Espanita Tequila, LivexLive, and “From Negative to Positive” Podcast, Pitbull ended 2020 with a bang by ringing in the new year performing on main stage in Times Square. In the first month of 2021, Pitbull became the co-owner of NASCAR racing team [Team Trackhouse], and proudly served as the Grand Marshal of the 2021 NASCAR Daytona 500. At the same time, he only continues to expand his influence across fitness, health, and wellness. He launched 305-Life as the first daily supplement line to philosophically reflect the vibrant spirit of Miami through its high quality product. As an investor and brand ambassador, he joined forces with Echelon for the “Pitbull X Echelon” partnership, providing Pitbull-themed rides to millions of users exclusively in the Echelon Fit App. He also teamed up with Columbia Care to introduce his own CBD line, N2P—an acronym for one of his most famous mantras “negative to positive.” He returned to the road in 2022 with the sold out North American Can’t Stop Us Now Tour, packing arenas and amphitheaters coast-to-coast. Speaking of, Pitbull has performed for millions worldwide and even joined forces with the #1 life and business strategist, Tony Robbins, for numerous engagements around the globe. He maximizes his own creative, entrepreneurial and personal freedom, yet again, on his next long-awaited English album, coming soon.

SOURCE Atlantis, Paradise Island

You don’t need nine lives to scale the side of this vertigo-inducing structure. The latest installation in Leandro Erlich’s Bâtiment series appears to defy gravity with a disorienting facade-turned-optical illusion.

On view now at Liberty Science Center, “The Building” recreates the exterior of a typical New York City structure with metal balconies, an airconditioning unit propped in a third-story window, and a deli at street level, all of which are positioned on the floor and reflected in a gigantic mirror overhead. When viewers walk into the installation, they appear weightless and are able to effortlessly dangle from railings and stand perpendicular to the brick architecture.

Part of the center’s 30th-year anniversary Big Art program alongside Dustin Yellin’s hefty glass sculpture, the jarring work “finds its basis in questions I have about the way we perceive reality,” the Argentine artist (previously) says. “Art, the way I conceive of it, exists to pose questions about our understanding of the world; in many ways, science achieves what we know it to the same way—by asking those very same questions.”

“The Building” is on view in Jersey City through the summer. You can find more of Erlich’s Bâtiment series, which has been ongoing for more than a decade with projects in Paris, London, Buenos Aires, Donetsk, and Japan’s Echigo-Tsumari region, on his site and 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 People Dangle from Balconies and Scale a Brick Facade in Leandro Erlich’s Disorienting Installation appeared first on Colossal.

SAFE Federal Credit Union was awarded the Diamond Best of Show Award – the highest honor in the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s Diamond Awards competition – during the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference, March 26-29.

The winners and their accomplishments will be featured in an upcoming issue of Credit Union Magazine.

The Diamond Awards, representing the pinnacle of credit union marketing and business development, honor credit unions in 35 categories, ranging from direct mail to website marketing to video and radio commercials to social media. Judges evaluated entries based on strategy, design, production, creative concept, copy, communication, and results. 

This year’s Diamond Awards competition received 1,246 entries – 91 credit unions won Category’s Best Awards and 244 won Diamond Awards. In total, 159 credit unions received awards. 

Winners can be viewed on the event’s AdQue Digital Display Systems gallery. 

“The Diamond Awards showcase the best of the best in credit union marketing and business development initiatives,” said Marella Nardotti, Diamond Awards chair and chief marketing officer at NextMark Credit Union. “They recognize innovation and creativity, while tying in impact on organizational profitability, growth, and brand awareness.”

This year’s top award winners are listed below.

Best of Show

SAFE Federal Credit Union, Sumter, S.C., for their entry in the Financial Education category titled, “SAFE Cents Financial Education Initiative”

Best Use of Humor

Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, Notre Dame, Ind., for their entry titled, “Are You a Loan?”

 Carat – for the Greatest Impact

MY Credit Union – Minnesota, Bloomington, Minn., for their entry titled, “1st Annual “Fall Classic” Charity Cornhole Invitational Tournament Benefiting Minnesota Veterans”

Clarity – for the Most Sentimental

MY Credit Union – Minnesota, Bloomington, Minn., for their entry titled, “1st Annual “Fall Classic” Charity Cornhole Invitational Tournament Benefiting Minnesota Veterans”

Color – for Brilliant Use of Art
TRUE Community Credit Union, Jackson, Mich., for their entry titled, “Digital Refresh – Upgrade to Digital Banking Platform”
 
Cut – for the Most Edgy

TAPCO Credit Union, Tacoma, Wash., for their entry titled, “Big Deck Envy”

The 2024 Diamond Awards will be held at the 2024 CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference, in which entries from 2023 will be judged. 

Sunlit mountains rise from lush valleys and foam caps the crests of waves in the expansive landscapes of Barry Hazard, painted at a scale that could fit snugly in the palm of your hand. Using wood panel as a base, Hazard builds up sculptural vistas in thick acrylic paint, detailing wildflowers, sandy beaches, and snow-capped peaks. Ranging from a couple of inches to about half a foot, his diorama-like Minis overflow from their tiny frames.

Hazard began working on a small scale during the pandemic when he was invited to participate in a show at Shelter in Place Gallery, a 1:12-scale gallery that operated in 2020 and showcased its exhibitions online when lockdowns made visiting physical exhibitions impossible. He relishes making the Minis because of the sense of immediacy evoked by the medium in such a small surface area. “A single brushstroke may capture an entire sky, and an idea or impulse might be completed in minutes or hours—not days,” he says.

Beginning with a frame sourced from a dollhouse supplier, he builds up the surface using acrylic gesso and modeling paste before adding vivid color. Rendered with loose precision, features in the Minis like paths, hills, and figures are clearly defined yet anonymous. Containing sprawling scenes in a tiny space provokes a type of reflection and contemplation that requires moving in close, rather than standing back to take in a grand view. “The scale is the antithesis to something grand or monumental,” he says, inviting viewers to approach “with less caution than a large painting and perhaps a greater sense of intimacy and playfulness.”

Hazard also applies similar techniques to larger paintings. He will have work presented by Good Naked Gallery at Barely Fair in Chicago this April and Future Fair in New York City in May. Find more work on his website and Instagram.

“Lovers Quarrel” (2020), acrylic on wood with frame, 2.5 x 2.5 x 1 inches

“Cove” (2021), acrylic on wood with frame, 2 x 2.5 inches

“Twilight Car” (2023), acrylic on wood with frame, 2.5 x 3 x 1 inches

“Gathering” (2020), acrylic, wood, and plastic on panels, 4 x 4 x 6 inches

Left: “Mini Canyon” (2020), acrylic on wood, 2.5 x 3 inches. Right: “Cemetery Tree” (2022), acrylic on wood with frame, 3 x 3 x 1 inches

“Spring Cabin at Winter” (2022), acrylic on wood with frame, 3 x 3 x 1 inches

“Rocky Shore” (2020), acrylic on wood with frame, 1.5 x 2 inches

Left: “Wildflowers (Poppies)” (2022), acrylic on wood with frame, 3 x 3.5 x 1 inches. Right: “Elevated Valley” (2023), acrylic on wood with frame, 3 x 2.5 x 1 inches

“Coyote” (2020), acrylic on wood with frame, 2.5 x 2.5 inches

“Beach Daze” (2021), acrylic and wood on panel, 4 x 4 x 7 inches

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