Gen Z has made headlines recently for turning to analog media and the slower pace of life synonymous with a pre-internet world. Alongside DVDs and print magazines, snail mail has also been on the rise as more people flock to spaces untouched by an algorithm or AI.

Even before the endless scroll subsumed much of our collective psyche, though, Gabriella Marcella was already combating digital fatigue through the design studio Risotto. Marcella founded Risotto in 2012, just after graduating from university, where she fell in love with risograph printing. She purchased her first machine secondhand and set up shop in her bedroom before moving to the Glue Factory, a former warehouse that still houses the studio along with other creatives.

By 2017, Marcella realized she wanted to share others’ work, too, and launched the Riso Club, which mails four postcards by four different artists to subscribers each month. “As a print fanatic, I’m guilty of having a lot of prints that just sit in a cupboard, so I think having them as a useful object is really important,” the designer told It’s Nice That.

The project grew from there, and this month, Risotto is celebrating its 100th mailing with a large-scale retrospective that presents all 400 artworks together for the first time. On view from April 11 to 19 at the Glue Factory, the exhibition celebrates the sheer breadth of styles, aesthetics, and messages that have been translated into a risograph print. Whether the artist lives in Bogota, Damascus, Philadelphia, or Melbourne, their work is shipped to patrons around the world, allowing them to reach new audiences wherever they are. Marcella adds:

Having something like a subscription that allows you to consume creative media on a completely different cycle, as slow as snail mail is, is really refreshing. I also think having that physical object in front of you that you can interact with means you engage with the work more, you might read the caption at the back, find out who the artist is, and so on.

For those just joining the club or unable to see the exhibition in person, Risotto released a searchable digital atlas of all 400 works. Find more on the studio’s website and follow along on Instagram.

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At Copenhagen Contemporary, Kengo Kuma and his team have honed in on the Japanese concept of komorebi, which reflects the unique interplay of light and shadow that occurs when the sun filters through the trees. The monumental, site-specific installation “Earth / Tree” harnesses this fleeting condition through a suspended canopy of wooden slats.

Curved with a central opening, the diaphonous structure floats above a brick platform and a pile of rubble. These two organic materials bridge Nordic and Japanese cultures, which both value craftsmanship and continuity with the landscape.

Kuma—who was recently awarded the bid to design the new National Gallery in London—often focuses on “soft architecture,” a mode of working entwined with the environment and people who engage with the space. “Earth / Tree” translates this concept into the Danish museum, where it’s on view through February 21, 2027.

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“Wind carries away destinies,” reads the brief synopsis for a short film titled “Jour de Vent,” or “Windy Day.” The sweeping animation was created in 2024 by a team of six graduates—Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Élise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding—from École des Nouvelle Images school in Avignon, France.

A cast of characters—including a businessman, a picnicking family, a young couple, a cyclist, an old man and his dog, and a guitarist—spend a seemingly average day at the park. When a powerful gust of wind blows everyone’s day out of proportion, themes of change, acceptance, and connection emerge.

Much like the film’s surrender to the flow of life, the team embraced natural evolvement through the production process itself. “Interestingly enough, the story kept changing until the last day,” the graduates share in an interview with Animation Magazine. “The final shot was decided only three days before the end.”

“Jour de Vent” has won a multitude of awards, including Jury’s Choice Award at the 2025 SIGGRAPH Festival and Best International Short Film at Quickdraw Animation Society, among many more. Watch it now on Vimeo.

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Galicia, Spain-based artist Abi Castillo continues to create iterative self-portraits through her evolving ensemble of ceramic personas. Her delicate yet emotive figures are an invitation to consider the inner self, transformation, and the beauty of the natural world.

Femininity, nature, and symbolism play a central role within Castillo’s sculptures, contrasting with the notion of concealment. “This ambivalence between mysticism and drama, between monstrosity and beauty, is all very present,” she explains in an artist statement.

Though each ceramic character is distinct, her body of work carries overarching formal motifs including colorful hairstyles and wide eyes with light blue irises. Organic elements—such as flowers, insects, coral, and marine foliage—wrap themselves around Castillo’s figures, evoking a sense of protection through delicate armor.

Last time we checked in with Castillo, she mentioned plans to move into a larger studio, where she works now. The artist shares that this opportunity has given her larger creative freedom, and she is looking forward to an exciting year including a group exhibition with Beautiful Bizarre Magazine opening next week at Outré Gallery in Melbourne. For updates and studio views, find Castillo on Instagram.

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In the little town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, a self-described “unusual artist” named L.V. Hull transformed her home and garden of three-and-a-half decades into an elaborate, continuous artwork. Through found objects and trinkets, paint, and glue she purchased at the local Walmart, the artist created an immersive art environment—a riot of color, patterns, and textures in which creativity merged with daily living.

Many of Hull’s works are currently on view in the show Love Is a Sensation at the Mississippi Museum of Art, which celebrates the self-taught artist’s eclectic approach to materials and space. From vibrantly painted everyday objects to idiosyncratic assemblages, Hull’s creativity and penchant for collecting knew no bounds.

“Hull merged art-making and the Southern art of ‘visiting’ to craft a creative practice that allowed her to commune with her inner spirit, her Creator, her community, and visitors from around the state, region, and world,” says a statement.

As a Black woman from a small Southern community, working within a genre often referred to as folk art, the artist worked outside of the mainstream art world. And like many minorities—especially in rural places—her practice is among those that have been marginalized within the canon, “resulting in an incomplete account of American creativity and art history,” the museum says. Love Is a Sensation spotlights Hull’s contributions to not only the creative legacy of the South but the tradition of artist-built environments.

Love Is a Sensation continues through June 14 in Jackson, and it also marks the advent of the new L.V. Hull Legacy Center, which is slated to open to the public this summer. You might also enjoy Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project in Detroit, plus Jo Farb Hernández’s forthcoming book, Architectural Fantasies, which is slated for release on April 14.

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From Do Ho Suh’s ethereal architecture to Kimsooja’s irridescent mirrors to Lauren Halsey’s fringed tapestry, a new book from Monacelli celebrates a broad spectrum of light and color. Rainbow Dreams features more than 200 installations, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and more that revel in the possibilities of pigment. Bound in a smooth gradient that extends to the pages’ edges, this vivid survey is a celebratory, playful object in itself.

Rainbow Dreams features numerous artists previously featured on Colossal, from Nina Chanel Abney and Nick Cave to DRIFT and Katharina Grosse, among many others. The book is slated for release on April 2, and you can pre-order your copy in the Colossal Shop.

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Hieu Chau compares his dense, dynamic compositions to his always active mind. Playing with scale and proportion, the Vietnamese artist renders surreal scenes in which flora and fauna converge and figures interact with the outside world as if in a dream. Chau, who was trained as a painter, now works digitally, although his pieces capture the grainy textures and gestures of a physical medium.

The artist recently published a book collecting his projects from the last decade, and you can find explore an archive of these pieces on Instagram.

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We’re thrilled to invite you all to the Chicago premiere of Paint Me a Road Out of Here, the award-winning documentary from Aubin Pictures directed by Catherine Gund.

Along with Intuit Art Museum and the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at DePaul University, Colossal is co-hosting a screening of the film followed by a conversation between film participant Leah Faria and our editorial director Grace Ebert on March 25. This event is free to attend, but seating is limited.

Featuring artists Faith Ringgold and Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, Paint Me a Road Out of Here uncovers the whitewashed history of Ringgold’s masterpiece, “For the Women’s House,” following its 50-year journey from Rikers Island jail to the Brooklyn Museum.

Read our coverage of the documentary, watch the trailer, and RSVP to save your seat.

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Szilveszter Makó’s enigmatic photographs carry layers of mystery and introspection. Standing inside curious block-like backdrops and lain against two-dimensional fields of color and texture, his subjects seamlessly meld into stories in which every detail carries intention.

Taking inspiration from art history, the Milan-based artist references Surrealism and grotesque art through his use of chiaroscuro effects via light exploration and contrasting earth tones. Similar to 20th-century Surrealist paintings, Makó’s images delve into uncanny realms and evoke a dreamlike sense of unfettered imagination. It’s no surprise that the photographer was once a painter and has suggested that these impulses may be a subconscious homage to his earlier chapters.

Mystery presents itself in Makó’s photos through tactility that’s difficult to pinpoint. Subtle but moody elements—such as grain and halation surrounding moments of brightness—point to the possibility of filmic qualities achieved by chemical reaction, rather than digital manipulation. While the photographer doesn’t divulge his specific post-production techniques, he explains, “I would not call it a secret but more of an unorthodox process… those who understand the history of analog photography could probably recognize what I am doing.”

Makó’s strong sense of style can be attributed to his distinct mise en scène, consisting of handmade props made with recycled materials, carefully constructed theatrical environments, and bold yet often sculptural garments that add visual interest through elongated lines and exaggerated silhouettes. Often highlighting designer pieces by Schapiarelli, Maison Margiela, Prada, Bottega, and more, the artist has also teamed up with more commercial names, such as Zara, and most recently, Adidas.

“When we come into the studio, everything that my team and I have prepared, like the props, the costumes, and the designs, pile up in one room,” Makó shares in a conversation with Artribune. “I like to see it all collide. As what we imagine beforehand does not always want to come together in the way we planned.”

One of the most distinguishable motifs across the artist’s images is a box. This cubic element appears in many forms—a confined space that models find themselves in, the repeating shapes that make up checkered floors, house-inspired headpieces, or, more recently, its evolution into a two-dimensional compositional element in playful flat-lay photographs. “For me, the box is both a restriction and a liberation,” Makó notes. “It centralizes the host whilst simultaneously amplifying it, preventing energy from scattering across the frame.”

While the box’s formally geometric characteristics lend itself to an evolution of order, structure, and guidance, the photographer also enthusiastically welcomes spontaneous moments, explaining that “control makes images cold and calculated, leaving much without meaning. A shoot should breathe, it should evolve, it should shock even those who are making it.”

Although Makó regularly works with a slew of well-known celebrities—such as Elle Fanning, Bad Bunny, Michelle Yeoh, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, and more—he possesses a unique ability to transcend the veil of fame, artfully translating even the most recognizable faces into something entirely of his own. He shares, “I do not treat celebrities differently from anyone else. We enter the room as equals. The set is not a hierarchy, it is a space where we work together.”

See more from the photographer on Instagram, and find his images published in editions of Vogue, The Cut, Acne Paper, Vanity Fair, GQ, and more.

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In works that merge sculpture, fashion, and kite-making, Hai-Wen Lin traverses the thresholds that connect one’s physical self, the mind, and the elements. The artist describes their practice as “an act of reorienting: looking back, looking forward, looking in, looking up.”

Using a wide range of materials, Lin creates vibrant, abstract compositions in textile often manipulated with cyanotype patterns or dyed with natural hues such as indigo and turmeric. They make kites “that speak the language of clothing,” blurring definitions of craft, art, garments, and acts of play.

Lin has long been interested in chance operations, documentation of daily life, and ways of releasing control. They artist first learned to sew as a way to explore and navigate questions of gender. During graduate school, they landed on the concept of a kite as a way of loosening up in terms of research and getting out into the open—literally embracing the wind. They were thus inspired by a stirring question: “What does it mean to care for, drape, dress, and accommodate change and instability?”

Lin’s pieces employ an array of materials and processes, such as discarded paintings, a variety of fabrics, jewelry findings, and more. “Two Can Share Heaven,” for example, incorporates dyed cotton, faux fur, polyester, velvet, and silk—the latter of which harkens to historical fashion.

The artist also occasionally includes experiential, ephemeral additions in the works’ materials lists, such as “a burning sensation, a desire to be lost” in a piece titled “Sunday, April 2nd 5:13–7:31pm,” among others, and titles sometimes reflect the dates and times when the kites were worn as garments.

Lin is fascinated by the tradition of Japanese paper sode dako, or “kimono kites,” which resemble the silhouette of the timeless robes. “It’s very simple, but the idea of the body in flight, is of course a powerful image,” Lin says, adding:

When I was young, my dad would have us write wishes on pieces of paper and send them up the kite lines when we flew them. If they disappeared when you reeled the kite back in, it meant the wish had been granted. So the kites have always been about a sense of wish-making. I think clothing offers a similar sense of aspiration for a lot of people.

Lin’s kites can just as easily be described as textile sculptures or apparel. They drape beautifully in exhibition spaces like abstract tapestries, severed from their free-flying, outdoor associations. They wrap around the human form like elegant, ethereal, shapeshifting mantles.

“What continues to interest me in this dialogue is the ways in which clothing and weather have always been in conversation,” Lin says, continuing:

Clothing is an interface that delineates our bodies from the environment, so I’m interested in reversing and reorienting that relationship. What would it mean to clothe the weather instead? I often refer to my works as clothing for the wind. I think of dress and clothing as a form of care. I love that we forecast weather and that we forecast fashion. It’s all a kind of attempt at discerning some kind of future. How do we care for a future sky with the clothes we make and wear now?

Loosely modeled after Chinese dragon robes, which were popularized among emperors and dynastic officials during the Tang Dynasty, “Two Can Share Heaven” explores notions of togetherness and cooperation. Unlike traditional garments, the artist designed the piece to be worn by two people as “a simple but direct challenge to the notion of a single ruler blessed by gods,” they share. “Here, power must be shared, redistributed, and negotiated between two.”

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) has awarded Lin the 2025 Burke Prize, a prestigious grant given to an artist under the age of 45 working in the U.S. whose practice revolves around contemporary craft. If you’re in New York, see Lin’s work at MAD from February 28 to October 11. The artist is also currently working toward a solo exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Follow updates on Instagram.

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When we think of terms like “flowing” or “fluid,” we could be referring to the nature of water, but we can also just as easily apply these concepts to our understanding of art and craft. Fabrics “pool” and different mediums converge. The nature of creativity is often referred to in terms of an “ebb and flow.” Ecologically speaking, bodies of water are metaphorically woven into the fabric of our planet. Rivers and lakes sustain an abundance of life, shape cultures, and course through history. Amid the ongoing climate crisis, how do artists express concerns about water and the environment?

Water | Craft, a group exhibition at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, dives into this question. The museum itself is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River and often directly engages with its expansive biological and cultural reach. Works by seven artists, whose practices incorporate weaving, pottery, basketry, glass, and textile arts, directly interface with contemporary issues of water access and cultural preservation amid climate change.

Colossal readers may be familiar with the mixed-media pieces of Tali Weinberg and Nicole McLaughlin, both of whom combine quantities of colorful thread with other materials in meditations on interconnectivity and multi-disciplinarity. Weinberg translates ecological data into tendril-like installations and abstract weavings, such as a series of three pieces from her Climate Datascapes series that visualize information about silt in the Upper Mississippi River. McLaughlin’s dramatically fringed ceramic platters reference Pre-Columbian cultures and the continuum of human history and time.

Water | Craft also includes works by Rowland Ricketts, Sarah Sense, Therman Statom, Kelly Church, and Tanya Aguiñiga. The latter is known for her intricately knotted wall works containing terracotta forms, which cascade gently to the floor. And Ricketts’ large-scale installation, “Bow,” comprises strands of indigo-dyed linen that suspend within a large gallery space, creating the effect of a current or perhaps the silhouette of a boat.

“Just as water flows through bodies, landscapes, and cultural histories, craft knowledge is passed between generations, carrying technical skills alongside cultural values,” the museum says. “The artists in Water | Craft employ traditional methods not as nostalgic gestures, but as living practices that continue to evolve in response to environmental change.”

Water | Craft continues through December 27 in Winona.

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Although James Reka finds total freedom in his studio practice, it’s public art that he gravitates toward. The Australia-born artist researches the history of a building or neighborhood as he conceptualizes a mural and enjoys the constraints of creating within a particular geographic and cultural context.

“Public art needs to connect with the local community,” he says. “It does need to have a narrative or a message, even if it’s very subtle. I am mindful of this and choose to view it as a challenge to explore certain themes and color combinations that my studio work does not.”

Reka renders minimalist shapes into dense compositions with a distinctive sense of vitality and movement. The largely geometric depictions draw attention to the color palettes and layerings, which the artist builds up through contrasting hues that delineate a hand or face. Architectural details like windows or piping play a role, too, and are incorporated into the final piece.

While the studio and street require different approaches, Reka finds that all of his work has trended toward abstraction in recent years. “I was actually never very good at painting or drawing realistic things!” he says. “Maybe subconsciously, I acknowledged my strengths and weaknesses at an early stage in my art career.” In describing his process, he adds:

I often start by drawing proportionally correct figures before stripping them back to the rawest form or most simplified version. Through sketching, happy accidents occur, which often help me direct the content or composition. Certain lines tend to stand out for me to then manipulate and abstract further. Eventually, this process is ripping the content apart and then rebuilding its core elements in an abstract way.

Reka is currently preparing for a solo show this fall in his hometown of Melbourne. Keep up with his projects in and out of the studio on Instagram.

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