Mari Shimizu’s Dolls Carry Absorbing Scenes

Mari Shimizu’s dolls contain worlds. The Japanese artist crafts surreal, disconcerting figures whose torsos are often hollowed and reveal views into scenes ripped from mythology. The work is both a new transformation for the classical doll and a nod to the centuries-old nature of the toys.

“Working with traditional Japanese materials such as animal hair and organic silk, along with century-old, handmade components, Shimizu has created a super-realistic ball-joint doll collection,” a statement says. “Her work, she says, offers a glimpse into the very souls of these antique objects. The blend of antique and traditional materials, with references to Japanese historical figures, makes this exhibition compelling viewing.”

The artist has exhibited her figures across the world, from her native Japan to Los Angeles. See more of Shimizu’s dolls below.

Topics

dolls, Mari Shimizu, sculpture

figurative, Michele Oka Doner, sculpture

March 7, 2017

Michele Oka Doner's long career has produced bold sculpture, works on paper, and public art that engrosses in both its appreciation of the natural world and innovation. Her figurative works, in specific, use partially formed and seemingly organic parts to inspire awe. Many named for gods and goddesses, these particular works feel at once godly and incomplete or reflections of our limitations.

Bordalo II Creates Lively Animal Portraits Using Trash and Found Objects

assemblage, Bordalo II, sculpture, street art

October 27, 2014

Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Bordalo II creates resourceful assemblages out of the junk he collects in his city's streets. Using a bit of spray paint, the artist configures the found objects into playful animal portraits. His street art work hybridizes muralism and sculpture. A portrait of an owl conceals layers of scrap metal; a painting of an apple contains bent bicycle tires, cans, wood and cardboard. Bordalo II's art brings whimsical visions to Lisbon's streets and invites viewers to imagine creative ways to reuse their discarded items.

Frances Goodman’s Writhing Sculptures Consist of Fake Nails

fake nails, Frances Goodman, sculpture

April 18, 2016

Separately, each artificial nail used by South African artist Frances Goodman is a temporary, expendable object. But when the artist combines them into a single sculpture, she depicts living, “bodily forms” that defy their nature. “Some of the sculptures are abstract and consider ideas of oozing, spreading, and writhing,” the artist says, in a statement. “Others suggest snakes and scaled creatures.”

Patrick Hughes’ Surreal 3D Paintings Play with Perspective

Patrick Hughes, reverspective, sculpture

January 7, 2016

English artist Patrick Hughes' paintings make an object out of the world as we see it- a type of work that he calls "reverspective" painting or combining painting with making objects. In his reverspectives, interiors of art museums, houses, and multiple buildings under crystal blue skies, are broken apart and as one moves around the picture, they fold together into a solidified space. It is a trick of our own perceptions, as the pieces are actually an immobile, abstract sculpture. In essence, once could also call Hughes' work sculptural paintings.

Mari Shimizu’s Dolls Carry Absorbing Scenes

Revisiting Michele Oka Doner’s Partial, Absorbing Figurative Sculptures

Bordalo II Creates Lively Animal Portraits Using Trash and Found Objects

Frances Goodman’s Writhing Sculptures Consist of Fake Nails

Patrick Hughes’ Surreal 3D Paintings Play with Perspective

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