The Playful Everyday

Lauretta Suter’s characters interact with environments in unexpected ways – standing on chairs, hiding behind cushions or diving into boxes.

Creativity Under Constraint

Art in the Plague Year is a testament to photography as a record, and also as an act of recovery. The online show presents 55 artists.

Charting the Storm

German artist Benedikt Partenheimer uses concept-led photography and subtle optical tricks to reveal the invisible effects of climate change.

Photographs for the Festive Season

Bright crimson balloons. Colourful gifts, tied with bows. Red velvet curtains and bright orange cocktails. Drawn from the Aesthetica Archives.

10 from 2021: Top Digital Articles

What have you been reading this year? Aesthetica rounds up its most-read online articles of 2021, from emerging artists to the latest book reviews.

Communal Experience

In 2020, far from her own family in England, Laura Stevens observed an extended French family learning to live together amidst the pandemic.

Worlds of Possibility

“The freedom lets you create anything you can imagine.” Tobi Schnorpfeil’s 3D world is a place where the sun is always setting – full of potential.

A Century in Focus

A new retrospective of work by photographer Imogen Cunningham explores her extraordinary range: from botanical studies to portraits.

Uncanny Happenings

LA-based Hugh Kretschmer’s characters inhabit altered realities, where everyday objects appear off-kilter and things are slightly askew.

Images and Activism

Photography plays a significant role in highlighting environmental damage, which can be difficult to see, much less identify.

A Year in Covers

This year, Aesthetica marked its 100th issue. To celebrate, we’re looking back at 2021 through the lens of our most recent cover photographers.

Between Analogue and Virtual

BIENALSUR – the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of the South – creates a network of associative collaboration around the globe.

Playing with Perception

Thomas Demand’s work may, at first glance, appear to show empty, mundane interiors. These are, in fact, highly politically charged locations.

Colour and Movement

Anna Huix’s works are bright, energetic and full of motion. Figures twist, bend and stretch – creating unexpected shapes and silhouettes.

Cultural Documentary

Patrick Wack’s new monograph, DUST, explores whether China’s 21st century push westward mirrors events in America 200 years ago.

Altered States

Exploded paintings. Shattered flowers. Fragmented images. In a new series, Ori Gersht draws on postcards from renowned galleries worldwide.

Gifts for Art Lovers

10 gift ideas for culture lovers this season. 2021’s list includes gallery memberships, photobooks, subscriptions and camera accessories.

Contemporary Surrealism

Nearly 100 years since its inception, artists continue to be inspired by Surrealism. From dreamworlds to suburbia, these images show what it looks like today.

Graphic Murmurations

Søren Solkær captures the extraordinary phenomenon of starling murmurations, the mass collective swell and flight of thousands of birds.

Galvanise:
The December/January Issue

This issue of Aesthetica is dedicated to perseverance, resilience and determination. In the face of anything, we have power to change.