There is so much beauty in the everyday, and that is worth celebrating. Throughout history, art has influenced societies questioned the status quo, raised awareness and prompted new perspectives. The February / March issue of Aesthetica recognises agents of change and artists who embody this notion.
Aesthetica Art Prize 2024 | The award presents 21 talented shortlisted creatives from across the world, for whom art is a form of expression and change-making.
Flux in Memories | This year’s Foam Talent spotlights fresh voices and innovators in lens-based media. Cristóbal Ascencio focuses on loss and remembrance.
Parallel Landscapes | Through bold light and shadow, Ibai Acevedo stages compelling, cinematic scenes that seem to belong to an odd world just beyond ours.
Visual Histories | African proverbs are at the heart of Derrick Ofosu Boateng’s body of work, bursting with bright colours and a palpable sense of joy.
Energetic Innovations | What’s the place of analogue in an increasingly digital world? Jonathan Knowles’ machines are fun, and achieve mundane tasks through play.
A Joyous Destination | Tropico Photo is a studio dedicated to making jubilant work transporting us to idyllic locations: places filled with bright painted buildings and clear skies.
Objects Transform | A major London show looks at six decades of contemporary sculptures, spotlighting large works that move, shapeshift and transfigure.
Into the Woodland | Photographs by Neil Burnell trace the sensory experience of being outdoors, capturing dense green thickets, plus secluded, misty clearings.
Hidden Structures | Duo Kaya & Blank draw attention to concealed markers of industry across southern California: telephone masts camouflaged as real life trees.
Universe of Emotion | Tania Franco Klein holds a mirror up to the various effects of time spent online, such as disconnection and media overstimulation.
Pictures from Above | Tom Hegen flies us over the Palouse region in the American northwest, producing satisfying aerial shots akin to the folds of moss-coloured fabrics.
Click here to discover the February / March Issue.
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Image credits:
1. Image courtesy Tropico Photo.
2. Yevhen Samuchenko, At the Pink Planet (2019-2020), From the series At the Pink Planet. C-type print.
3. Cristóbal Ascencio, Monstera Deliciosalas, from Las Flores Mueren Dos Veces, (2023).
4. Cristóbal Ascencio, Cattleya, from Las Flores Mueren Dos Veces, (2023).
5. Ibai Acevedo, Un Rayo De Sol, (2014).
6. Derrick Ofosu Boateng, Different Flowers, (2020).
7. Derrick Ofosu Boateng, Explore, (2019).
8. Jonathan Knowles, from Complex Simplicity. Art Direction: Lauren Catten for Getty Images. Set Design: Kyle Bean. Retoucher: Gareth Pritchard.
9. Image courtesy Tropico Photo.
10. Image courtesy Tropico Photo.
11. Untitled (Styrofoam Cups) (detail), (2003/2008). Styrofoam cups and glue. Photograph by Dennis Cowley, courtesy Pace Gallery. © Tara Donovan.
12. Neil Burnell, Leviathan. Image courtesy of the artist.
13. Neil Burnell, Kingdom. Image courtesy of the artist.
14. Kaya & Blank, Second Nature (SN.76), courtesy of the artists.
15. Tania Franco Klein, from Proceed to the Route, (2018-Ongoing).
16. Tania Franco Klein, from Positive Disintegration, (2016-2018).
17. Tom Hegen, from The Palouse Series, (2021).
