Category Archives: Soulful Expressions

No Longer the Last Nail in the Coffin: A Design Duo Wants to Zip You Up Instead

Visser & Meijwaard make fun, funky coffins for bold personalities

Many people dread the idea of being locked inside a coffin and buried. But thanks to a Dutch design team’s innovative new zip-up coffins, that idea may be a lot less terrifying now. Design duo Steven Visser and Vera Meijwaard wanted … Continue reading

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Nele Azevedo’s “Minimum Monument” Has Massive Impact

Brazilian artist's melting people resonate across the globe

Since 2005, Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo has been creating installation works in public spaces involving 20 centimeter tall human figures that are left to melt in the sun. These installations comprise the Minimum Monument project. While Azevedo began her exploration … Continue reading

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Wolfgang Natlacen Brings Fun Whimsy to Funerals with Urns That Double as Toys

The artist's egg-shaped urns transform the way we mourn loved ones

Walk into most funeral parlors in the United States, and you’ll see rows of somber, muted urns resting on the display shelves. For centuries, Western culture has thought of funerals and funeral accessories as dignified and utterly sanitized. Any attempts at … Continue reading

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The Painter Who Followed the Light

Thomas Kinkade celebrates life and portrays death through his art

Growing up, the Thomas Kinkade store in Staten Island Mall served as a landmark to me and my family. Some of my most distinct childhood memories are of roaming those aisles of paintings for hours, while my mom and aunt … Continue reading

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Altars of Loneliness: The Art of Joseph Cornell

Groundbreaking American artist expresses disenfranchised grief through surrealist assemblage

Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) is widely known as an American artist whose work influenced key developments in the contemporary art world, such as the Fluxus movement and the rise of installation art. His favored techniques of collage and assemblage using common, found … Continue reading

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“21st Century Bunny” Series Speaks Eloquently to a Culture of Violence

Artist Justin Novak uses ceramic sculptures to expose the ethos of fear

Using ceramic bunnies to make a statement about global violence might seem like an odd concept. But that’s exactly what artist Justin Novak does with his series “21st Century Bunny” — a collection of hypervigilant, one-eyed, gun-toting ceramic rabbits that … Continue reading

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