Martín Kukso

in

These weren't just Game Over screens; they were little moments of drama and character. When you could dance around the room and humiliate your opponents. Martín saw that when most of us were too busy being annoyed to notice.

What makes the leap to sculpture so inspired is the way it amplifies without distorting. The original pixel-art illustrations – credited to legendary Capcom artists Akiman and Kinu Nishimura – were already slightly caricatured, which gave them a playfulness that stopped them tipping into cruelty. (Although to be fair, I'd have gladly seen my opponents suffer more if I ever managed to beat them!)

Nevertheless, Martín has preserved that tone with care. "I wanted to bring that same energy into a different medium," he explains, "something that doesn't feel violent, but instead comes across as a bit playful." And it works. These heads are bruised and puffy and cross-eyed in a way that makes you grin rather than wince.

Martín Kukso site and Insta

Keita Miyazaki

in

Stunning sculptures made of salvaged, welded car parts and origami:

sculpture of welded car parts with blue origami spirals and flowers bursting out of it

In his solo exhibition Excess of Desire at Gallery Rosenfeld, Miyazaki’s sculptures appear to grow from the floor or sprout from pedestals. Metal components meet intricate origami, exploring the dualities of robustness and fragility, the decorative and the utilitarian, and heaviness and lightness. The ends of pipes blossom with colorful fans and spindles of folded paper, juxtaposed with car parts in a reference to the 20th-century automotive boom and advancing technology.

Miyazaki articulates ideas around functionality and decay by welding together fragments of mufflers and engines that no longer operate for their intended purposes. He incorporates carefully selected parts, such as specialized mufflers that were produced illegally in the 1980s and 1990s, which rose to popularity because they could increase the car’s noise level and produce a specific sound. Challenging the frivolity of excess in wealthy society, the artist reframes the components as flourishing, botanical-like forms.

You can find more of Miyazaki's work at Colossal and via his Instagram.