Painting and sculpture

Articles, Films and practical Guides on painting and sculpture, part of Psyche’s coverage of creativity and the arts.
Painting of a steam train with a red roof chugging along tracks at sunset with mountains and a moose in the background.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

An autistic artist searches for the ‘souls’ of machines

Directed by Leonard Kamerling

Unfinished painting of a man with white hair in a dark coat against a brown background on a textured canvas.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

A painting that captures perfectionism

When you need to complete a complex task, imagine daubing paint on a canvas rather than perfecting intricate brushwork

by Richard Fisher

Photo of hands drawing a figure in a sketchbook on a splattered art table with ruler and paintbrush.
HOME

Memories of home adopt surreal shapes in a Sudanese expat’s art

Video by Art21

Painting of a crucifixion scene with a large crowd, a detailed medieval cityscape with mountains and a lake in the background.
ARTISTS AND ART HISTORY

A lesson from the Son of Man’s manhood

Renaissance artists paid uncommon attention to Jesus’ nether regions. What does this breach in modesty reveal about art?

by Sam Dresser

A woman drawing on an easel in a courtyard with greenery and a modern glass building in the background.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

To become more attuned to the world around you, try sketching outdoors

Video by The Museum of Modern Art

Abstract drawing of a face with vibrant colours, featuring red cheeks and a patterned necklace on an orange background.
Psyche Exclusive
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Born of memory and mystery – the otherworldly works of a self-taught, unhoused artist

Directed by Tal Amiran

Impressionist painting of a green Japanese bridge over a pond with water lilies surrounded by lush greenery in a garden setting.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Monet understood the elusive power of a place’s atmosphere

The gist of a scene or place can subtly alter our very sense of being, an affecting quality captured by Monet’s paintings

by Pablo Fernandez Velasco

TRADITIONAL ARTS

An Aboriginal painter depicts scenes from her youth in this beautiful short

A film by Grace Kemarre Robinya and Jonathan Daw

Surreal photo of a person wearing glasses and a hat with their face distorted, leaning towards a camera in a hallway.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

This sculptor finds deep weirdness – not divinity – in the human form

Directed by Ben Berman

An elderly woman in a patterned beanie holding a red card with holes punched into it in front of her face.
ARTISTS AND ART HISTORY

Circles possess a defiant beauty in the abstract works of Howardena Pindell

Directed by César Martínez Barba

A woman holds a square mirror that blocks her face; it reflects rocks and grass. There is blue sky and clouds in the background. The only element in focus is the reflection on the mirror.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Losing her eyesight, a painter’s art evolves with the way she sees the world

Directed by Liberty Smith

Abstract blue and white line drawing of multiple nude female figures, seen from various angles, arranged in a pattern.
ARTISTS AND ART HISTORY

A minotaur shifts shapes and sexes in this ferociously original animation

A film by Chaerin Im

Photo of an abandoned brick building with graffiti on its walls broken windows and overgrown plants in the foreground.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Works of urban graffiti are not vandalism, but public monuments

They might appear to have little in common with statues or obelisks, but graffiti images serve a vital public function

by Rafael Schacter

A photo of an artist in a cap and paint-splattered trousers sitting next to a large painting of a man holding his face in his hands.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

A rural Namibian artist reflects on authenticity in work and in life

Directed by Niklas von Klitzing and Leo Stolz

Silhouette of person standing before an orange light, creating a glowing halo effect on a neutral background.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Toxic materials become sculptures of light and air in this artist’s hands

Directed by Anika Kan Grevstad