The Week-End

Our most popular posts this week featured a sculptural collage made from hundreds of images cut from five decades of Life Magazines, gorgeously painted faces on found crushed cans, eerie hyper-realistic body art and beautiful installations featuring miniature camera flowers.

And from around the Web...

An insanely detailed Death Star made out of a ping pong ball.

A great little stop-motion animation by Tyler Nicolson.

A colossal floral sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons.

A series of machines specifically designed to be operated by mouth.

Realistic portrait sculptures from paper.

Dan Cretu: Playing with Food

Photographer and visual artist Dan Cretu recreates everyday objects using fruits and vegetables. In experimenting with oranges, limes, peppers, tomatoes, and otherwise manipulating food in all manners of ways, Dan transforms common everyday foods into recognizable objects.

My Dog Sighs: Can Men

Street artist My Dog Sighs creates gorgeously painted faces on found crushed cans, which he then leaves on the streets in random places for passers-by to take home. It is both a street art installation project and an altruistic gesture dedicated to the cause of free art for everyone.

Alexander Seton: Carved Illusions

Alexander Seton is a Sydney based artist who creates carved marble sculptures that play on optical illusion and the perception of surface. Seton's work uses the tension and often contradiction between the traditional laborious skill of carving and use of contemporary subject matter and concerns. "I use these everyday objects as a place for story telling because they’re related and accessible." he says, "They’re common enough to have them even removed once, in terms of context, but still throw up questions of what am I looking at?"

The Surreal Body Art of Choo-San

Using only acrylic paint and copious amounts of imagination, Japanese art student Choo-San creates eerie hyper-realistic body art. Choo-San discovered her talent for art during a gap year studying for university admission exams. While taking breaks from her studies, she would often draw eyes on her hands. Soon, her drawings started getting better and better and she created a portfolio consisting of painted body modifications including extra sets of eyes, multiple mouths and even a battery pack in the back of her arm.

Eddie Clemens: Fiber Optic Brooms

Eddie Clemens' fiber optic brooms are designed to blur the line between common object and art, engaging users in a game that alters the perception of common everyday items. These hi-tech brooms pulsing with text as well as colour transform objects beyond their banality and daily roles into objects of desire that encourage us to think of them in new ways.

Corydon Cowansage: New Visions of Suburbia

Artist Corydon Cowansage creates minimalist geometric abstractions out of mundane suburban landscapes. Her paintings draw on her immediate surroundings to create an alternate reality that appears naturalistic but is, in fact, constructed of slight distortions, compressions, and omissions. 

Geoffrey Farmer: Leaves of Grass

Geoffrey Farmer's "Leaves of Grass" consists of hundreds of images cut from five decades of Life Magazines. Stretching down a long hall at the Documenta 13 art exhibition in Kassel, this amazing installation piece gives us a photographic archive of American culture from 1935 to 1985.

André Feliciano: Camera Flowers

Brazilian artist André Feliciano creates beautiful installations featuring miniature cameras blooming out of tuilips, lilies, sunflowers myriads, and over a dozen other kinds of flowers. These colorful sculptures look like normal gardens from afar, however upon closer inspection they reveal thousands small cameras staring back at the viewer. Speaking about his work André says, "I am a gardener of art. I cultivate ideas. I cultivate the Florescentist art."

The Week-End

Our most popular posts this week featured a series of photographs exploring the relationship between people, shelves and objects, plastic objects combined in unexpected ways to ceate a one-of-a-kind chair, incredibly detailed dioramas of museums inside empty pasta boxes and amazing shadow art created using square sheets of origami paper.

And from around the Web...

Stunning Blade Runner animation made with 3,000 watercolors.

The knight's armor hoodie.

Giant fish-shaped sculptures made from discarded plastic bottles.

How going viral has altered art.

A 3D Pac-Man perspective painting.

The MoMA Book.

Leo Caillard: Miami Houses

Leo Caillard's "Miami Houses" is a series of photographs documenting Miami's colorful lifeguard houses. Referencing the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Caillard sets the houses in the same frame with each photograph, creating an inevitable comparison between images. Through repetition of the same strict formal composition, the function of the houses gradually fade and an analysis of the form of the subject comes to the fore.

Margarita Cabrera: Soft Sculptures

In Margarita Cabrera’s series of soft sculptures, threads left exposed serve as a reminder of the labor involved in the manufacturing of these objects. Taking everyday machines—a blender, sewing machine, coffee pot —she replaces only the parts made by factory workers on the Mexican side of the border. The sagging vinyl imbues the work with an anthropomorphic quality that references the harsh nature of worker’s realities.

Kumi Yamashita: Origami Shadow Art

Artist Kumi Yamashita creates amazing shadow art by creasing square sheets of origami paper so that, when they're lit from the side by a single light source they reveal beautiful facial profiles. "I sculpt shadow with light or sometimes light with shadow" she explains, "but both function in essentially the same manner. I take objects and place them in relation to a single light source. The complete artwork is therefore comprised of both the material (the solid objects) and the immaterial (the light or shadow)."

Savage Chair by Jay Saejung Oh

Designer Jay Saejung Oh collected discarded plastic objects, assembled them together, and wrapped them in jute to create this one-of-a-kind chair. The transformation and amalgamation of these manufactured objects makes a strong statement about our current cultural condition of abundance. Innovation, invention, and beauty can emerge from anywhere, even the most familiar, ordinary and everyday.

Taylor Holland: Fra[mes]

For his latest project called "Fra[mes]" artist Taylor Holland created a series of high-resolution digital photographs of ornate frames filled with their own content instead of the art. Speaking about the project Taylor says, "I have taken frames and digitally filled them with the content of themselves. This project was born of the idea that, on several visits to the Louvre, I was often more interested in the artistic merit of the frame than the art itself. The result hopefully challenges the viewer’s notion not only of what art is, but the viewer’s own perceptions about where to find and appreciate art in various settings such as the Louvre."

Kenji Sugiyama: Institute of Intimate Museums

Japanese artist Kenji Sugiyama creates incredibly detailed dioramas of museums inside empty pasta boxes. Sugiyama calls this series of work, which he began making in 1999, "Institute of Intimate Museums" and each tiny installation features museum exhibits complete with faux wooden floors, framed images lining the walls, and benches spaced along the center. Sugiyama's work was recently on display at Scope Basel 2012.

David McGillivray: Concrete Type

Inspired by the Brutalist architecture of London, David McGillivray has designed a concrete modular alphabet that can be created using 7 shapes, which are cast into 14 blocks of concrete in total. This is an exploration of typography and architecture; a non commercial project where David endeavoured to merge the two worlds with a pre fab style kit of conrete shapes that come together to make a concrete typeface.

Darragh Casey: Shelving the Body

Darragh Casey’s current series ‘Shelving the Body’, focuses on the traditional role of the shelf as a device to display, portraying people alongside objects relevant to their own lives and personalities.  Via his website: "This project aims to disrupt our habitual relationships with furniture and reassess the idea of the ‘user’. This subversion, initiated through a series of experimentation and trials, approaches the typology of the shelf with a physical consideration for the figure."

Linus Lohoff: Sujets

Linus Lohoff's "Sujets" is a series of photographs documenting the man-made structures that are frequently found at public beaches. Photographed in the dark, at night, under street lamps, these small buildings appear as isolated sculptures or art installations.

Video: The de/Rastra Oscillographic Synthesizer

Sound artist and designer Kyle Evans created an instrument, that allows the player to generate sounds and on-screen visuals using the cathode ray tube from a 1970s TV. The instrument represents Evans's interest in the hybridisation of old and new technology. Speaking about the project he says, "By structuring the de/Rastra around a 1970s television, which is literally worn by the performer in a fashion similar to that of a guitar, the performer's actions become directly connected and transferred to the cathode ray tube, concentrating both the performer's engagement to the instrument and the resulting visualisations into a centralized object."

The Week-End

Our most popular posts this week featured a series of sculptural bookends by Chicago-based artist Garth Borovicka. an exciting and extraordinary new permanent sculpture commissioned by UCSD's Stuart Collection, a series of Berlin interiors shot through a camera installed on the ceiling of various rooms and a new mind-bending vision of suburbia.


And from around the Web...

An orchestral medley of cell phone ringtones.

A giant Post-it Note desk.

The growing power of the Meme.

A scrap metal mosquito monument found in a Russian village.

Beautiful star trail images by astronaut Don Pettit.

Andrew Dawes: Suspend

Designer Andrew Dawes has created a space-saving storage device that provides a sculptural alternative to cluttered surfaces. By utilizing unused vertical space, ‘Suspend’ maximises available area at surface level. In an age where solutions to limited space are invaluable, the unit resolves this by presenting itself as a hanging sculpture for the homeowner.

Gentle Giants: Industry Porcelain

Design studio Gentle Giants created a series of ceramic vases with gold metal bases that resemble industrial water and gas storage towers. These vases draw attention to the cultural dimension of industrial architecture,highlighting the need for preservation of these buildings. The collection has an evident inspiration, and is a tribute to the work of internationally renowned photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher.

Rodrigo Torres; Currency Collages

Brazilian artist Rodrigo Torres creates stunning three-dimensional collages by carefully cutting and layering currency from all over the world. Torres plays with the design of each banknote and sometimes mixes currencies from different countries, the same way an artist would use a palette to mix paints. “I try to intervene in a way that has something to do with the fabrication process of the object." he say, "for example, in the case of banknotes, I make some interventions with an X-Acto knife, very meticulously, because it has to do with the work of the engraver, what he has done there.”

Michael Jantzen: Deconstructing the Houses

Michael Jantzen's "Deconstructing the Houses" is a series of photo collages which visually deconstruct parts of the real world that we normally think of as stable. Sections of the photos are simply rotated out of their normal positions relative to the whole image in order to create the illusion of fragmentation, and then reconstructed into a new hybrid image.

Masked Creatures by Stickyline

Hong Kong-based design studio Stickyline has created a series of paper helmets shaped like the iconic buildings from the city's skyline. Speaking about the project they say, “Masked creature” uncovers the architectural buildings of Hong Kong and reconstructs the outline of the Victoria Harbour. Using paper as the medium, the architectural structures along the Victoria Harbor are reconstructed and transformed into paper helmets for us to put on."

Bill Culbert: Ready-Made Lights

Artist Bill Culbert explores the perceptual interactions between light and the human eye. As a disciple of the mid-sixties British Experimentation movement, he utilizes discarded plastic goods and ready-made materials to construct beautiful illuminated objects.

Menno Aden: Room Portraits

German photographer Menno Aden has shot a series of Berlin interiors through a camera installed on the ceiling of various rooms. The resulting images lay out space in symmetrical compositions that look like assemblages stripped off any kind of objectivity. Via his website, " The views into private homes and secret retreats bring up associations of the ubiquitous observation camera.The notion of surveillance is Systematically played out by the artist to society's voyeuristic urge hint at that popular culture has made mainstream."

Do-Ho Suh: Fallen Star

Do Ho Suh’s "Fallen Star" is an exciting and extraordinary new permanent sculpture that appears to have crash-landed onto the roof of Jacobs Hall at the Jacobs School of Engineering. The project which is the 18th permanent sculpture commissioned by UCSD’s Stuart Collection, has been seven years in the making and was funded by $1.3 million in private donations. It reflects Suh’s on-going exploration of themes around the idea of home, cultural displacement, the perception of our surroundings, and how one constructs a memory of a space.

Garth Borovicka: Bookends of the Earth

These sculptural bookends by Chicago-based artist Garth Borovicka cleverly utilize the layers of wood and the growth rings within to symbolize the sedimentary layers of the Earth. They compare microcosms and macrocosms, exploring the similarities of naturally occurring patterns on small and large scales. Via his website, "In both instances these patterns represent the passage of time on either a relatively short span or a massive one. As a further play with the theme of scale, each set is cut from a larger landscape built by the artist. When displayed as bookends they make reference to the life cycle of a tree and its various uses."

The Week-End

Our most popular posts this week featured an experimental video that explores the forms and shapes of flattened food, a monumental water tower sculpture made from colorful salvaged plexiglass, beautifully surreal still-lifes of deep fried electronics equipment and a series of human photograms created by swallowing 35mm film and recording the results.

And from around the Web...

A cathedral transformed by a 1,500 square meter "living carpet" of grass.

The Dangers of Vertical Video Syndrome.

A look at the new Twitter logo.

The end of main street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and other everyday monuments.

The blind self-portrait machine.

Simon Berger: Light Painting

Photographer Simon Berger is the creative mind behind this fantastic series of light paintings. Sparks fly into the night, converging around and bouncing off the figures in the photos, creating some truly visually stunning images.

Reborn Cardboard Sofa by Monocomplex Design Studio

The "Reborn Cardboard Sofa" by Monocomplex Design Studio was produced by gluing together 127 recycled boxes into a solid block of cardboard and cutting its form with a grinder and saw. Throughout the sculpting process, the designer shaped the chair by sitting on it and gradually fitting it to his body by carving away any unnecessary pieces of cardboard. 

Luke Evans and & Josh Lake: Inside Out

For their final major project, Kingston first year Graphic Design & Photography students Luke Evans and and Josh Lake created human photograms by swallowing 35mm film, then expelling it, and recording the results. The bumps, scratches, and marks left on the damaged emulsion surface from their bodies were examined through a scanning electron microscope. Speaking about the project they say," We wanted to bring our insides out, so we ate 35mm photographic film slides and let our bodies do the rest."

Video: Flatten by Hugo de Kok and Kay van Vree

"Flatten" is a beautiful experimental video by Dutch artists Hugo de Kok and Kay van Vree that explores the forms and shapes of flattened food. The images were created by compositing different parts of the video, giving each one separate time spans so they could be edited with music.

Matteo Pellegrino: The World is Yours

Matteo Pellegrino's "The world is yours" is a series of objects created by combining inflatable globes with polyurethane foam.  These colorful crumpled worlds take unpredictable shapes and directions that are  unrepeatable, and assume functions they are not designed for, such as vases, bowls and wine baskets. The process makes each item unique and custom, even though it is replicable with inevitable imperfections.

Tom Fruin: Watertower

For his latest project called "Watertower", Brooklyn artist Tom Fruin, has created a monumental water tower sculpture using colorful salvaged plexiglass pieces gathered from all over NYC. Illuminated by the sun during the day and by Ardunio-controlled light sequences designed by Ryan Holsopple at night, this beacon of light is a tribute to the iconic New York water tower and a symbol of the vibrancy of Brooklyn. Watertower opens June 7th, with daily light shows beginning at dusk and continuing to morning.

Video: Speed of Light a.k.a. The World’s Tiniest Police Chase

Directing duo The Theory presents the tiniest police chase ever seen, made using the world's smallest 'pocket video projectors'. Featuring an escaped convict, a determined cop and a fully armed police helicopter, Speed of Light takes 'projection mapping' to a whole new level.

Iwona Przybyla: 90 Degrees Typography Book

Iwona Przybyla's "90 Degrees" is an amazing typography book designed to display the entire alphabet in 3D letters. The letters are made of strings threaded through two sheets of paper at a 90 degree angle, creating three-dimensional string art as you open the pages.

Henry Hargreaves: Deep Fried Gadgets

For his latest project titled "Deep Fried Gadgets", Brooklyn-based photographer Henry Hargreaves in collaboration with food stylist Caitlin Levin, created a series of beautifully surreal still-lifes of deep fried electronics equipment. Speaking about the project Henry says, “With this series I guess there is a comment about consumption and the similarities with the way we are obsessed with the ‘new’ gadget. We get it, are obsessed by it and then discard it. Just like fast food!”

The Week-End

Our most popular posts this week featured Banksy's most iconic artworks re-created on camera, a series of beautiful sculptural interventions made using ARTFORUM magazines, an incredible feat of miniature art and an amazing video created using panoramic frames from Google Street View.

And from around the Web...

A Google dictionary composed entirely of photos from Google image search.

Parking lot hacks by Florian Rivière.

A fantastic art project with public phones on the streets of São Paulo /Brazil.

Breakfast with giraffes at Nairobi's Giraffe Manor.

The cassette tape coffee table.

Laurent Chehere: Flying Houses

For his series titled "Flying Houses", Paris-based photographer Laurent Chehere created beautiful surreal images of buildings floating in mid-air. The series reflects Rafa's interest in architecture and serves as a metaphor for travel.