Fascinating Photo Series Document the Objects People Touch Over the Course of One Day

What's the first thing we touch when we wake up? How do our favourite things reveal our hopes and fears? Can objects tell the story of our lives? Driven by this idea, artist Paula Zuccotti travelled around the world to find people from an incredible array of ages, cultures, professions and background to document every object they touched in 24 hours. She then gathered and organize those objects together and photographed them in a single shot. The project titled, "Every Thing We Touch" is the story of everyday people told through the objects they own, consume, need, choose, treasure and can't let go.

Read More

Artist Tim Hobbelman Creates Brilliant Animal Sculptures from Broken Electronics

Animaux is a growing collection of animals created by artist Tim Hobbelman out of old discarded electronic devices such as hair dryers, kids toys, headphones and electric shavers. Working from home and sourcing his materials from junk stores, Tim painstakingly re-assembles the various parts into beautiful sculptures. Each piece takes more than 50 hours to create with Tim's greatest challenge being finding the right-shaped materials to bring his sculptures to life. 

Read More

Yorick: A Unique Life-Size Skull Carved From a Crystallized Gibeon Meteorite

A rare and singular combination of natural history and modern art, Lee Downey's “Yorick.” is a life-size skull carved from a large Gibeon meteorite that crashed in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia a thousand years ago. An artist who is known for selecting exotic materials with which to work, Downey acid-etched the carving to uncover the Gibeon meteorite's singular, lattice-like pattern. "A symbol of death, of eternity, of immortality, of demise and rebirth." he explains, "Of any material I could think of to fashion an accurate human skull out of, this Gibeon meteorite best embodies the 'mystery' most acutely." The astonishing piece will be auctioned by Bonhams on November 24th 2015 and has already been estimated at around $400,000.

Read More

Porta Estel·lar: An Immersive Light and Sound Installation Inside a Disused Aircraft

A collaboration between artist Eduardo Cajal and audiovisual research studio Playmodes, "Porta Estel·lar" (the catalan for Star Gate), is an immersive light and sound installation inside a disused aircraft that was transformed and adapted by Cajal to hold this kind of art performances inside it. Through the creation of visual and sound sequences that suggest the idea of interstellar travel, the audience flies to outer space in an intense six-minute trip, from departure and takeoff to the sighting of comets, planets, galaxies and alien worlds, until finally returning safe to earth.

Read More

Artist Creates Imaginary Landscapes by Mixing Vintage Photos He Finds at Flea Markets

Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist J.Frede creates these unique landscapes by aligning vintage photographs purchased at flea markets in such a way that the scene continues from photo to photo spanning wide geographic locations. The series titled "The Fiction Landscapes" is a continuation of the artist's interest in memories, both secure and lost within objects. J.Frede explains, "Choosing photographs that create a perfect line from one to the next while allowing the colors and contrasts to not play a part in my decision results often times dramatic changes visually in both exposure and color tones but allows the passage of time to be often times instantly recognizable from the 1970s to the 1980s to the present."

Read More

Jetty van Wezel Creates Origami Newspaper Shirts Focused on Major Topics in World News

Dutch multidisciplinary designer Jetty van Wezel uses simple origami folding techniques to create beautiful shirts from newspaper pages printed with iconic images from news headlines around the world.  Van Wezel's "Newshirt" art project is a statement against the disposable, throwaway culture of today's media landscape. "A hasty thing like flipping through the pages of a newspaper is transformed into an urgent moment of concentration." she explains, "The viewer is challenged to see the beauty of common things and and to reinterpret everyday images."

Read More

Gil Batle Carves Scenes from Twenty Years of Prison Life onto Ostrich Eggs

After spending 20 years in and out of five different California prisons for fraud and forgery, self-taught artist Gil Batle started carving impressive illustrations of his experiences onto ostrich egg shells. Batle’s drawing ability which evolved behind bars into sophisticated and clandestine tattooing skills is now used to create the beautiful eggs which depict the violent men he knew, the terrifying events he witnessed, and the bonds formed under the worst conditions. Gil Batle’s “Hatched in Prison” will be on view at the Ricco/Maresca gallery in New York from November 5th, 2015 to January 9th, 2016.

Read More

Artist Creates a Full-Scale Replica of a Lincoln Continental Constructed Entirely Out of Cardboard

For her installation titled "Miles to Empty", on view at Susanne Hilberry Gallery until November 14th, artist Shannon Goff used the simplest material, cardboard, to create a full-scale replica of her grandfather’s 1979 Lincoln Continental. As a native of Detroit, Goff has been witness to the ups and downs of industrial prosperity and the more recent economic free fall of the city. Via the press release, "Dauntingly laborious, challenging in concept and ambitious in scope, this monumental sculpture embodies Goff’s immense energy and her love of making. Goff demonstrates a high level of skill and ingenuity, which used to be present in all manufacturing before the production line eradicated first the hand, then the whole individual. "

Read More

Nature: International Bank Notes Turned into Delicate Botanical Sculptures by Justine Smith

Fascinated with the concept of money and how it touches almost every aspect of our lives. London-based artist Justine Smith creates delicate plant sculptures made of international bank notes and encased in glass domes. Inspired by specimens found near her studio, Smith recreates Victorian museum displays often incorporating real plants and insects. Via her website, "through her collages, prints and sculptures she examines our relationship with money in a political, moral and social sense, whilst also exploiting the physical beauty of the notes."

Read More

Artist Alison Moritsugu Creates Idealized Depictions of Nature Painted Directly on Tree Logs

New York based artist Alison Moritsugu uses art and art history to explore the past and present of America's landscapes. For her upcoming exhibition, "inconsequence / in consequence" at Littlejohn Contemporary in New York, Moritsugu presents a series of landscapes painted on cut wood that otherwise would be turned to mulch, depicting idyllic visions of America during the settlement period the destructive effects of industrialization. Moritsugu explains, "I like the juxtaposition and tension created by having an image of nature on a section or sample of real nature."

Read More

Artist Ana Teresa Fernández Erases a Portion the U.S.-Mexico Border Fence With Blue Paint

Mexican-American artist Ana Teresa Fernandez has long been fascinated by the U.S.-Mexico border as well as identity and gender. For her performance art project titled "Erasing the Border", Fernandez used a fifteen foot ladder and a spray paint gun to paint a portion of the metal wall that separates Playas de Tijuana and San Diego’s Border Field State Park in a light blue hue to camouflage it against the sky. "The idea behind the project is to blur the border fence into the landscape giving the impression that a portion of it is missing," she explains, "an illusion of a hole in the wall, where your imagination is able to cross between these two countries freely."

Read More

Everyday Objects Transformed into Humorous Food Art by Benjamin Henon and Valentine Mazel

Photographer Benjamin Henon and stylist Valentine Mazel have combined their skills and artistic vision to create a playful series of images featuring everyday objects made into food. Hernon and Mazel used sponges, sand, soap and shoe laces to reimagine food in colourful compositions—sponges double up as layered patisserie or slices of toast and shoe laces are transformed into tagliatelle giving the illusion of delicious dishes.

Read More

Artist Jens-Ole Remmers Transforms Discarded Food Packaging into Recycled Cardboard Art

Inspired by garish colors, large text, quickly recognizable brand logos, artist Jens-Ole Remmers creates stunning three-dimensional collages by carefully cutting and layering discarded food and snack packaging found at local supermarkets. Remmers plays with the bright logos mixing the cut-up cardboard boxes the same way an artist would use a palette to mix paints. His works celebrates imagination and prove that discarded materials are often the best medium for artists who are looking to push their creative boundaries.

Read More

Artist Moffat Takadiwa Transforms Found Consumer Waste into Intricate Sculptural Forms

African artist Moffat Takadiwa is known for his simple but intricate assemblages made from found materials. Tackling issues such as material culture, identity and the environment, Takadiwa takes computer keys, strings, discarded electrical goods, spray and beverage plastic bottle tops and transforms them into wall-hung sculptural forms that transport the viewers into the realm of imagination, meditation and wonder. "Takadiwa tackles issues such as material culture, identity and the environment, but, through his collages and assemblages of beehive-looking metal spray and bottle tops, he also reminds us of the cultural dominance exercised by the consumption of foreign products in Zimbabwe and Africa."

Read More

Projector Mounted on a Bike Throws the Shadow of a Walking Elephant Against the Urban Backdrop

For his latest project titled "Elephant Walk", Swiss coder and graphic designer Michael Flückiger mounted a projector on his bicycle and created the illusion of an elephant walking through the city by projecting a large shadow onto the buildings parallel to him. Flückiger connected the projector to a speedometer making the walking elephant shadow react to the driving speed. At one point the elephant appears to be running. The shadow modification project was created using a car battery, an iPad mini and Openframeworks.

Read More

Luzinterruptus Builds an Island Out of Recycled Plastic Waste to Highlight Ocean Pollution

Madrid-based guerilla art group Luzinteruptus went to Portugal last September to release a floating installation  into the Cascais Bay made from 5,000 illuminated plastic bottles sourced from a local recycling plant, called La Isla Plastica, (The Plastic Island). Speaking about the project they said, "Our intention was to replicate, at a smaller scale, the so-called “eighth continent” made of plastic and garbage which is alarmingly taking over great areas of the Pacific. Governments remain passive before this situation allowing this huge to destroy most of the marine wildlife in the area and transforming the ecosystem."

Read More

Ethiopian Artist Elias Sime Recycles Discarded Circuit Boards into Computer-Part Collages

Ethiopian artist Elias Sime creates expansive collages and sculpture from discarded electronic odds and ends gathered from local markets. His latest solo exhibition at James Cohan Gallery in New York, consists of a series of massive panels layered with the cast-off innards of computers and machines. Assemblages of electrical components form tight networks of colorful patterns appear as cityscapes viewed from above. For Sime, the objects he uses are not trash: “I treat them like oil paint, acrylic or clay.” he explains, “The size of my art is determined by the idea behind the composition. If the idea overwhelms me, the size of the work keeps growing until I have said enough.”

Read More

Guerilla Artist Transforms Strangers' Cars into Pimped Out Rides Using Cardboard and Tape

Walking through the streets at night armed with a few pieces of cardboard and masking tape, Amsterdam-based creative Max Siedentopf creates dramatic makeovers transforming strangers cars into pimped out rides. Siedentopf usually works quickly sticking on his custom-made fenders and wings when everyone is asleep, leaving the pimped ride for the owners to find the next morning. Talking to Vice UK the 24-year-old creative explained: "Individuality, self-expression and status are more important than ever these days. But for some reason you see that things as ordinary as cars are getting personalised less and less, while it could be a strange but great form of self-expression. I thought I'd do people a favour by giving them a custom-made supercar."

Read More

ArtFund Raises Money for Museums with Edible Masterpieces Created by the Public

For the second year, the Art Fund has asked people to create edible copies of masterpieces as part of a fundraising initiative for British museums and galleries. The competition challenged the public to create edible versions of their favourite works of art. First place went to a satsuma recreation of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco painting, submitted by Priley Riley, 21, who is in the final year of her Fine Art degree at Loughborough University. The judges praised the winning masterpiece's inspiring use of ingredients saying, "What distinguished this entry was imagination – it stood out straight away".

Read More

Matthieu Martin's New Photo Book Documents Covered Graffiti in Cities Around the World

Influenced in his art by urban space, artist Matthieu Martin has spent the last few years trekking around American and European cities documenting covered up graffiti. In his new book aptly titled "Cover Up", Martin hones in on such paint jobs, capturing the unintentional swaths of cover-up color reminiscent of the work of Mark Rothko. The book questions our idea of cleanness and control, Denys Riout writes, “Painting references arise, turning the covering into a painting. From time to time, the story of monochrome shows on the surface but it is the story of abstraction, gestural or not, which dominates.”

Read More