Archive for the ‘Art’ Category
As a child, were you ever enthralled by the act of cupping your hands over your ears and creating a pattern of noise, silence, noise, silence? This is partially the concept behind “designer, media artist and design educator” Alex Braidwood‘s “Noisolation” headphones. They may look like a steampunk accessory, but function as part art piece, part experiment to mechanically alter the relationship between people and the noise around them in densely populated environments. It’s common for people to walk around cities or ride subways wearing headphones, listening to music, controlling their environment through sound. In contrast, rather than shutting out the environmental sounds entirely, a user of Noisolation headphones engages in a controlled way with the noise around them. According to Braiwood, “exposure to the noise is structured through a sequence designated by a composer which controls the behavior of the sound-prevention valves. The composer also determines what values are adjustable by the listener through the single knob built into the device.” In essence, Braiwood has invented a new way for a person to make music from their surroundings, while still having some control over what they hear. Watch the videos below for more in-depth displays of how they work. Also, check out Braiwood’s other inventions and research on his website.
This is a 32-foot tall sculpture of Confucius made by artist Zhang Huan. It depicts the Chinese philosopher in a contemplative pose in a quiet room (as one would expect he would do in real life), as if he is waiting for his viewer to ask a question or deliver classically sage advice such as, “be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.” There is a profound calm in his giantess and the magnified attention to detail reminds of Ron Mueck sculpture. See below for three more photos of Huan’s Confucius. via Geekosystem
Here are some beautiful illustrations from Estinian artist Heikki Leis. He’s created some fascinating characters and scenes here. I especially like them for their intertwining of startling realism and surreal play with perspective. According to his website, Tartu has lived and worked out of his hometown of Tartu, Estonia for most of his life, where he works as a freelance artist. Follow the jump to see four more of Leis’ drawings.
These mouth-shaped urinals at a Rolling Stones museum in Lüchow, Germany have some women’s rights groups up in arms. The functional sculptures were designed by a woman, Dutch artist Meike van Schijndel and based on the Rolling Stones logo, the “Tongue and Lip Design,” created by art designer John Pasche in 1971 (which he originally modeled after Mick Jagger‘s mouth). Despite, some are bothered by the inherent femininity of the mouths and are speaking out against them, claiming sexism. Local activist Roda Armbruster was quoted in Spiegel as stating, ”Why does it have to be a woman’s mouth? If it had been based on the emblem of the Stones with the tongue, it would have been OK. But the tongue’s been left out and they really look like women’s mouths.” Ulli Schröder, who opened the museum after collecting Stones memorabilia for decades, said, ”That’s not a man’s mouth or a woman’s mouth, that’s art. They were damned expensive and they’re staying where they are and that’s final.” Check out some more shots of the controversial urinals after the jump.
British artist Chris Thornley (aka “Raid71“) started the organization Arts V Cancer after he was diagnosed with “a very rare, incurable non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 37.” Arts V Cancer is Thornley’s attempt to use his art to raise money and awareness to help others. Since 2011, he has been designing and selling prints like “Panther Pink” (pictured above), with all proceeds going to organizations that research cures or otherwise help those those affected by cancer. So far, Arts V Cancer has featured only Raid71′s designs, but is seeking other artists to join the fight and donate their work for the cause. It seems like a worthy one. Check out three more of Raid71′s designs below.
In an alternate universe, Winnie the Pooh and his pals grew up in The Hundred Acre Hood and emerged as “Winnie Tattooh and his friends.” Paris design studio, Grapheart, doused Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, and Pooh with mean tattoos, making for street-hardened versions of the fluffy characters you knew from your childhood. This falls right in line with our recent theme of posting about reimagined pop icons. Regardless, the beauty of these is in the details, so click more for four close-up images of Winnie Tattooh and his friends, including a shot of the original sketch.
Artist Alex Pardee ”re-imagined” these pop culture icons as bloated creatures for a collaborative exhibition with Dave Correia at the Blonde Grizzly Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Pardee, he’s calling them “ICANS,” as a statement against proposed SOPA legislation. Here is what Pardee says about the ICANS (from Juxtapoz): I will be debuting a brand new series of 15 new paintings called “ICANS”. Why am I calling them “Icans”? Glad you didn’t really ask, but I’m telling you anyway. Well, because whether SOPA passes or not, I will continue to take any licensed character, or pop culture icon and do whatever I want with it for art’s sake, because ICAN. Also, I just want to conduct an ongoing experiment to see if ICAN take any cool icon from pop culture and make it way shittier by “re-imagining” it. So far, much like Hollywood does most of the time, the experiment is a super fun success! Alex Pardee is an artist, writer, and apparrel designer, who has produced work for Kid Robot, The Used, Juxtapoz magazine, among many other things. You can find more images of his ICANS below. via InspireFirst and Juxtapoz
As an apparent statement against overly sugary children’s cereal (a box of Frosted Flakes is 37% sugar) and because it’s “Grrrrreeeeaaat!”, Ron English created this Fat Tony figure, which he then promoted by planting it on the appropriate shelf at an LA supermarket. According to Clutter Magazine, this Fat Tony will be released as a toy, limited to 500 pieces with more limited followup editions available later. After the jump, watch a couple of classic Frosted Flakes ads, featuring a slimmer (but no less ridiculous) Tony the Tiger, Superman and horseback riding. via Vinyl Pulse
Currently housed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chris Burden spent four years making “Metropolis II” – a 10 feet tall sculpture of a city with 1,200 toy cars whirring around tracks at high speeds. According to a recent NPR article, Burden, who originally made his name as a performance artist, said that it goes back to “making an object, but an object that is performative.” He also says that Metropolis II fits more into the mainstream than some of his other work, stating “I don’t think you need to have an art history background to understand this sculpture.” The cars of Metropolis II, which move as fast as 230 miles per hour, occasionally find themselves in traffic jams (just like in real life) and an operator is ever present to switch off the machine and get things back in order. After the cacophony of white noise created by all the motion, the silence left by turning it all off is, in contrast, horrific – the emptiness left by an absence of life. In the short documentary below from Supermarche, Burden says “it wasn’t about trying to make this scale model of something. It was more to evoke the energy of a city.”
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