Fine Art News
News: Microsoft Kinect Has Never Been So Alluring
Think beautiful bokeh photography + just a hint of TRON sensuality and you have photographer Audrey Penven's lovely series entitled "Dancing with Invisible Light: A series of interactions with Kinect's infrared structured light".
News: Eat Me Dresses
Love Lady Gaga's meat dress? Then check out Sung Yeonju's series entitled "Wearable Foods". The recent graduate of Korea's Hong Ik University creates garments out of a wide variety of edibles, including "Tomato #2", which was used by H&M for an ad campaign.
News: The Northern Lights Are Even More Spectacular in Time-Lapse
Aurora borealis (or the northern lights) is a naturally occurring, beautiful light display caused by "the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field." Below, an electrifying display of time-lapse footage taken in Tromsø, Norway, by Tor Even Mathisen. Shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
Calling All Entries: The National Geographic 2010 Photo Contest
National Geographic is holding their annual Photo Contest, in the categories of People, Places and Nature. If you're interested in participating, check out the guidelines now. Time is running out- all submissions must be in by November 30th.
Real Life Cyborg: Man Plans to Implant Camera in the Back of His Head
Professor Wafaa Bilal of New York University plans to soon undergo a surgical procedure that would temporarily implant a camera in the back of his head. The project is being commissioned for an art exhibit at a new museum in Qatar. The Iraqi photographer will be a living, breathing cyborg for an entire year, during which the implanted camera will take still photos every minute, simultaneously feeding the images to monitors at the museum.
Tech Couture: Fluid Dress 2.0
Casual Profanity's Fluid Dress 2.0 pumps gallons of blacklight-reactive fluid through 600 feet of knitted tubing. Set to the tune of “Cherry” by Ratatat, but perhaps more fitting for Lady Gaga. Except Robyn went there first (scroll down, 13 seconds in).
News: The Greatest Artist in the Universe
Who other than Mother Earth? Below, a selection of 10 images from the USGS' Earth as Art, a collection of stunning photographs from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites. The bright color is a false effect produced by satellite sensors, but the texture, shapes, patterns, scale- that's all real.
News: Madison Square Park's Eerie, Electrifying LED Ghost Land
Engineer-turned-artist Jim Campbell's recent installation "Scattered Light" converts New York City's Madison Square Park into a ghostly world of light bulb pixels. Campbell dangled 2,000 floating LED light bulbs programmed to display shadowy human silhouettes passing by.
News: Artist Paints the World Invisible
“Western Imports”, by artist Cayetano Ferrer, uses inkjet prints to create site-specific optical illusions in public spaces.
News: Vote Now to Electrocute This Artist
Oleg Mavromati's latest project, Ally/Foe, allows online voters the chance to electrocute the Russian artist at a mere fifty cents a pop. From November 7th to November 13th, viewers of Mavromati's livestream can pay to vote “innocent” or “guilty.” 100 guilty votes result in the artist voluntarily shocking himself in front of the camera, live, with his homemade electrocution machine.
News: Everything Is Beautiful Under the Microscope
Below, a selection of images from the Nikon International Small World Photomicrography Competition. The Big Picture reports:
News: See a Woven Rug? Look Again
Dutch designers Marcia Nolte, Stijn van der Vleuten, and Bob Waardenburg are the masters of illusion behind We Make Carpets. Look, then look again. What you initially see isn't what it appears to be...
News: Deep Fried Flowers (For Art, Not Eating)
“Domestic Stills” (Domestication, femininity and subversion) is an oddly interesting photography project by Namiko Kitaura in which the artist fries, washes and stitches flowers.
News: Bicycle-Go-Round
Artist Robert Wechsler has salvaged and reassembled 9 bicycles into a carousel arrangement. The best part about the project? Wechsler leaves his bicycle-go-round in public places for strangers to ride. Imagine stumbling across one of these in a public park! Genius.
News: DON'T Believe Your Eyes- This Isn't a Photograph
If you were impressed by the previously featured Pedro Campos, then check out these photorealistic acrylic paintings by Campos' equally apt colleague, Tom Martin. Mind-blowing.
News: The Soccer Smoothie Maker + 29 More Wonderfully Useless DIY Inventions
UK-based designer Dominic Wilcox's Speed Creating Project presents the challenge of making something creative everyday, for 30 consecutive days. Wilcox's best results are pointless in an utterly delightful way. True junk drawer resourcefulness. My 7 favorites below; click through for all 30.
News: Lots and Lots of Panties Make For Good Mood Lighting
We've seen chandeliers made from paper, light bulbs and Chiquita banana cartons, so why not ladies' undergarments? Video artist Pipilotti Rist recently showcased her glowing underwear chandelier at New York's Luhring Augustine gallery. Rist's underwear of choice (granny panties) aren't exactly sexy, but there's something oddly interesting about the cascading, pastel skivvies.
News: Free! Drawing Lessons From the New York Times
Drawing is a craft that becomes art when combined with an idea. It is a skill that comes naturally to some; for others it is a slower, more painful process. But the truth is, anybody with patience and discipline can learn to draw. Learn the principles of line, perspective, proportion and structure, and practice!
Friday Fresh: Go Gaga for Halloween! Top 10 Lady Gaga Looks
Today it's Lady Gaga day! Lady Gaga's outfits and looks are so outrageous that there'll be a million impersonators around on Halloween. But few will be able to perfect the looks properly. That's why we're giving you some assistance with our favorite Lady Gaga tutorials.
News: Quivering, Pulsating Organs Give Life to Electronics
Just in time for Halloween, a collection of creepy, pulsating biological monstrosities designed by interactive media artist Mio I-zawa.
News: Painting or Photograph?
These hyperrealistic oil paintings by Pedro Campos are incredible. Inspired? Start small.
Friday Fresh: From Innocent Asian To She-Weezy
Every day of the week, WonderHowTo curators are hard at work, scouring the web for the greatest and most inspiring how-to videos. Every Friday, we'll highlight our favorite finds.
News: Bodies in Plain Sight
Choreographer Willi Dorner's curiously charming “human sculptures” invade New York City as part of the French Institute Alliance Française’s Crossing the Line festival. More images of Dorner's Bodies in Urban Spaces at the Wall Street Journal photography blog.
News: Massive Geometric Sculpture Resembles Tsunami of Black Caviar
Designed by a computer, milled by machines and assembled by a team of robots, Federico Díaz's Geometric Death Frequency 141 isn't necessarily the warmest work of art you'll see this year. But it is, nevertheless, quite a lot of fun to behold:
News: The Astonishing Car-Part Art of James Corbett
Car-part sculptor James Corbett can do things with an automobile that would make a Transformer blush! We call him the Rodin of the Hot Rod. The gallery below should give you an idea as to why.
News: Takashi Murakami Invades Versailles (Much to Old Art Fogie Chagrin)
As some of you may know, contemporary king of kitsch Jeff Koons exhibited at the French palace of Versailles last year. While the exhibition was embraced by many as an exciting context for contemporary art, predictably old fogies and critics of the art market balked.
News: Prosthesis From Hell
Artist Sascha Nordmeyer presents her concept Communication Prosthesis as the “ultimate communication tool,” or the solution to self-expression. Once inserted into the subject's mouth, the prosthesis forces strange (and horrific) expressions.
News: Sew No More! Spray on Dress (Better Not Melt...)
Fashion designer Manel Torres has teamed up with scientists at Imperial College London and designers at the Royal College of Art to invent spray-on clothing, an instant, sprayable, non-woven fabric-in-a-can.
News: Long-Exposure Photographs of Old-School Video Games
When a person sits motionless for hours on end in front of a television screen, it's sloth; when a camera does the same, it's art! Case in point, these beautiful long-exposure photographs of old Atari games by Rosemarie Fiore:
News: Once Again, China Operates as if It's Another Planet
I thought American bicycle couriers were tough. Until I saw these poor Chinese workers carrying literally truckloads of cargo on the back of their bikes. Photographs of Shanghai bicycle carriers by Alain Delorme:
News: Psychedelic Paper Bunny Hole
A mass accumulation of $5 donations allowed NYC artist collective SOFTlab to install the below piece, entitled CHROMAtex, at the Bridge Gallery. The piece is constructed with each donator's name printed as a photo paper tile, laser cut and then assembled with everyday binder clips. Elegantly constructed! Previously, Elegantly Crafted Paper Chandeliers.
News: Paint + Water Looks Like Beautiful H-Bombs
Though photographer Mark Mawson's concept is simple, the results are stunning. In a series entitled Aqueous I and Aqueous II, Mawson took photographs of wet paint dispersed in water. The images evoke jellyfish, or rainbow colored hydrogen bombs. Mawson says:"I had seen lots of ink in water shots and wanted to try something which had more body and which produced more organic forms."
News: Realist Painter of the Hollywood Stars (Yes, Those Are MJ's Spooky Eyes)
Sebastian Kruger is a German artist known for his "star caricaturist" paintings: stylistically exaggerated, realistically painted portraits of pop icons. My personal favorite depicts the classic Clint Eastwood stance (as Harry Callahan: Go ahead! Make my day!). Scroll below for the Stones, Tom Waits, Michael Jackson and more.
News: "Living" Flower Dresses Change With the Seasons
While I don't find Mattijs van Bergen and Anouk Vogel's "Living" dresses aesthetically earth shattering, I'm wowed by the concept. The fashion designer and landscape architect created a collection of dresses made from recycled inner tubes and flowers for a late summer exhibition titled “Fashion & Architecture” at the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture.
News: Interactive Super Mario Street Art
Students of Columbus College of Art & Design have created an "interactive" 8-bit mural, with a Super Mario Bros. backdrop. Mario and Luigi have been omitted so passers-by can jump into level 1-1.
News: Speeding Bullet Vs. a Single Drop of Water
Alexander Augusteijn captures one of the world's most deadly projectiles slicing through the Earth's delicate water droplet.
News: Marie Antoinette Wigs Made With Miles of Plastic Wrap
Kate Cusak is resourceful. The artist makes Marie Antoinette wigs crafted entirely with saran wrap: “'There is an exciting ‘a-ha’ moment when someone realizes that there is more to my design then they initially expected,' Cusack says. 'I create polished, elegant work that the viewer can appreciate in a serious way, but then when the viewer notices whatever the object is made out of, it surprises them and brings a smile to their face.'”
News: Artist With Death Wish (No Photoshop Used)
It is conceivable that Chinese artist Lei Wei has always dreamt of being a superhero. Or that he simply has the desire to fly. Or maybe he is constantly confronting a fear of heights. Whatever the impetus of his work may be, Wei creates illusions of a dangerous "reality".
Illusion Revealed: The Moiré Mind Trip
Beautiful textile illusion by artist Timur Si-Qin! How Does it Work?
News: 108 Garbage Bags Become 1 Giant Computer-Breathing Organism
Berlin based artist Nils Vöelker's plastic bag installation entitled "One Hundred and Eight" features 108 plastic bags that inflate and deflate by 216 individually controllable computer cooling fans. Völker originally intended the piece to be a giant display screen, but the end result became something much more compelling. Via Wired: