Sunday, October 10, 2010

Car Part Art by James Corbett

Since 1999, Aussie James Corbett has been sculpting life-like pieces made with vintage car parts. James discovered his talent while running an auto recycling business in Brisbane, and with positive encouragement from friends and family he began creating sculptures of cars, bikes, animals and birds.

After his first successful exhibition in Brisbane in June 1999, James achieved a 3 year stint as a feature artist at the Brisbane International Motor Show. Since then, he's received worldwide recognition and acclaim through his many commissions, exhibitions and subsequent awards; his sculptures being considered one of the finest examples of assemblage art today.

No car part is bent into shape when incorporating it into the sculpture. The original integrity of the part is preserved.











































































(source article and image credits)

"Spread Your Love" by Hamed Kohan

This tire design called "Spread Your Love" by Hamed Kohan with its heart-shaped tread tracks would be sure to set me on course for the nearest water puddle or oil leak. The design is one entry among three thousand in Designboom's recent competition, "Seoul Cycle Design 2010".

















(source article and image credit)

" Alice in Wonderland "



Made in 1903, 37 years after Lewis Carroll wrote "Alice in Wonderland" and 8 years after the birth of cinema, the first film version of Alice has recently been restored by BFI National Archive. This adaption was based on the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.

Directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, Hepworth cast his wife in dual roles as the Red Queen and the White Rabbit, while he himself makes an appearance as the Frog Footman.

At the time, Alice in Wonderland was the longest running film coming in at 800 ft. and 12 minutes, of which 8 minutes have survived.

To find out more about the film, visit...
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/974410

Van Gogh Pops!

As it turns out, Vincent Van Gogh's paintings are fabulous subjects for the "tilt-shift" photo manipulation treatment. Just for fun, here's what Artcyclopedia came up with...






























































































































Tilt-Shift Maker @ http://tiltshiftmaker.com/photo-editing.php


Monday, September 27, 2010

"Il Était une Fois" by Benjamin LaCombe

In and of themselves, books for children can be these shiny, little packages of artistic awesomeness. By all appearances, "Il Était une Fois" (once upon a time) by french illustrator Benjamin Lacombe, with paper pop-up construction design by Jose Pons, is no exception. Coffee table worthy, it features eight classic fairy tales... Alice In Wonderland, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, Madame Butterfly and Thumbelina.

Here's a promotional video of this beatific work produced by Romain Berthou and Laurent Covet from B & C Wall, a Paris collective of directors, character designers and CG animators... followed by a few stills taken from the pages of Il Était une Fois.





















































































































Cardboard Cameras by Kiel Johnson

Continuing on with paper art forms, here's a peek at what Kiel Johnson can do with cardboard...

SLR 1















POINT & SHOOT
















TWIN LENS
















8 MM















POLAROID 2
















SLR 7

















Find out more about Kiel and get an extensive look at his various projects @ http://kieljohnson.com

Friday, September 24, 2010

Decourama!... a'la TP Rolls

Last year, TP roll sculptures by artist Junior Fritz Jacquet popped up on my radar and became one of my favorite blog topics to date. Today, I found that the fascination with using toilet paper rolls as an artistic medium still holds strong. I like the idea of creating art from what most of us take for granted and discard without a second thought.

Decoupage, from the French word decouper, meaning to cut, is a craft or art form that entails pasting cut-outs (typically paper) to an object and then covering it with several coats of varnish or lacquer... and as most of us are also aware of by way of our school~daze; a diorama is a mini-world... an entire landscape in a box, carry case, or window which displays model figures that can appear as a freeze frame of an historic event or anything else you want to create.

Rather than contorting the actual composition of the roll into art as Jacquet did byway of transforming the cardboard into grimacing faces, artist Anastassia Elias uses the roll itself as a platform, or frame of sorts, to hold and showcase her tiny, what I like to call, "decourama's". Armed with paper the same color as the roll, cutting tools and a pair of tweezers, she arranges various scenes captured from everyday life.

Here are a few of my favorite
rouleaux's...

Peche
























Boxe
























Linge
























Girafes
























Tango
























For a detailed view, check out Anastassia's blog post @ http://blog.anastassia-elias.com/category/rouleaux
For more about Anastassia Elias, check out her website @ http://www.anastassia-elias.com


Saturday, September 18, 2010

Nuit Blanche

You lock eyes with a beautiful stranger and a moment passes between you... and just as quickly, you separate never to see each other again...

Can you have a love affair in a second?

The two protagonists in this little 4 minute movie by Spy Films experience just such an encounter.




Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Here's a bit of sadistic fun... a dark version of Sleeping Beauty. This film tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime. A 2010 Academy Awards nominee for best animated short film, Granny O'Grimm is directed by Nicky Phelan and produced by Darragh O'Connell... written and voiced by Kathleen O'Rourke.


Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty from Darragh O'Connell on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Land of the Giants

"The Land of Giants" is a project by Choi + Shine Architects which transforms one hundred and fifty foot tall electrical Icelandic pylons into statues reminiscent of those that reside on Easter Island, yet dissimilar due to their ability to gesture with expressive intent. Crouching for increased strength while straining under the weight of the wires, or stretching for increased height, these silent transporters of electricity change size and posture depending on their position in the environment. The pylons have become far more than functional supports. With thoughtful, economic manipulation of steel, the pylons have surpassed utilitarian purposes and have become monuments that majestically decorate the landscape.










(source article and image credits)