April 27, 2012

RIP, David Weiss, who Art in America reports has died, aged 66. Weiss and his longtime artist partner, Peter Fischli were way ahead of the current penchant for Rube Goldberg-inspired filmmaking. Above is an extract from their film, The Way Things Go (Der Lauf der Dinge), the 30-minute extravaganza they created in 1987. As Flo Heiss, executive creative director of ad agency Dare commented on Twitter, the film is the “most copied, magical artwork of all time.” Thoughts to friends and family.

[via Matt Jones]

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Filed under: David Weiss Peter Fischli Fischli Weiss filmmaking art amazing RIP 
February 10, 2012
It’s a nosecone, silly. This one was customized by the ridiculously talented artist (and friend), Eric White, and featured in an *amazing* sounding show currently on at the PIMA Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. (I am already trying to figure out how I can get there.) The Boneyard Project involved artists such as Nunca, Retna and Faile using retired World War II airplanes as their canvas, while it also includes another collection of customized plane nosecones from the likes of Shepard Fairey, Futura 2000 and Ron English. Eric also gave a (perhaps unwittingly) brilliant insight into the highs and lows of the creative process with this emailed description of his contribution: I picked this cone out of the six I was shown months ago because it was the strangest one. The entire thing was covered in that white, shimmery fabric; the outer layer was peeling off. For some reason I kept picturing it pink, and I decided to go for a flat, opaque pink surface being revealed by the torn away fabric. I was tempted to leave it there, but one of my best friends said he thought it needed something else, so I developed the idea of one little window, maybe another level existing beneath the pink. Time was running out, the pickup had been scheduled, so I was frantically trying to come up with something. The night before it was due I settled on something that I thought was great: I found a picture of a little kid with an asthma inhaler that was hilarious to me, and seemed like the perfect meaningless and absurd image that would put it over the edge. I finished about 5am on the day it was due and realized it was terrible. So I then scrambled through 10 different ideas and landed on the “Love Crazy” thing, taken from a title card from an old film. I worked on that for the next three hours and finished. I couldn’t believe I pulled it off. The other thing would have been lame. The text works with the obvious phallic shape and sexual connotations of the pink etc, and I thought the black and white fit well aesthetically… I hope it doesn’t sell. I want it back!” I hope it doesn’t sell too, so that I can arm wrestle Eric for it. Gorgeous.

It’s a nosecone, silly. This one was customized by the ridiculously talented artist (and friend), Eric White, and featured in an *amazing* sounding show currently on at the PIMA Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. (I am already trying to figure out how I can get there.) The Boneyard Project involved artists such as Nunca, Retna and Faile using retired World War II airplanes as their canvas, while it also includes another collection of customized plane nosecones from the likes of Shepard Fairey, Futura 2000 and Ron English. Eric also gave a (perhaps unwittingly) brilliant insight into the highs and lows of the creative process with this emailed description of his contribution:

I picked this cone out of the six I was shown months ago because it was the strangest one. The entire thing was covered in that white, shimmery fabric; the outer layer was peeling off. For some reason I kept picturing it pink, and I decided to go for a flat, opaque pink surface being revealed by the torn away fabric. I was tempted to leave it there, but one of my best friends said he thought it needed something else, so I developed the idea of one little window, maybe another level existing beneath the pink. Time was running out, the pickup had been scheduled, so I was frantically trying to come up with something. The night before it was due I settled on something that I thought was great: I found a picture of a little kid with an asthma inhaler that was hilarious to me, and seemed like the perfect meaningless and absurd image that would put it over the edge. I finished about 5am on the day it was due and realized it was terrible. So I then scrambled through 10 different ideas and landed on the “Love Crazy” thing, taken from a title card from an old film. I worked on that for the next three hours and finished. I couldn’t believe I pulled it off. The other thing would have been lame. The text works with the obvious phallic shape and sexual connotations of the pink etc, and I thought the black and white fit well aesthetically… I hope it doesn’t sell. I want it back!”

I hope it doesn’t sell too, so that I can arm wrestle Eric for it. Gorgeous.

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Filed under: art creativity amazing customization graffiti installation Eric White Boneyard Project 
February 9, 2012

How amazing is this? Greek multimedia artist, Petros Vrellis converts Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” into a swirl of animation and interactivity. The music and the movement are perfectly matched to the spirit of the original painting. As Local Projects principal Jake Barton wrote of the project, it’s “a startling flow of lines, color, sound and interactivity.” Wonderful.

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Filed under: interaction design animation art design painting creativity amazing Petros Vrellis 
January 18, 2012

Wayne White is one of those polymath creative types whose genius knows no bounds. Totally disinterested in and unfazed by the nominal partitions between artistic disciplines, here’s a man who’s dabbled in everything from comic books to sculpture to fine art to set design. Funny, infectiously enthusiastic and razor sharp and smart, White is now the focus of a new biopic, Beauty is Embarrassing, which will premiere in March at this year’s South by South West Film Festival. And what better message to apply to our lives, but White’s conclusion here: “Do what you love. It’s going to lead to where you want to go.” Swoon.

[Video via Eric White.]

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Filed under: Wayne White art amazing film creativity South by Southwest 
January 6, 2012

Cory Doctorow posted this on Boing Boing, which means most of you will have seen it already. But really, what’s not to love about “realtime gesture recognition with contact microphones.” As Bruno Zamborlin, one of the artists involved explains: “The system can recognize both finger-touches and objects that emit a sound, such as the coin shown in the video.” Me? I just want to be able to play a tree.

[Video via Theodore Watson.]

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Filed under: interactive installation interactive art Bruno Zamborlin gesture technology art wonderful 
November 29, 2011

So you know how I keep banging on about how designers have the potential to create a present (or future) that mere mortals can’t imagine? And then I generally grumpily add that it’s a shame the visions of the future are pretty lame? Well, today, perusing links over my breakfast, I near enough dropped my piece of toast after coming across this truly lovely installation from British public artists, Greyworld. Commissioned by the National Forestry Commission, it’s a sound piece in Grizedale, England. Rather, it’s a forest full of clockwork trees. Clockwork trees! Just the thought of them sends my mind spinning into all sorts of new places. Unexpected, magical, nostalgic and thought-provoking all at once. Amazing. 

But what’s that, you say? All very well and lovely but surely big metal keys aren’t at all the thing to insert into majestic, living trees? Yes, I worried about that. Luckily, Andrew Shoben of Greyworld reassures that those behind the project thought about this issue, too. “Trees had special tubes inserted that allow them to continue to grow,” he wrote via email. “It took several arborists and much consulting of other experts to find the best way.”

Mechanical sound doesn’t carry far, while some keys have been installed high up in the forest canopy, out of reach of regular hikers. But while this is officially a sound installation, this is actually less about the sound and more about creating a new, tilted reality for visitors. The clockwork trees are now a permanent part of the forest, and I have a new destination on my list of must-visit places.

[Original link via James Tindall.]

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Filed under: art design public art ideas amazing Greyworld sound installation clockwork tree 
November 11, 2011
"A blank sheet of paper is the devil. People come up with ideas when they’re living life and doing stuff."

— Artist, illustrator and unapologetic all-round kook, Laurie Rosenwald tells it like it is.

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Filed under: Laurie Rosenwald art ideas 
September 1, 2011

“This process has changed so much of the way we look at not only bicycles but also at the process of creating things.” So speaks Charles Youel of Artcrank in this video promoting the bicycle-themed poster company’s collaboration with bike manufacturer, Trek, to make a beautiful looking single-speed bike. Or, as they put it, a bike about art. Great project.

(Video via Doug Powell.)

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Filed under: collaboration Trek Artcrank design bicycles art 
August 10, 2011
Car as medium … rotating motorized camera … a series of contiguous horizontal images of buildings and the street on which they are situated … Did Ed Ruscha invent Google Street View? Love Ruscha vs Street View, a whimsical piece from Rob Walker on Design Observer in which he muses about an Ed Ruscha project from 1965. Ruscha was experimenting, driving down LA’s Sunset Strip with a motorized Nikon camera embedded in the bed of his pickup truck to snap shots of the urban landscape as he drove past. Did this really inspire the mega-mapping project undertaken by Google (and others) and its specially kitted out cars (above image, courtesy Google)? It hardly matters, but it’s definitely interesting to look at what could be a dry exercise in data gathering through a more artistic lens. Indeed, with its acclaimed Wilderness Downtown project, Google has done just that, too.

Car as medium … rotating motorized camera … a series of contiguous horizontal images of buildings and the street on which they are situated … Did Ed Ruscha invent Google Street View?

Love Ruscha vs Street View, a whimsical piece from Rob Walker on Design Observer in which he muses about an Ed Ruscha project from 1965. Ruscha was experimenting, driving down LA’s Sunset Strip with a motorized Nikon camera embedded in the bed of his pickup truck to snap shots of the urban landscape as he drove past. Did this really inspire the mega-mapping project undertaken by Google (and others) and its specially kitted out cars (above image, courtesy Google)? It hardly matters, but it’s definitely interesting to look at what could be a dry exercise in data gathering through a more artistic lens. Indeed, with its acclaimed Wilderness Downtown project, Google has done just that, too.

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Filed under: Rob Walker Design Observer Ed Ruscha Google art street view Wilderness Downtown inspiration 
August 3, 2011
The digital tour of the Sistine Chapel isn’t new, but I just found myself immersed in it for way too long so I thought I’d flag it all the same. (Screen grab shown — visit the Vatican’s site to take a virtual spin.) Looking at this reminded me of the wonderful New Yorker story about the Vatican Library’s attempts to update for the twenty first century, which is also well worth the read. (Digital Sistine Chapel flagged by Larry Keeley.)

The digital tour of the Sistine Chapel isn’t new, but I just found myself immersed in it for way too long so I thought I’d flag it all the same. (Screen grab shown — visit the Vatican’s site to take a virtual spin.) Looking at this reminded me of the wonderful New Yorker story about the Vatican Library’s attempts to update for the twenty first century, which is also well worth the read.

(Digital Sistine Chapel flagged by Larry Keeley.)

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Filed under: Sistine Chapel digital design virtual reality Vatican New Yorker art 
June 17, 2011

Simple loveliness from British architect, artist and designer, Asif Khan, who created a whimsical installation for this year’s Art Basel event, which runs through June 19th. He set up a system mixing helium, gas, water and soap to emit miniature bubble clouds. These cover the roof canopy of the installation and shade viewers from the glaring light. Khan created the piece as part of his prize for winning the title of Designer of the Future, an awards show organized by W Hotels.

(Via Cool Hunting.)

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Filed under: Asif Khan art installation lovely Designer of the Future 
April 20, 2011
This beautiful, thought-provoking image by Rodrigo Corral and Jennifer Carrow illustrates Dangerous Arts, a Salman Rushdie-penned New York Times op ed calling for the release of Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. Ai, who was arrested by Chinese authorities on April 4th, produced 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds as part of an installation held last year at the Tate Modern gallery in London.

This beautiful, thought-provoking image by Rodrigo Corral and Jennifer Carrow illustrates Dangerous Arts, a Salman Rushdie-penned New York Times op ed calling for the release of Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. Ai, who was arrested by Chinese authorities on April 4th, produced 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds as part of an installation held last year at the Tate Modern gallery in London.

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Filed under: Ai Weiwei Jennifer Carrow Rodrigo Corral Salman Rushdie Tate Modern art illustration new york times