Diego Grandi’s Buon Weekend was another installation at Interni’s Mutant Architecture and Design show in Milan last month. The term ‘mutant’ here referring to flexibility, adaptability and mobility. Four large colored sheets wrapped around a tree create the centerpiece of the installation as a tent that welcomes relaxation and lingering. The floral-like plates create an artificial landscape and a new take on the picnic with dishes and silverware becoming part of the informal setting. It’s no suprise that Sambonet and Rosenthal (an Italian/German manufacturer of tabletop accessories) was the sponsor of the installation.
Category Archives: Art
James Clar: Art Futures
I just came across James Clar’s work. After reading this Dubai-based American artist’s bio, it seems that I’m a bit late to the party with exhibits at The New Museum, Chelsea Museum, Chanel Mobile Art Exhibit in Tokyo, and many more under his belt. I found every piece showcased on Traffic’s site interesting. There’s a lot of play with light and technology, but also very powerful statements with strong anti-war and political criticism undertones, well, maybe not so “under”, maybe more in-your-face, in a good way. This from the site:
While his early work dealt with analyzing how technology and media work, a move to the Middle East in 2007 has seen his focus shift to how technology and media affect. As an American living in Dubai, his art work has progressed towards deeper conceptual themes. These include nationalism, globalism, and popular culture in the age of mass information, and often analyses the discrepancy in information between Western media and Middle Eastern media along with its effects on people.
Briefly, a few captions from some of these works:
Friendly Fire (2nd row, right): A small soldier sits on a rotating platform in a mirror box. His motion is nervous as he constantly spins trying to find a target while only aiming at himself.
The Difference Between Me and You (3rd row, right): Two TV screens face each other, one playing Fox News and the other Al Jazeera. In between them is a diffused piece of acrylic that takes the light from the two screens and mixes them together.
Pop Culture (bottom left): a gun that James Clar, an American, and Rami Farook, an Emirati, took to the desert, fired, and then cast in candy.
There are many more works with interesting captions here. It’s worth a look if you like the small sampling in this post.
James Clar will be exhibiting as a part of Art Futures at the Art HK11 in Hong Kong from May 26-29, 2011.
Creative Clothespin Usage
I spotted an interesting lamp prototype made of plastic clothespins a couple of days ago in Williamsburg. Trying to find it online proved to be futile, but instead, I came across some very creative uses both for clothespins and inspired by clothespins. Here are some of the ones that stood out.
Starting at the top left corner, row by row, left to right:
Sandra Backlund creation; Bride Lamp; Claes Oldenburg sculpture in Philadelphia; Clothespin USB stick; Sandra Backlund Clothespin Dress; Peg Light by Steffi Min; Clothespin Trashcan; EZ Chopsticks; Clothespin Lamp; Clothespin Light and shown with paper as shade; Peglight; Clothespin Dress for window display
Lighter Than Air in Boston
Lighter Than Air, by Rachely Rotem Studio and Phu Hoang Office, is the winning entry for SHIFTboston’s Barge 2011 Competition and scheduled to be unveiled on Boston’s waterfront as a “pop-up” public space in September 2012.
Comprised of bright pink camouflage netting, helium balloons, and stationery bikes, the “camovapor” climate system (as the designers like to call it) will float over the barge with the interactive help of visitors who can generate power by pedaling the bikes that will inflate additional weather balloons, transforming water to vapor. As the vapor condenses on the pink nets, the 3D perforations will hold the water which then, combined with the natural harbor breeze, will create a cool area and an “interactive atmospheric phenomenon.”
Looks like a trip to Boston that fall will be in order.
Ryoji Ikeda: The Transfinite (follow-up)
(Click on the images to enlarge and check out our toes close up)
We had been eagerly awaiting this exhibit (see previous post) and headed uptown yesterday to check it out. The Transfinite, an interactive installation by Ryoji Ikeda (Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist), is not only very cool, but surprisingly, an incredibly soothing experience. One would think that the test pattern visuals along with the loud electronic sounds and strobes might have the opposite effect but, at least for us, and seemingly, those around us, it was almost hypnotically relaxing. People were lying on the floor for long stretches completely entranced by the spectacle and immersed in the moment.
It is important to note that the show is made up of three parts: test pattern; data.tron; and data.scan. We almost missed the two data sections which were on the other side of the test pattern wall. Below are some short videos to get a sense of the show, but it definitely is more one of those you-had-to-be-there situations.
Just to clarify, Em and Dan’s chatter in that last clip is not part of Ikeda’s soundtrack… If you have sound issues with the video clips, try watching full-screen.
The Transfinite is at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC through June 11, 2011. The admission is a bit pricey at $12, but if you stay a while and take it all in, we think (though it would be more palatable at half the price) it’s still worth it.
Junk Mail Art
Next time you’re at the mailbox on the verge of throwing out all that junk mail, think again. Sandhi Schimmel Gold definitely does. Having studied mosaics overseas, Gold applied her knowledge to these works. By joining her disciplines of painting and mosaic with her belief in “utilizing resources that would otherwise go to waste” she has created this series of collages since 2006 which have been exhibited in shows with titles such as “Manipulated Mail” and “Recycled Art”.
Click images for more detailed view. See more at her site.
via aol news and illusion scene 360
Tiritas Malditas (Damned Band-Aids)
If you happen to be in Madrid and waiting for the light to change at a street corner, you might want to look up and check the closest traffic light for a Tirita Maldita (Damned Band-Aid). Popping up periodically around the Spanish capital are these, sometimes humorous/sometimes political, typed messages on band-aids; one could call them “band-aid tweets.” I like the concept, almost like having someone whisper in your ear at the light. And the thought of the artist inserting band-aids in an old typewriter to create these, well, it makes me smile.
I’ve translated them into English (in white type on the photos) for those who don’t speak Spanish. Click on the images to see larger.
More Tiritas Malditas (in Spanish) here.
Alexander Lervik: Dimensions
Swedish designer, Alexander Lervik, created the installation Dimensions out of 1728 heads, 35,000 parts, and 24,000 LED lamps. The cube of heads is 3-meters squared and works as a 3D screen. Originally designed for the insurance company Skandia, the light bar sculpture was displayed at this year’s Stockholm Design Week.
All images are from LervikDesign. You can see more at their site.
NRM Project: New Role Models
When Dan and I entered the ICFF satellite show, Model Citizens, in Chelsea last Saturday, we were greeted by a row of colorfully designed miniature seats. The NRM Project (New Role Models), of which these seats are a part of, is a movement by Mike Seto and David Kim of Click Boom Pow to “empower initiative”. The chairs have been distributed around Manhattan and Brooklyn without permission. The prints on them were donated by a variety of artists and designers including Milton Glaser and DALVA. The idea is to inspire good design as well as giving New Yorkers a place to sit, relax, and enjoy the art.
See more images of the chairs at their site.
Ablaze-sentimento (s)travolgente
Last month in Milan, as part of the Architettura Mutante exhibit by Interni magazine, lighting designer Ingo Maurer along with Axel Schmid created the fiery installation: ablaze – sentimento (s)travolgente (with the ‘s’ it means ‘contorted/twisted emotion’; without the ‘s’ it’s ‘overwhelming emotion’.)
Fire elicits extreme emotions, ranging from fear to amazement at its beauty and power. Here, the distorted house, stabilized by a rope, is lit up inside in an intense red with a floating pendulum slowly moving over a glowing green opening in the floor. The interior contrasts dramatically with the black, rough exterior. Click on images for better view.
You can see it in action in the video below:
Andy Warhol-Themed Objects
In honor of the recent unveiling of the Andy Monument in Union Square, NYC, (and of Em’s return home later this week) here are a selection of fun Andy Warhol themed objects. Oh, and you can sing along to Stereo Total’s Andy Warhol, (soundtrack here to some Andy footage) while perusing the items.
Row by row, from left to right:
Andy Warhol dress with synthetic hair by Jean Charles de Castelbajac; Andy Warhol 1960s Flower Plates; Tin Box Banana Sweets; Campbell Soup Can Shoes; Warhol Soup Can Magnets; Marilyn Gold Box with Chocolate Pearls; The Souper Paper Dress; Campbell Soup Lights; Lips Appetizer Set; Cow Box with Hazelnut Chocolates; Marilyn Mousepad
Aryz
Nari Ward: Sub Mirage Lignum
Composed of everyday found objects, Nari Ward’s dramatic sculptural installations examine issues of race, poverty, and consumer culture and the inherent meaning placed upon the discarded, as well as the treasured.
Currently, at MASS MoCA, visitors can view Ward’s latest large-scale installations taking over an entire floor of one of their buildings. The title of the exhibit, Sub Mirage Lignum, represents the three themes of the show: “sub, in the dual sense of “underneath” and “substitute for another (space)”; mirage, a false image produced by the refraction of light, subject to human interpretation; and lignum, derived from Lignum Vitae (“wood of life”), a tree whose bloom is the national flower of Jamaica.”
The centerpiece of the exhibit is Ward’s monumental work, Nu Colossus. The form of the sculpture comes from a small conical basket-woven fish trap, in which fish are lured in and ensnared. This duality of seduction and entrapment is at the center of Ward’s idea of mirage.
Born in St. Andrews, Jamaica, but living and working in New York since his teen years, Nari Ward became “particularly interested in Jamaican fishing villages as temporary spaces suggestive of both community and sustenance. Like in Ward’s work, these villages are made up of what the fishermen can find — old oil barrels dotting the shore and brightly painted, recycled plywood shacks. For Ward these villages go beyond the boundaries of the “Jamaican experience” and connect to the creative act itself, in both the utilization of reuse and in the wide net cast by both fishermen and artists, even though the outcome is unsure.”
Sub Mirage Lignum is now open at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. One of the many interesting exhibits going on there.
Liu Bolin: The Invisible Man
Look closely. Very, very closely. In fact, you might want to click on the image to enlarge it and get a good look at these photos. In each one there’s an invisible man, usually the artist Liu Bolin himself. No, these are not digitally modified photographs. No, this is not Photoshop mastery. Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China, camouflages himself in all kinds of surroundings, no matter how complex they may be. He carries this out by painting himself to blend in perfectly with whatever is behind him. Liu will work up to 10 hours at a time on a single photo to achieve the right effect.
The artist says his art is a protest against the actions of the Government who shut down his art studio in the past and persecute artists in general. It’s about not fitting into modern society.
More of these amazing photos here.
Cristina Garrido
I don’t know if it was my “Philosophy of Art” class trip to a Vito Acconci exhibit in high school, or a visit to a John Baldessari exhibit later on, or maybe the first time I saw a sketch of a Christo-wrapped building, but somewhere along the way I came to really enjoy and appreciate Conceptual Art. So it’s not a surprise that coming across Cristina Garrido’s work recently, was a nice surprise.
Garrido’s work explores the idea of “visual removal of information through the appropriation of objects and images,” slightly reminiscent of Jennie Holzer’s Redaction Paintings though the target of criticism here is capitalism or materialism rather than the military and government censorship. In her series Removals, Cristina Garrido filmed her subject at an Ikea store in Madrid, covering up all the furniture in a living room display with white bed linens from the store, transforming the space into that of an uninhabited house. In addition to the video, Garrido took Ikea information flyers and veiled (or wrapped) the furniture in the flyers with white-out, forcing the reader to speculate based on the written description what is under the white-out. These, in effect, worked as publicity for her performance piece in the store as well. She continues these white-out “removals” in other catalogues as well, not exclusively Ikea.
Another related series of Garrido’s is called Próximamente (Coming Soon). (See bottom two images; click to enlarge.)
Coming Soon is a project of public intervention which consists in placing several big format billboards on the façades next to demolished buildings in the city of Madrid.
“The billboards would partially cover what is behind them and, at the same time, they would open a “window” to the interior of the building. In them, we could see images of uninhabited domestic interiors, with their furniture covered with bed linens. The images would have a cinematographic aesthetic; which addresses the viewer to those publicity billboards of new premieres. But instead of being an invasive advertisement, which has nothing to do with the place it is located, these billboards tell us about these absent houses, about their possible history.The title of the project, Coming Soon…, announces something which is about to come (a new construction, the arrival of new inhabitants…), which might or might never happen.”
You can see more of Cristina Garrido’s work on her site.
Flash:Light Follow-up
Here are some images from the roughly 15- to 20-minute projection loop onto the New Museum last night at the Festival of Ideas for the New City. Part of the Flash:Light event, Let Us Make Cake. (Click to see larger.)
Flash:Light
If you’re in NYC and you haven’t made your Saturday night plans yet, this definitely seems like the thing to do tonight. As part of the Festival of Ideas for the New City, Audemars Piguet presents Flash:Light, a series of projection mapping events around the New Museum, including on the New Museum itself. There are an impressive amount of artists participating in the project including Daniel Arsham (of recent Dig and Pixel Clouds fame), Acconci Studio, Jon Kessler, and about fifty more! There’s more information here but it looks like the three main events are taking place at the New Museum, St. Patrick’s Basilica on Mott St. and on the street itself on Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston. It all apparently starts at 8pm and continues past midnight.
Check it out here.
Phat Knits
Maybe one of these to replace the bean bag, Dan? Designed by Bauke Knottnerus, Phat Knits is a series of giant threads used to create, knitted or not, interior products. These are part of two special editions of Phat Knits made for an exhibit called Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion going on now through mid-August at the MoMu (Mode Museum) in Antwerp, if you happen to be there in the next couple of months.
You can see more images here.
CollabCubed 