October 28, 2011 by collabcubed - 5 Comments

Alfabeto Graffiti: Graffiti Alphabet

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Attention type lovers and street art aficionados: this may be just the book for you. Claudia Walde, author of Alfabeto Graffiti, spent over two years collecting alphabets by 154 street artists from 30 countries. The brief given to each artist was to “design all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet within the limits of a single page of the book.” The result: Alfabeto Graffiti.

Though I haven’t seen the actual book, the spreads on the publisher’s page look like the perfect combination of street art photos and fun (complementing) typography.

via Editoral Gustavo Gil and available here. 319 pages with text in Spanish.

October 27, 2011 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Marilene Oliver: Medical Imaging Sculpture

Brazilian artist Marilene Oliver uses medical imaging (MRI and CT scans) to create sculpture. Concerned with the human condition in a digitized world – medical imaging fragments the body, genetics become code, interactions have been reduced to email and texts: digital media breaks the body down into bytes — Oliver uses her art as a way to reclaim the body.

In her work, Oliver experiments with the power of a wound, scar, and dissection to bring forth political issues. She works with materials that range from laser-cut acrylic, to foam rubber, to shredded cardstock.

Photos courtesy of the artist and Beaux Arts Gallery.

via the future can wait

October 27, 2011 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Scott Campbell: Cut Currency

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Originally from New Orleans, but now living and working in New York, Scott Campbell studies and chronicles working-class iconography commonly found in tattoo culture. His work highlights the irony within much of that imagery.

In Campbell’s cut currency works, he sources uncut sheets of dollars directly from the U.S. Mint and creates intricate sculpture-like pieces with a sunken relief effect by laser cutting the stacks of bills.

You can see more of Scott Campbell’s work on his site as well as schedule an appointment for a tattoo.

Thanks Rachael!

October 26, 2011 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Tsang Kin-Wah: The Seven Seals

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Oh yes, this is right up my alley. Hong Kong based artist Tsang Kin-Wah incorporates text and type to create dynamic installations. From painted floral-like wall patterns that upon closer inspection are made up of letters and Chinese characters, to his ongoing video installation series titled The Seven Seals, Kin-Wah envelops the viewer in type. The texts formed by that type pose questions on existence drawing from biblical, political and philosophical writings, in many cases meant to provoke a range of feelings from the spectator reminding us of issues like war, terrorism, revolution, death, murder, suicide, self-denial, etc.

Presently the latest installation in The Seven Seals, The Fifth Seal – HE Shall Deliver You Up To Be Afflicted And Killed As HE Was, is being shown at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo through January 15, 2012.

via Mori Art Museum

October 26, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Bar Code Shopping Center Building

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First we find a bar code sculpture and now a building! Not just a building but, more accurately and appropriately, a shopping center. The architects behind the building are the Russian firm Vitruvius and Sons. The Bar Code building or Shtrikh Code, which houses shops and offices, is located on the bank of the Neva River in St. Petersburg. Its bright red façades are hard to miss among the mostly gray landscape. Though completed in 2008, the building was recently entered in the Wan Awards 2011 under the ‘color’ category.

October 25, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Flow by Carlo Viscione

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London based spatial designer Carlo Viscione proposed a design, in collaboration with Amy Harris, for an interactive installation, titled Flow, to be placed in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. Made up of 4,000 ‘pixels’ measuring 10 sq cm each with a discarded boarding pass ticket stub protruding from the center of each square, the responsive wall reacts to the movement of passers-by. Triggered by ultra-sonic sensors hidden in the ceiling, the installation creates flowing motion by moving the ticket stubs in a synchronized movement across the wall.

From the artist:
The idle state represents a coral reef movement; flow swinging softly left and right. When people are passing by, it reacts to speed, group size and proximity and tracks the people along the 20m length of the installation. The computer assessing the information triggers different algorithms that create different responses to the people passing – from a simple wave to repeating patterns.

We hoped that this little intervention creates a little smile on people’s faces and creates an experience that positively links back to visiting London.

Watch the video above for the full effect. And visit Carlo Viscione’s website to see more of his work.

October 25, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Ernesto Neto: Faena Arts Center

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Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto creates installations placing the spectator at the center of the action, making the interaction a key part of his art. His abstract constructs often take up the whole exhibition space creating spatial labyrinths from yarn, rope, fabric and polythene foam as well as spices, such as saffron and cloves, tucked into pouches that hang down at various points. The spectator typically is invited to touch, smell and enter the space.

Neto’s current exhibit at the Faena Arts Center in Buenos Aires fits the profile perfectly. The hundred-year-old Faena Arts Center was one of the country’s first big mills producing close to a thousand tons of wheat a day. Having retained the structure’s original ceiling height, as well as its generously proportioned windows and arches, it certainly provides a spectacular setting for Neto’s latest impressive and imposing sculptural installation.

Ernesto Neto’s exhibit will be up through November 2011.

October 24, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Clochard

I like the illusion of a lack of right angles in this closet-on-wheels; Clochard by Ilmiodesign based in Pamplona, Spain.

October 24, 2011 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

More Espluga + Associates: Clonography

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Also from Espluga + Associates, the Barcelona based graphic design and communications firm (see previous post), an experimental side project that started by chance while doing research for a client: Clonography.

From their site:
Clonography is, at least for us, something beautiful, aesthetically and complex looking but simple at the same time. This duality between complexity and simplicity, between reality and fiction, is what makes it appealing. Clonography is somewhere between photography, graphic design, architecture and the cognitive perception theories. Clonography make us react in front of a strange object despite being familiar at the same time. It contains known shapes and objects disposed in a different way. The virtual image that we are looking at is made of real parts. And is this moment of doubt what attract us.

Many more images have been developed since that first accidental one, resulting in a compilation of images using photographs from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Benidorm, Buenos Aires, Helsinki, Honningsvag, London, Moscow and Tallinn.

A new website is in the works and coming soon.

All images courtesy of Espluga + Associates.

October 24, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

m_lab: Espluga + Associates

The Spanish design firm Espluga + Associates, based in Barcelona, is one of those companies that does it all: graphic design, branding, advertising, naming, and, as they say on their website, lots of other things that end in ‘ing’.

One of their recent projects involved several of these capabilities rolled into one. m_lab, Mesoestetic’s ( a company/laboratory specializing in the development of products for the treatment and care of skin) first lab store in Europe, includes interior design, naming, visual id, and packaging by Espluga + Associates. The white, minimalist design with its recessed blue-tinted lighting along with the Helvetica-driven signage and packaging creates the perfect cool and sterile lab-like feel. Nice!

You can see more of Espluga + Associates work here.

And stay tuned for our next post on a completely different project by this talented studio.

October 21, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Paul Caporn: Level Compositions

Paul Caporn is a Perth, Australia based artist who creates sculptural and installation works, some of which incorporate light. The objects used are familiar but he pushes them in new directions. In his Level Composition Series, Caporn takes an ordinary construction measuring tool – the level – along with light and color, sometimes neon, and makes these contemporary tableaux. I’ve always found levels with their moving, and ideally centered, bubbles to be beautiful objects in themselves, so these pieces really appeal to me.

You can see more of Paul Caporn’s work here.

Images courtesy of Turner Galleries and the artist.

October 21, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom

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These photos and videos by London born and based artist Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom made me chuckle. Using everyday objects as characters, Boakye-Yiadom creates performance environments in his studio. Essentially creating humorous/absurd experiments, Boakye-Yiadom then documents the (very brief) acts through film, photography and installation. It’s worth watching a few of the short videos below to get the full effect.

via the future can wait

October 20, 2011 by collabcubed - 4 Comments

Recent Buenos Aires Street Art

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A smattering of street art recently spotted on the streets of Buenos Aires.

From top to bottom: Top three images from Jaz in super-economical asphalt paint. Next three images from MPC crocodiles around BA; Mural by Bixo; Wall mural by Malegria; Bottom mural by Ene Ene; Che with mate artist unidentified.

via graffitimundo and buenos aires street art

October 20, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Scott Jarvie: The Clutch Project

I happened upon Scottish designer Scott Jarvie’s website and his Clutch Project. The Clutch Chair is an experimental research project made from 10,000 drinking straws. In the Clutch Lamp, the straws are grouped together and transformed into a spot light. The inner surface of the straws reflect the light in a jewel-like manner creating a unique effect.

Instantly reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Tara Donovan’s Haze installation: thousands of clear drinking straws stacked on a wall creating an effect that doesn’t even look like the straws that it’s made up of.

You can see more of Scott Jarvie’s interesting work here.

October 19, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Youth Factory: Selgas Cano Architects

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SelgasCano Architects’ design for the new Youth Factory (Factoría Joven) in Mérida, Spain is all about welcoming and protecting. The colorful youth center is very open with its, possibly, most notable feature being a huge orange, organically shaped canopy that protects from rain and the strong hot rays of the sun, typical of Mérida. The architects refer to this prominent aspect as a plastic ‘cloud’.

With a curvaceous skate park that can be used for skateboarding, rollerblading, or cycling, a large climbing wall, an open amphitheater encouraging shows, as well as music and dancing, what teenager would stay away? The open and inviting structure, meant to welcome all, is supported by the oval pods that house the activity rooms as well as the offices.

I’d say the whole edifice screams fun.

via the archhive and architectural review

October 19, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Jonathan Brilliant: “Have Sticks Will Travel”

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I have, coincidentally, come across several artists working with coffee-related objects in the past two weeks. First Christian Ducharme’s cool lamps, then Matthew Parker’s coffee filter window installation, and now Jonathan Brilliant’s incredible coffee stir sticks installations. Totally living up to his name, Brilliant creates enormous, and amorphous, site-specific installations using thousands of coffee stir sticks woven in place and held together only by tension! This series of installations is collectively known as Have Sticks Will Travel. Brilliant likes to activate the gallery space as part of the work, usually creating the work onsite hoping to dissolve the boundary between the space where the art is created and displayed.

In addition to using the coffee stir sticks, Jonathan Brilliant utilizes the coffee cup sleeves to create the tube formations, as well as the coffee cup covers for yet other, wall-mounted, works.

Living and working in Columbia, South Carolina Brilliant started working with these materials in 2006 with his Goldsworthy of the Coffee Shop Project, taking his cue from the British artist Andy Goldsworthy who gathers materials from his natural environment and uses them in his site-specific installations. Brilliant’s natural environment? The coffee shop, of course, with the take-out coffee cup and all its accessories!

For the Have Sticks Will Travel World Tour, Jonathan created multiple installations, entirely in situ, during the course of 8 to 10 days at each location. You can watch the video below for a sample installation.

You can see more of Brilliant’s amazing work on his website.

October 18, 2011 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Mark Wagner: Currency Collages

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My friend Eric introduced me to Mark Wagner’s currency collages a few years ago in Chelsea. It seems to me that today’s economic climate is a perfect time to share them. These collages, made exclusively with the U.S. Dollar, speak to the cultural, social and political roles that money plays in our society.

Mark Wagner, originally from the Midwest, is a Brooklyn based artist who writes and makes books in addition to his collages. His statement on his currency collages is as follows: