AJ Fosik Interactive Paintings on the Streets of Malaysia A great new street artist is making a splash in Malaysia this month. Painter Ernest Zacharevic created four new works where his painted figures of mischievous children are seen interacting with their physical surroundings: an old bicycle, a motorcycle, or even windows on the side of a building. His most popular piece of two small children on a large bicycle has become a major destination in the city with dozens of people stopping to take creative photos. I want to thank Annie and Ross of the very fine AsiaDreaming blog for providing many of the photographs for this post. Carrie Schneider: Work: Burning House Carrie Schneider Work / Projects / Exhibitions / Text / Biography / Contact Reading Women : Portraits : Books : Video / Burning House / Moon Drawings / Recession / Dazzle Camouflage / Figure–Ground / Las Bebidas / Brother / Asleep / Portrait of the Artist Burning House / 2012 – 2013 / HD film / Sound by Cecilia López / 12:00 (5 minute excerpt above) Burning House / 2010 – 2011 / c-prints / 40 x 50 inches each Burning House (October, afternoon), Burning House (September, night), Burning House (January, night), Burning House (August, raining, early), Burning House (March, sunset), Burning House (April, midday), Burning House (August, sunrise), Burning House (November, afternoon), Burning House (September, nightfall), Burning House (October, twilight, Venus), Burning House (December, midday), Burning House (July, sunset), Burning House (August, raining, midmorning), Burning House (February, sunrise), Burning House (August, daybreak)
La construction de Brasilia par Marcel Gautherot Le photographe français Marcel Gautherot a réalisé ces images noir et blanc de la construction de la ville nouvelle de Brasilia conçue par Oscar Niemeyer pour remplacer Rio de Janeiro comme capitale du Brésil dans les années 50. de: Jean-Louis Cohen, Michel Frizot, Samuel, Jr. Titan éditions: Scheidegger und Spiess AG, Verlag Chuck Close's Unbelievable Fingerpainting Portrait While you may already know Chuck Close as that incredibly talented American artist who creates those huge photorealistic paintings, you may never have seen this mind-blowing piece. Called Fanny/Fingerpainting, it's a beautiful portrait of Close's wife’s late grandmother Fanny created with fingerprints! Created in 1985, the oil on canvas work represents one of the largest and most masterly executions of a technique the artist developed himself which involves the direct application of pigment to a surface with the artist's fingertips. By adjusting the amount of pigment and the pressure of his finger on the canvas, Close could create unbelievable contours of the face. It currently hangs at Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art. Photos via [The Pace Gallery], [The Art Observer]
Lean With It: People Photographed Leaning at Impossible Angles with Trees Chicago photographer Paul Octavious has just released a number of new photos as part of his Lean With It series, where he captures people bending (I suspect falling) in parallel with precariously angled trees. It’s almost more amazing that he’s able to find these trees in the first place, let alone timing such great shots. See much more on his website.
No Man's Land: A Meditation on Mortality and Self-Delusion from French Illustrator Blexbolex by Maria Popova “And still, that insinuating, ever-growing silence.” French comic artist and illustrator Blexbolex may be best-known for his contemplative meditations on people and time, aimed at children yet agelessly delightful and thought-provoking, but he is also a masterful explorer of complex grown-up themes. No Man’s Land (public library), from London indie publisher No Brow, is a poignant satire of the mind’s well-documented gift for fooling itself and seducing us into our own hand-spun illusory realities. Printed in three spot-colors, screenprint-like, on beautiful matte paper — Blexbolex’s signature style — it tells the story of a hero spiraling into an implausible dreamland in hopeless escapism from the processes of mortality. And still, that insinuating, ever-growing silence. Hell. Thanks, Claudia Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr
Monsters and Madonnas: Looking at William Mortensen An essay by Cary Loren This is the third guest post by Cary Loren of the The Book Beat. See his previous posts Monsters Are Inoffensive and Adelaide Hanscom's Rubaiyat. October 2014 update: Coming soon from Feral House: American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen Now available from Feral House: Expanded reprint of The Command to Look William Mortensen, self-portrait (as a kind of "Mad Hatter magician") William Mortensen (1897 - 1965) was one of the most well known and respected photographers in America in the thirties. William Mortensen, Machiavelli. Camera Work (1903 - 1917) was an influential photography periodical founded by Alfred Stieglitz. William Mortensen, L'Amour "SEX is of course the subject interest, which is here given additional morbid pungency by the sadistic implications of the theme." -- Mortensen William Mortensen, Human Relations - 1932 "Hatred is frequently the emotion that lies behind grotesque art... slipcase of William Mortensen's Monsters & Madonnas
Bright Ideas: Incredibly Unique Lighting Lighting doesn’t have to be limited to recessed cans, hand me down table lamps or fluorescent ceiling monstrosities. Your home is your castle, not some boring day job where you’re punching a clock, so snap out of the idea that your lighting is just supposed to make everything else look good – it can look good in and of itself. Here’s a bright idea – stop simply illuminating your space and start brightening your abode with these incredibly unique lighting options. This content is brought to you by the new Hyundai Elantra which helps you “Snap Out” of your routine to live your best life. Cassette Tape Lamp We live in a world where our music has no physical form outside of a concert – the world of the mp3. Erlenmeyer Flask Lamp Part science class, part MacGuyver execution, this lamp combines an Erlenmeyer chemistry flask and a vintage light socket in a way that will make it is perfect on your table as it would be on the set of Breaking Bad. Kozo 20 Pipe Lamp 1940s Hollywood Studio Floor Lamp
Displacements Displacements is an immersive film installation. An archetypal Americana living room was installed in an exhibition space. Then two performers were filmed in the space using a 16mm motion picture camera on a slowly rotating turntable in the room’s center. After filming, the camera was replaced with a film loop projector and the entire contents of the room were spray-painted white. The reason was to make a projection screen the right shape for projecting everything back onto itself. Displacements was produced three times between 1980 and 1984. Twenty-one years later, in 2005, my long-time friend and colleague Brenda Laurel cajoled me into a redux. See also: "Two Unusual Projection Spaces" Presence journal, Special Issue on Projection, MIT Press, 14.5, October 2005. Exhibitions "Displacements," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1984 "Movie Room," Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T., 1980 "Beyond Object," Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, 1980 Original Credits 2005 Credits Mr.