Arts Visuels
In Memorandum, The Incandescent Light Bulb
Tim Fishlock created this chandelier out of 1243 suspended incandescent light bulbs as a memorial to the light source that has served us, nearly unchanged, since its creation 130 years ago.
By 2011, all forms of incandescent light in the UK (where Fishlock lives) will have been phased out in the name of greenness.
(As you probably guessed by the lack of wires, not all 1243 bulbs are functional– there is only one actual light source at the very center.)
I’m all for greenness, but I’ve got to say, I’m feeling a little nostalgic already for the incandescent bulb. Or at least, I wish they’d go ahead and figure out a way to make CFL light (and their bulbs) prettier. Will they ever be able to make a CFL bulb that looks like an old Edison filament bulb, like the below?
Arts Visuels
R. Magritte Strikes Again
Arts Visuels
Edition One Hundred
Similar to 20 x 200 (which is awesome, by the way), the recently launched Edition One Hundred will be offering limited edition runs (100) of signed and numbered affordable ($100) photographic prints.
The inaugural exhibition is called I Love LA and is by Cat Jimenez. I dug this one–
It’s by an LA artist named Miles Regis– isn’t it like de Kooning’s “women” meets Basquiat meets de la Vega?? How could you possibly go wrong with such a mix of influences…
de Kooning
Basquiat
de la Vega
Arts Visuels
Americana >> Jen Zahigian “Roadside Photography”
Loving the summery, California hues of Jen Zahigian‘s “roadside” photography. Even if your mom didn’t drive a wood-paneled station wagon when you were little (mine actually did), can’t you imagine being a little kid in the back of an Oldsmobile wagon and seeing these out the window on a road trip?
Arts Visuels
Zhuang Hong Yi
Paint-covered hand-made rice paper flowers by Zhuang Hong Yi. Enough said.
At Keszler Gallery.
Arts Visuels
Mike Miller for West Elm
Silhouette art is definitely having a moment in the design world, and I might’ve almost had it with silhouettes, but these quirky silhouettes by artist Mike Miller for West Elm keep the charm alive.
The palette and styling don’t hurt either… they manage to make silhouettes look less precious and more masculine, in a way that really works for me.
Available here at West Elm.
Via Design*Sponge
Arts Visuels
Laurel Roth >> A More Interesting Damien Hirst?
“Food #4, Pig,” 2008.
Laurel Roth’s motifs of death, consumerism, and consumption have an echo of Damien Hirst’s famous pieces involving skulls, diamonds, etc., but I actually think Roth makes more interesting and thoughtful use of her materials, and the body of her work suggests a deeper line of thinking than Hirst’s.
“English Bull Dog,” 2007.
Though I do have a lot of respect for Hirst and what he’s managed to do in the art space, half the point of his pieces sometimes seems to be giving the middle finger to the art world, as if he’s just seeing how much he can get away with, and how much money he can make doing it.
Roth, on the other hand, seems to be legitimately exploring the darker aspects of human nature (consumption, consumerism, greed) and the dynamics between ourselves and the animals we both eat and love.
“Great Dane,” 2008.
The piece at top is from the series “Food,” with the top piece titled “Pig,” and the following pieces are various breeds of dogs, from the series “Man’s Best Friend.” Roth hand carves these pieces herself, out of walnut, vera wood, or acrylic, and embellishes them with gold leaf and Swarovski crystals.
“Chihuahua,” 2007.
Below, two pieces from her “Peacocks” series, made of fake nails, hair clips, fake eyelashes, and dime store jewelry.
See more at Roth’s website here.
Arts Visuels
Papercut World Map
Love this whimsical print of a handmade papercut map by Famille Summerbelle.
Available at Famille Summerbelle.
via Design*Sponge
Arts Visuels
Toothpicks + Glue.
Sculptures made of millions (literally, up to 6 million per) and hundreds of liters of glue by Stan Murno.
via Lost at E Minor
Stan Murno website.
Arts Visuels
Kate MccGwire
I was stopped in my tracks by Kate MccGwire’s pieces constructed out of pigeon feathers. You might have noticed by now that I especially love installation art and art made out of bizarre mediums, so MccGwire’s work definitely fits the bill.
I just love seeing materials reimagined. When it’s done well, it makes you immeditately realize how different the mind of the artist is… for example, I would never in a million years have looked at a pigeon feather and imagined something so beautiful and nuanced. But in the hands of MccGwire, something so basic and mundane is transformed and we suddenly see it through a completely different lens.
The beauty of art like this is a great example of Kant’s idea that universal beauty is found in things that appear to have purpose, but not one that we can actually perceive. In other words, it seems like it should have a purpose, but we can’t tell what that purpose would be, and thus we don’t desire to consume or possess it, we simply derive pleasure from experiencing it.
MccGwire’s organic forms seem independent, like they have a life of their own, a goal, a purpose, but we can’t tell what it would be.
The “cage” element is pretty brilliant. It totally changes how you view the piece. In the one above, the mass of feathers looks like its writhing like a python, quickly growing too large for its cage, and it seems to say something about keeping birds in cages. …Or maybe about what kinds of birds we keep in cages and our narrow view of what’s beautiful– pigeons ordinarily wouldn’t be valued enough to be kept, but with the feathers reimagined by MccGwire, the form is beautiful enough to be put on a pedestal– or in a cage– to be possessed.
In the one below, the glass cloche makes the “bird” seem like it’s a taxidermied specimen, neatly preserved under glass for all time, and the white feathers, compared to the irridescent grey ones, seem so much more still and even peaceful, adding to the RIP connotations of the piece.
More of Kate MccGwire’s work at her website here.
