Thumbs and Ammo posits the idea: would it be funny to replace guns with thumbs up in stills from movies?
YES!
Miniture Worlds of Maico Akiba
Maico Akiba's series, SEKAI (世界), or “world,” wherein she creates miniature worlds on the backs of other animals, reminescent of the Chinese creation-world myth of World Turtle.
Macro Elements
Japan-based photographer R. Tanaka set of macro photos of the periodic table elements reveal the beauty hidden in the tinniest bits of the world.
The Justice League Of Parks and Rec
Giant Balloon Art From Jason Hackenwerth
New York artist Jason Hackenwerth, whose latest piece, Pisces (referencing the myth of Aphrodite and Eros) continues his signature style of organic and biological forms made from latex balloons at the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
NAKED SILHOUETTE ALPHABET [not really SFW]
From Anastasia Mastrakouli project page:
"The photographic series NAKED SILHOUETTE ALPHABET is a latin alphabet art, formed by the naked body and performance of experimental textures that depict the silhouette. In this series the goal is to highlight the dialectical relationship between anatomy and visual arts. Each image displays the way in which the body turns into one illustrative and choreographic communication channel of a message. The body is cut off from its physical nature and is perceived as an imprint. The body shape becomes a letter through a deliberately abstract and other-worldly aesthetic."
A Contraption for Cigars to Play Woodwinds
Contraptions, kinetic sculptures, Rube Goldberg machines... I love this stuff.
Ronald van der Meijs, has brought together two artificial lungs, smokes hand-rolled cigars, and four recorders (a bass flute, alto, tenor, and a soprano) for a sound contraption he calls Play it one more time for me La Ville Fumée in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, once the European capital of Cigar production.
"In the old days the city was full of cigar smoke. There were lots of mechanical parts, steam, noise, and even whistles to start the work in the old cigar factories," Meijs says. "So this installation is in many ways a metaphor for the cigar production of Eindhoven."
The Aesthetics of the Kinectics of Boats and Flying
Kinetic sculptor Bob Potts explores the motions of flight and the rowing, revealing their grace and beauty.
Unstoppable Students in The Face of Danger
There are a lot of fearless daredevils out there, risking their lives for thrills, publicity or some other unnamed psychic pressure. None of them, not a single one of them have the slightest bit up on these kids who risk their lives and struggle just to show up at school.
As Lao Tzu tells us:
Every step is on the path
Daredevil Poses
Ukranian Mustang Wanted is apparently crazy - the insanity of the situations he actually puts himself in for a good photo - perhaps makes him feel more alive? Not sure. Good shots though.
POTD - Red Ghazal BY AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL
Red Ghazal
I’ve noticed after a few sips of tea, the tip of her tongue, thin and red
with heat, quickens when she describes her cuts and bruises—deep violets and red.
The little girl I baby-sit, hair orange and wild, sits splayed and upside down
on a couch, insists her giant book of dinosaurs is the only one she’ll ever read.
The night before I left him, I could not sleep, my eyes fixed on the freckles
of his shoulder, the glow of the clock, my chest heavy with dread.
Scientists say they’ll force a rabbit to a bird, a jellyfish with a snake, even
though the pairs clearly do not mix. Some things are not meant to be bred.
I almost forgot the weight of a man sitting beside me in bed sheets crumpled
around our waists, both of us with magazines, laughing at the thing he just read.
He was so charming—pointed out planets, ghost galaxies, an ellipsis
of ants on the wall. And when he kissed me goodnight, my neck reddened.
I’m terrible at cards. Friends huddle in for Euchre, Hearts—beg me to play
with them. When it’s obvious I can clearly win with a black card, I select a red.
I throw away my half-finished letters to him in my tiny pink wastebasket, but
my aim is no good. The floor is scattered with fire hazards, declarations unread.
New Stuff
A couple new designs for shirts in STUFF .
Carved Crayon Alphabet
If you are in the Chicago area, artist DIEM CHAU has a show with some witty and fun crayon sculptures.
A-Z: New Carved Pencils and Crayons
Packer Schopf Gallery
April 5th- May 18th
942 W. Lake St.
Chicago, IL 60607
Opening Reception:
Friday, April 5th
5-8pm
Artist Talk:
Saturday, April 6th @ 1pm
From her blog:
I've been wanting to make a set of "Alphabet" crayons for a long time. I've always been drawn to illustrated alphabets. Maybe it's the Fontophile in me, but I find an extreme satisfaction in seeing a well made set of ABC's. I will have 26 sets of carved crayons as well as new carved pencils in an upcoming art show at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. I will also be in Chicago for an artist talk, please come by and say hi!
Shadow Puppets Tell American History from 1935-1985
”Leaves of Grass” is series from Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer of clippings and photographs from the American Life magazine, each turned into a functional puppet.
1 - Flying Great White Sharks Caught on Film
Travel and adventure photographer, Chris Mclennan has taken these truly terrifying photos of great white sharks breaching.
According to Wikipedia:
Seal Island is a small land mass located 5.7 km off the northern beaches of False Bay, near Cape Town, in South Africa. The island is so named because of the great number of Cape Fur Seals that occupy it. There are a few sea birds as well. It is an outcrop of the Cape granite and rises no more than about six metres above the high tide mark. The island is long and narrow- 800 metres by 50 metres. There is no vegetation or soil of any significance. A radar mast was built on the island during World War II by a crew who lived in prefabricated huts for the duration of the construction but this tower gradually succumbed to corrosion and was blown over in a winter storm in 1970. All that remains of it is rusty, twisted metal. There are the ruins of a few huts and other structures from the sealing and guano-collection era (first half of the 20th century). Some rock inscriptionsmade by sealers in the 1930s are still evident.
The dense population of fur seals at certain times of the year attracts the seal's main predator, the Great White Shark. Seal Island provides unique opportunities for those who wish to observe attacks by White Sharks on Cape Fur Seal and to observe social interactions amongst both species. The island is well known for the interesting way the sharks grab their prey: They come up from underneath and literally launch themselves out of the water with the seal in their mouth. It has been shown that if the seals enter the "Ring of Death" (where the sharks circle the island) on the surface instead of at the murky bottom, they will be picked off by the faster and more aggressive Great White.
More Nature Photography
"Another incredible set of jaws on a great white shark near Seal Island, False Bay, South Africa. This is one of nature's marvels and was really a sight to behold! Let's hope that these incredible creatures will survive
for generations to come. This shark was attacking a seal decoy being towed behind the boat. The action happens so fast and without warning that it is very easy to miss... The decoy is used by researchers to study the Great White's unique feeding behavior in False Bay. I chose to lie on the deck of the boat shooting out the open transom to get the low angle."
3 - A Sculpture Made from 100lbs of Rice Win the National Portrait Competition
NY-based artist who originally hails from Kanazawa, Saeri Kiritani is the winners of the National Portrait Gallery’s 2013 portrait competition.
From the Introduction to the National Portrait Gallery’s 2013 portrait competition:
"Artists know that a portrait can communicate much more than a likeness. Personal identity, cultural differences, illusory moments can be captured through portraits. Portraits are created in a dizzying variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video and other time-based media, even images based on individual DNA."
4 - Competitive RC Flying
5 - Rap Lyric Street Signs
For his new project: “Rap Quotes,” artist Jay Shells made official-looking street signs quoting famous rap lyrics that refer to specific locations in NYC, and placed the signs there.
More Street Art
Recordings from the Rapp Saloon Poetry Series
The Rapp Saloon Poetry Reading Series, hosted by Tresha Haefner. I was privileged to read again withBrendan Constantine.
Download the text: Ryan Scott Nance Rapp Saloon Poetry Reading Series
1 - Works in Paper from a Paragon of Mid-Century Modern
Irving Harper was the director of design at George Nelson Associates in the 1960s and is known for designing the Marshmallow Sofa for Herman Miller. He was also an artist working in paper. His work is showcased in Irving Harper Works in Paper.
Via Rizzoli:
Encompassing influences as diverse as Picasso, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the art of Oceana and Africa, the architecture of Paris, and the American beech tree that shades the Rye, New York home he has lived in for over 50 years, the artist’s private meditations reveal an informed aesthetic consciousness expressing itself as pure joy. Harper’s private work delivers on the promise of modernism: humble materials elevated by brilliant design and craftsmanship, and integrating the natural world to create objects in a universally understood language.
