This illusion is absolutely amazing. I wonder how many people were incredibly spooked by it.
Category: installations
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I believe I’ve mentioned how any artwork that destroys books leaves me feeling slightly conflicted (anachronistically attached to the printed word as I am). But I give much credit to Alicia Martin for undertaking these large installations, consisting of nearly 5,000 books each.
Of all possible favorite things to rain from the sky and out of buildings, books would probably hurt the most…but I’d love to ba around to weed through the aftermath of the spill.
Paradise on this earth…where books are projectile vomited from windows and spilling through doorways (if one is careful about bruises and paper cuts).
I wish such treasures were bursting from my walls, providing they are decent books of course.
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At first glance, I thought these images were sculptures.
Xia Xiao Wan constructs 3D images with the use of multiple flat glass panes. Inspired by X-ray technology, he uses pencil and glass paint to create this amazing effect.
Some of this work reminds me of the nightmarish sliced horse in the movie The Cell.
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This project warms my heart. We all need to remember these words sometimes, and seeing them unexpectedly can stop us in our tracks (both mental and physical). I’m inspired to start a random acts of kindness project myself to pay it forward!
From the Project Statement:
You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization. We’re just attempting to make the world a little better.
Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. We work extremely hard that this message is received as a simple act of kindness, and nothing more. Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.
You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message.
Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.You can participate in your own little way by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope and receiving free stickers.
Put them in your area…take pictures…see them posted on the project site!
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Walk into the stately Victorian Kelvingrove Art Gallery and you’ll be confronted with a truly unique site: countless floating heads in a myriad of expressions, by Sophie Cave.
I would love to walk under this series of sculpted apparitions. Are they the ghosts of former reactions that took place in the front hall?
These expressive masks are fascinating because they capture a single moment in time, usually fleeting in real life. Faces are forever transforming as we navigate our daily existence…except here.
Apparently some people find the faces unnerving, perhaps because these moments are so rarely frozen and de-contextualized. I happen to think they are fantastic.
See more photos at the Source
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Canadian artist Julia Hepburn created this wonderful diorama: Can You Remember My Dream.
A single bed, nestled in tangles of twigs. Hanging above it are lanterns, glowing with intricately surreal captured moments in time.
I think she accomplishes her goal beautifully:
“The imagery in the piece is intended to walk the line between the light-hearted and uncomfortable, and as a result can be interpreted any number of ways according to the participants wishes,” says Hepburn. “The goal of the work is to create an environment where viewers feel they have entered into a stolen moment, and they are encouraged to become voyeurs of the most intimate kind.”
I wish I could construct a custom version of this for a girl who is very dear to me (yes you, S.!)
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Heather Cox is a fantastically innovative artist and sculptor. I’ve been marveling at her Nonpareil Project, which features shapes sewn into plastic bags and filled with tiny rainbow candy pellets.
Detail:
This woman has such an amazing imagination. Who would think to combine these elements? Genius.
It’s worth going through all of her projects. You’ll find everything from tissue paper to pencil erasers to nail clippers, combined in amazing structures and designs.
Thanks to Haunt Style for reminding me to post this.
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Welcome to the uncanny valley. These singing robot heads (in an installation by Nathaniel Mellor) remind me of a horrific setup in a serial killer’s basement.
Don’t they look like the final scene in a Tales From the Crypt episode?
Here, let the Haunted Mansion singing busts show everyone how it’s done (a cappella):
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In 2002, artist/sculptor Olaf Breuning did a garden installation that included dozens of skeletons in various positions of repose and play.
These skeletons seem to be enjoying death more than most people enjoy life. It makes me absolutely joyful to look at them.
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Damien Hirst, whom I’ve posted about here, certainly has an impressive body of (often controversial) work.
The Child’s Dream, is currently making its UK debut at the Tate St. Ives gallery as part of The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art exhibition.
The Dream:
Broken dream:
I’m terribly sorry, unicorn lovers. I didn’t mean to drown your childhood dreams in formaldehyde. I just find the installation rather captivating.
SheWalksSoftly 