A great short film by social media firm Brand Nua where fifty Chicagoans are asked what their favorite memory is. Some wonderfully spontaneous answers from lots of people, and Nick’s mom Andrea is probably my new favorite person. (via gaper’s block)
Nail PackagingSeptember 19
I love this clever nail packaging by design student Pier-Philippe Rioux who proposed this as part of a class assignment. The nails are situated to create the numerals depicting their individual length. Brilliant. (via packaging uqam)
Thomas Doyle’s Apocalyptic DioramasSeptember 19
(click images for detail)
Using materials that would equally be at home amongst idyllic model train sets artist Thomas Doyle builds these incredibly intricate mixed media dioramas that instead suggest something much darker. The sense of loss and a brooding darkness is present in almost every piece, where homes dangle on sheer cliffs, or are surrounded by apocalyptic waste. The four pieces above entitled A corrective, Refuge, The barrage lifts, and Firing for effect are among the most recent works from his Distillation series, which I strongly urge you to click through if you’ve never encountered his work before.
I found Thomas Doyle while working my way through the strangely-named but enjoyable Gorky’s Granddaughter, an interview series by Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting who sit down and chat casually with incredible artists. Good stuff.
Bottle Cap PortraitSeptember 19
Artist Mary Ellen Croteau was working on an artwork involving plastic bottle caps, creating tall endless strings that are strung vertically in colorful columns. She repeatedly noticed how some of the caps would fit neatly inside of one another creating new color combinations similar to the portraits of Chuck Close. Inspired, she became sidetracked and embarked on her own self portrait using the colors that “naturally” appeared in the bottle cap plastic.
This work was submitted by John Mangahas as part of the Curatorial Contest of Awesomness that was held this past week on Facebook. We received nearly 100 submissions and the six winners and the awesome work they brought to my attention will be blogged about over the next few days. Side note: I had Megan help me sort through the 90+ submissions, and of our individual lists of the “best” six items, four were identical. What!
Missed out on all the action? Don’t worry, based on the success of this contest I’ll be doing another one soon, probably here on the blog itself. For now, go ahead and follow along via Facebook or Twitter as there’s lots of stuff happening in both places that doesn’t always end up here!
Anamorphic Tape Projection by Doyle PartnersSeptember 19
Artist Stephen Doyle of Doyle Partners (of paper sculpture fame) just completed this excellent anamorphic projection for the New York Times magazine using blue tape. The project involved taping the various words of traits being taught at KIPP Infinity middle school in Manhattan, of which “grit” is one. The photo is great and I also enjoyed the making-of video showing just how it’s done. (via quipsologies)
Update: Zest!
Dissolving Objects by Astrid BucioSeptember 18
In these installations by Astrid Bucio objects dissolve before your very eyes: a chair sanded into non-existence, and a pencil exploded into the tiniest bits. I would love to see more of these. (thnx, astrid for sharing your work with colossal!)
Stephan GeyerSeptember 18
In awe of this shot by photographer Stephan Geyer who currently lives and works out of Dubai. More work on Flickr.
Degenerative Sculptures by Tim SilverSeptember 18
Sydney-based artist Tim Silver creates these striking figures that appear to gradually disintegrate over time. I’m not sure if the process takes minutes or days and I wonder if it requires external intervention like the application of heat or water, but regardless the photos are amazing if not a bit haunting. He’s also applied the same technique to objects like bottles and cassette tapes, and in a piece entitled Untitled (Killing me Softly) a human figure’s sandy skin is gradually stripped by ocean waves. (images via breenspace)
