A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services Japan flowers death bones anatomy advertising

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services Japan flowers death bones anatomy advertising

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services Japan flowers death bones anatomy advertising

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services Japan flowers death bones anatomy advertising

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services Japan flowers death bones anatomy advertising

In the terrifying wake of 2011 the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, funerals become a commonplace ordeal as the nation dealt with unprecedented loss. Like most cultures, Japanese funerals are somber affairs punctuated with black and white with any deviation considered taboo or inappropriate. Reflecting on the enormity of recent events, funeral home Nishinihon Tenrei approached Tokyo-based ad agency I&S BBDO to create an ad for a trade show that would buck the trend of muted colors so prevalent in the industry. The agency responded with this unprecedented figure of a skeleton made with pressed flowers that overtly celebrates the cycle of life by introducing color and elements of nature that are often avoided in such services. The image was considered so successful it went on to win a design merit award from the 2013 One Club Awards. You can see it in even higher resolution here. (via spoon & tamago)

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[Sponsor] This Summer, Have Fabulous Fun While Exploring Career Opportunities at the School of Visual Arts

When it comes to your professional goals, are you engaging the right people? Are you contributing to your future success? Are you creating opportunities, or just observing them? From conceiving an ad campaign to producing comics for kids, the School of Visual Arts provides the stepping stones to start.

Whether it’s a one-day workshop or a full-semester course, SVA offers 400 engaging courses to fit your interests as well as your schedule, a broad curriculum encompassing communications, design, entertainment and fine arts.

You get to study with a faculty of distinguished professionals and established artists, who help make SVA one of the most respected colleges of the arts. You also have access to the same computer labs, studios, editing facilities and equipment used by successful talents worldwide. Find out more at sva.edu/ce.

[Sponsor] This Summer, Have Fabulous Fun While Exploring Career Opportunities at the School of Visual Arts sponsor [Sponsor] This Summer, Have Fabulous Fun While Exploring Career Opportunities at the School of Visual Arts sponsor

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The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

The Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Street Photographs by Lesley Ann Ercolano  street photography

Looking at the varied situations, locations and subjects in Lesley Ann Ercolano’s Flickr photostream it becomes clear she must rarely, if ever, be without a camera. Without use of particularly fancy equipment or intensive post-processing, the Scottish/Italian photographer instead relies on the uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time to capture brilliant shots that exist for just a split second in her viewfinder. Ercolano shoots almost exclusively in locations around her native Edinburgh, revealing a quirky, occasionally mysterious side of a city she describes as generally more reserved and private. She tells SPNC:

I live and work in the city centre so this is where I mainly take my photos but at weekends with more free time I tend to venture further out of town and weather permitting Portobello beach is one of the places I like to go to hunt for some nice shadows. People here in Edinburgh are often very reserved/private and I respect that. Perhaps this is not a difficulty but it certainly influences what I decide to shoot. The advantages of living in such a fantastic city like Edinburgh are the mix of old and new. History, mystery and a little madness come together to create some magic which is what I love the most.

Ercolano’s work has appeared three times as part of Colossal’s Flickr Finds series, and you can read an interview with her over on SPNC. (via booooooom)

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Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like

Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like painting humor art history

Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like painting humor art history

Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like painting humor art history

Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like painting humor art history

Photographer Imagines What the Models of Abstract Paintings Looked Like painting humor art history

In her Real Life Models series 19-year-old Hungarian photographer Flora Borsi imagines what the models of contorted and skewed abstract paintings must have looked like if they were distorted in real life. Through some pretty hilarious photo manipulation Borsi examines the models for paintings by Kees van Dongen, Rudolf Hausner, and Picasso among others. The series is somewhat similar to photographer Eugenio Recuenco who re-imagined Picasso’s paintings as modern day fashion models. Several of Borsi’s works are now available as prints over on Saatchi Online.

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Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism

Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism surrealism photo realism illustration digital 3d

Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism surrealism photo realism illustration digital 3d

Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism surrealism photo realism illustration digital 3d

Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism surrealism photo realism illustration digital 3d

Digital Artworks by Adam Martinakis Explore Photo Realistic Surrealism surrealism photo realism illustration digital 3d

Digital artist Adam Martinakis (previously) was born Poland in 1972 and currently lives and works in in Cannock, UK. His computer-generated artworks employ aspects of photorealism and surrealism to explore the human condition which he says results in a “mixture of post-fantasy futurism and abstract symbolism”. Above are a handful of works from the last year or so, several of which were on view at The Lloyd Gill Gallery through last week as part of a group show titled Metaphysical Objectivity in Comparison to Realism. You can see much more here.

By Christopher on             

A Chandelier that Projects Tree Shadows

A Chandelier that Projects Tree Shadows trees shadows lighting

A Chandelier that Projects Tree Shadows trees shadows lighting

A Chandelier that Projects Tree Shadows trees shadows lighting

This remarkable chandelier from Hilden & Diaz projects a 360° shadow of trees and roots onto the walls surrounding it. Titled Forms in Nature the light was partly inspired by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel, the German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher (among other things) who is perhaps most famous for discovering thousands of new animal species and mapping them to a genealogical “tree of life”. Hilden & Diaz describe via their website that the shadows in their light are actually upside down:

Interestingly, the roots are those elements of the forest that are the most visible. Thereby the sculpture is not only mirrored, but also turned upside down in Hilden & Diaz’ artwork. [...] The shadows engulfs the room and transforms the walls into unruly shadows of branches, bushes and gnarled trees. Mirrorings are thrown out upon the walls and ceilings and provide weak Rorschach-like hints of faces, life and flow of consciousness. Dimming the lights transforms the installation and one senses a weak fire burning deep in the center of the forest.

It appears the light is just a concept right now, but feel free to join the chorus of people begging for the real thing. (via caoine.org)

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Blown Minded: A Painted Music Video for Young Galaxy by Carine Khalife

Blown Minded: A Painted Music Video for Young Galaxy by Carine Khalife stop motion painting music video animation

Blown Minded: A Painted Music Video for Young Galaxy by Carine Khalife stop motion painting music video animation

Blown Minded: A Painted Music Video for Young Galaxy by Carine Khalife stop motion painting music video animation

Montreal-based visual artist Carine Khalife produced, directed, animated this music video for the 2011 track Blown Minded, off the album Shapeshifting by Young Galaxy. The entire clip is comprised of oil paint on glass photographed above from a camera. Khalife explains her process a bit more on her site:

Basically, my technique was to paint on a piece of glass fixed to a light box. I would paint on the glass with oil so that it wouldn’t dry, and I could play with it for hours. A camera, fixed overhead above the animation table and plugged in my computer, would capture my paintings frame by frame and create the animation using the software Stop Motion Pro (the aardman studio software). This process took place inside a dark room so that there wouldn’t be interference or changing lights on the paint. The single light source came from beneath the glass, revealing the textures and details of brushes movements.

I worked a lot with transparency. The more paint, the darker the image, and therefore the animation becomes about gesture, and the texture of brushstrokes; it’s a very physical, organic process. I based the number of frames per second (sometimes 8 sometimes 12) on the rhythm of the music. Everything is based on the rhythm. It was important for me, especially for the abstract parts, that I was responding to the song conversationally; like a running dialogue. I think I’ve listened to the song more than a thousand times. And because i would often listen to it and focus solely on drums, voice, lyrics, or melody – I was still able to hear new things each time.

The film has screened in festivals around the world and Khalife won a Director of Photography award at the Salon International de la Luz. (via vimeo)

By Christopher on          

Shimmering Chain-link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation
Soo Sunny Park, Unwoven Light, 2013 / Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas / Photo by Nash Baker

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation
Soo Sunny Park, Unwoven Light, 2013 / Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas / Photo by Nash Baker

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation
Soo Sunny Park, Unwoven Light, 2013 / Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas / Photo by Nash Baker

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation
Soo Sunny Park, Unwoven Light, 2013 / Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas / Photo by Nash Baker

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation
Soo Sunny Park, Unwoven Light, 2013 / Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas / Photo by Nash Baker

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation

Shimmering Chain link Fence Installation by Soo Sunny Park reflection multiples light installation

Currently on view at Rice Gallery is this shimmering installation titled Unwoven Light by Soo Sunny Park, comprised of some 37 sections of chain-link fence embedded with translucent sections of Plexiglas. The suspended waveforms capture and reflect nearly every light source in the gallery creating a fractalized rainbow of color that changes quality depending on the time of day. Of the work Park says, “We don’t notice light when looking so much as we notice the things light allows us to see. Unwoven Light captures light and causes it to reveal itself, through colorful reflections and refractions on the installation’s surfaces and on the gallery floor and walls.”

The installation will be up through August 30th, and if you’ve never stopped by Rice Gallery before, chief curator Kim Davenport and assistant Joshua Fischer have brought some incredible artists to the space over the last few years, definitely worth a look. Several photos above by Nash Baker. (via my modern met)

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