Colossal | A blog about art and visual ingenuity.

Put Down the iPhone and Pickup an ONDU Wooden Pinhole Camera

Put Down the iPhone and Pickup an ONDU Wooden Pinhole Camera wood cameras

Through his brand ONDU, woodworker Elvis Halilović has been making lensless pinhole cameras for over seven years along with a wide variety of ceramic and structural objects, including kits for geodesic domes. This week the Slovenian designer unveiled a beautifully designed series of pinhole cameras made from wood and held together in part by strong magnets. Forget your camera phone, filters, and “likes,” these tough little lensless film cameras are old school and completely manual, relying on direct exposure of light to film. The cameras come in six different dimensions and film sizes, from the more common Leica 135 format to a 4″ x 5″ film holder camera, and looking at the examples above they really do seem capable of making some beautiful photos. You can learn more over on Kickstarter. (via THEmag)

By Christopher on May 16, 2013 • cameras wood

Black and White Underwater Photography by Hengki Koentjoro

Black and White Underwater Photography by Hengki Koentjoro underwater ocean Indonesia black and white

Underwater photography of scuba divers, coral, or wildlife can sometimes seem commonplace regardless of the remote destination or subject, but Indonesian photographer Hengki Koentjoro (previously here and here) bucks the trend with his desaturated, dark, and often brooding images taken in and around Jakarta, Indonesia. While his landscape photography above ground is often dreamlike and mysterious, as soon as the blue is removed from the ocean it introduces a slightly menacing tone that while deeply beautiful, sets the viewer a little on edge. Oh and also the sharks. Koentjoro is one of my favorite photographers right now and you should get lost in his photos for a bit. Find him on 500px, Flickr, and Art Limited. (via my amp goes to 11)

Oil Finger Paintings by Iris Scott

Oil Finger Paintings by Iris Scott painting

One day while completing an oil painting of a field artist Iris Scott needed to make a few quick adjustments to some yellow flowers but every brush at her disposal was stained a deep dark blue. Not wanting to stop and wash the brushes she decided to make a few quick touchups with her fingers, a small change to her process that would immediately change the course of her career. Wearing a pair of surgical gloves Scott now paints exclusively with her fingers bringing an impressionistic sense of color and texture to all of her paintings. The artist has a number of original works available on her website as well as prints over on Etsy, and here’s a quick video of her discussing her work on YouTube. (via gaks)

By Christopher on May 15, 2013 • painting

Green Box is a Private Building Designed to be Consumed by Vegetation

Green Box is a Private Building Designed to be Consumed by Vegetation plants architecture

Designed by Italian firm Act Romegialli Architects, Green Box is a small camouflaged garage for a private residence situated on the Raethian Alps. While the interior is organized into a gardening room, cooking area, and a small dining/hang out space, it’s the exterior that makes this contemporary hobbit home pretty remarkable. The architects created a lightweight skeleton of galvanized metal and steel wire for the sole purpose of promoting a habitat for climbing vegetation. From a distance only a glowing light would suggest the space was even habitable. I could write Colossal from a space like this for an extremely extended period of time. See more photos over on iGNANT.

By Christopher on May 14, 2013 • architecture plants

New Geometric Projection by Felice Varini in Paris

New Geometric Projection by Felice Varini in Paris installation geometric anamorphism

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Swiss artist Felice Varini is know for his large scale projections of geometric forms onto rooms and exterior spaces. His latest work at the Grand Palais in Paris went up just last month, you can watch the video above to see how he works with projectors and stencils to create his artwork that only appears proportional when seen from a specific viewpoint. You can also follow him on Facebook. (via street art news)

By Christopher on May 14, 2013 • anamorphism geometric installation

A Japanese Ad Agency Reinvents Advertising for Funeral Services

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)

By Christopher on May 13, 2013 • advertising anatomy bones death flowers Japan

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

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)