Colossal | A blog about art and visual ingenuity.

The Street Art and Drawings of IEMZA

The Street Art and Drawings of IEMZA street art drawing

French street artist IEMZA tells IdN that he treats the creation of his outdoor paintings like sketches, incorporating a hierarchy of lines both organic and faintly architectural. The artist often utilizes decaying walls as a backdrop, where the underlying structures of abandoned buildings have been laid bare and work in perfect harmony with IEMZA’s imperfect, dripping line work. His subjects are equally terrifying and beautiful: hallowed-eyed faces both haunting and sensual, and other-worldly insects or monsters that completely dominate the canvas they live on. You can see much more of his work on Facebook and Flickr.

By Christopher on February 18, 2013 • drawing street art

Finding Vivian Maier: A New Documentary About One of the World’s Most Mysterious Street Photographers

Finding Vivian Maier: A New Documentary About One of the Worlds Most Mysterious Street Photographers street photography photography New York documentary Chicago black and white

In 2007 Chicago 26-year-old real estate agent (and president of the Jefferson Park Historical Society) John Maloof walked into an auction house and placed a $380 bid on a box of 30,000 prints and negatives from an unknown photographer. Realizing the street photographs of 1950s/60s era Chicago and New York were of unusually high quality he purchased another lot of photographer’s work totaling some 100,000 photographic negatives, thousands of prints, 700 rolls of undeveloped color film, home movies, audio tape interviews, and original cameras.

Over time it became clear the photos belonged to a Chicago nanny named Vivian Maier who had photographed prolifically for nearly 40 years, but who never shared her work during her lifetime. Since the discovery Maier’s photographs have received international attention with collections touring in cities around the world as well as the publication of a book. Now, a documentary called Finding Vivian Maier directed by Maloof and Charlie Siskel is nearing completion and the trailer above is a tantalizing preview of what promises to me a fascinating film. Can’t wait. (via gapers block)

Lumio: A Portable Light that Folds like a Book

Lumio: A Portable Light that Folds like a Book lighting books

The Lumio is a portable light that folds up just like a book and when opened it becomes illuminated from within. The light is embedded with magnets so it can be mounted on a wide variety of surfaces and when fully charged it remains lit for 8 hours. The Lumio was designed by architect Max Gunawan who launched it as a Kickstarter project just three days ago where demand has been great the project is already 240% funded. Learn more here.

By Christopher on February 16, 2013 • books lighting

Miniature Toy Robots Made from Recycled Electronic Components

Miniature Toy Robots Made from Recycled Electronic Components toys robots recyling

Portugese product designer Marco Fernandes built some fun robots out of electrical components salvaged from the trash heap. So far Fernandes has designed nine figures as part of his R³bot series, I think #R³bot nine is definitely my favorite.

By Christopher on February 16, 2013 • recyling robots toys

Dash Cam Footage of a Meteor Streaking Across the Sky in Russia

Dash Cam Footage of a Meteor Streaking Across the Sky in Russia Russia meteors astronomy

Incredible footage this morning of a meteor that entered the Earth’s atmosphere, streaking across the sky before finally burning out over Russia’s southern Chelyabinsk region. According to CNN several hundred people may be injured, most from the light impact of broken glass from buildings in the meteor’s path. You can see a collection of a few more videos over on NBC.

By Christopher on February 15, 2013 • astronomy meteors Russia

Frozen Trees on the Shores of Lake Ontario

Landscape photographer Timothy Corbin recently captured some stunning photos of ice-laden tress on the shore of Lake Ontario. It’s amazing is to see the evidence of what must have been hours of violent waves creating layers of ice that now hover over water or ice that’s now perfectly serene. You can see a couple more shots over on his Flickr stream.

By Christopher on February 14, 2013 • Canada ice trees

Dramatically Blurred Oil Paintings by Valerio D’Ospina

Dramatically Blurred Oil Paintings by Valerio DOspina urban painting black and white

I’m really enjoying the perspective and mood in these oil paintings by Valerio D’Ospina. Born in southern Italy but now living and working in Pennsylvania the artist paints gritty scenes from industry including ship yards, trains, and factories as well as broad “urbanscapes” that are captured from a dramatic, almost blurred perspective. His most recent solo show was at Hall Spassov Gallery back in October. (via cosas cool)

By Christopher on February 13, 2013 • black and white painting urban

Alan Friedman’s Astonishing HD Photographs of the Sun Shot from his Own Backyard

Alan Friedmans Astonishing HD Photographs of the Sun Shot from his Own Backyard sun science astronomy

Alan Friedman is a fascinating guy. By day he’s a maker of greeting cards and a lover of hats, but in his spare time he’s a self-proclaimed space cowboy who points a telescope skyward from his backyard in downtown Buffalo, directly into the light of the sun. Using special filters attached to his camera Friedman captures some of the most lovely details of the Sun’s roiling surface. The raw images are colorless and often blurry requiring numerous hours of coloring, adjusting and finessing to tease out the finest details, the results of which hardly resemble what I imagine the 5,500 degree (Celsius) surface of Sun might look like. Instead Friedman’s photos appear almost calm and serene, perhaps an entire planet of fluffy clouds or cotton candy. From his artist statement:

My photographs comprise a solar diary, portraits of a moment in the life of our local star. Most are captured from my backyard in Buffalo, NY. Using a small telescope and narrow band filters I can capture details in high resolution and record movements in the solar atmosphere that change over hours and sometimes minutes. The raw material for my work is black and white and often blurry. As I prepare the pictures, color is applied and tonality is adjusted to better render the features. It is photojournalism of a sort. The portraits are real, not painted. Aesthetic decisions are made with respect for accuracy as well as for the power of the image.

Although the photos above are amazing, Friedman offers extremely high-resolution views of his work on his Tumblr and you can pick up some prints over on Photo-Eye. He also recently gave a TEDx Talk. (via geocentrismo)