For the past several years Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting tons of plastic debris off a small stretch of beach near their Norther California home. The plastic is cleaned, categorized and stored before its utilized in their assorted projects including sculptural work, photography, large-scale museum installations, jewelry and art prints. Learn more here. (via vimeo)
(click images for detail)
For the better part of three decades multidisciplinary artist Guy Laramee has worked as a stage writer, director, composer, a fabricator of musical instruments, a singer, sculptor, painter and writer. Among his sculptural works are two incredible series of carved book landscapes and structures entitled Biblios and The Great Wall, where the dense pages of old books are excavated to reveal serene mountains, plateaus, and ancient structures. Of these works he says:
So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.
Laramee’s next show will be in April of 2012 at the Galerie d’Art d’Outremont in Montreal. (via kastormag)
Okay municipalities of the world, pay attention. For a third consecutive year the city of Kaunas, Lithuania approached artist Jolanta Šmidtienė to assist with their annual holiday decorating. Recognizing the city’s somewhat dire financial state the artist challenged herself to build something that wouldn’t rely on any administrative funds set aside for the event. The result: an enormous 13-meter tall Christmas tree made from nearly 40,000 recycled green bottles and zip ties. At night the tree is lit from the inside resulting in a glowing, translucent, emerald green spruce that’s making headlines across the country. I would love it if Chicago had the ambition to do something like this. (via design you trust, delfi, lrytas.lt)
UK-based artist Susan Stockwell recently completed this gigantic world map made from recycled computer components for the University of Bedfordshire. Entitled World, the piece has been in progress since 2010 and uses motherboards, electrical wiring, fans, and myriad other components donated by Secure IT Recycling. Although Stockwell has worked with electronic components for additional projects, her work with paper is also extraordinary and has been making the rounds quite a bit.
If you liked this, also check out the work of Murilo Melo. (via upon a fold)
Artist Stephen Fitz-Gerald uses scavenged scrap metal to create these wonderful figurative sculptures. Starting with molds taken from live models he welds together industrial steel punch parts, fencing swords, and laser-cut steel scrap into these beautiful pieces that can weigh up to 100 pounds. See much more of his work here. Thanks Stephen for sharing your work with Colossal!
Here’s your daily dose of, well, moss. Behold these vintage thimble planters by Patricia Buzo and the Moss Terrarium Bottle made from recycled wine bottles over on Uncommon Goods. For people, like me, who have zero real estate for plants yet often find things growing under their bed.
The education section of Helsinki-based sculptor Miina Äkkijyrkkä’s CV is very telling, it reads: 1965-1966 Equine College Ypäjä; 1967-1968 Dairy Farming School of North-Savo; 1969-1973 The School of the Fine Arts of Finland. Meaning that for the better part of nearly 50 years Äkkijyrkkä has been working with cows, both in their care and using them as a muse in her lengthy career as an artist. Indeed, a section of her website reads “Models” and links to a gallery of nothing but cows. Her sculptures are immense. She purchases dozens of used vehicles from dealers around Finland and uses the colorful scraps to form these towering bovines that at times look coincidentally like an At At from Star Wars. Although a completely different artform, this symbiosis of cow and human reminded me of Miru Kim (nsfw) who famously photographs herself nude with pigs; the photos are really quite stunning. (via illusion, photos by juha metso)
Graphic designer Nick Sayers has mastered the art of geodesic sphere making, using materials ranging from bicycle wheels to tape measurers. These are some of my favorites including a light made with 270 poker playing cards, one from 120 British rail tickets, and another constructed with 60 slotted plastic Coke bottles. All of his spheres are made without glue or adhesive relying solely on strategically placed cuts in the materials to hold everything together. (via make)
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© 2010-2013 Christopher Jobson, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. I try my best to attribute images, videos, and quotes to their creators and original sources. If you see something on Colossal that's misattributed or you would like removed, please contact me. The Colossal logo and name Colossal are the trademarks of Christopher Jobson.
