Art

Bird Flipbook Machines by Juan Fontanive

Onithology. Collage on asuka and watercolor paper, stainless steel, motor and electronics. 2013.

Colibri. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, stainless steel, delrin, motor, electronics. 2011.

Violetear. Acrylic and graphite on paper, stainless steel, delrin, aluminum, motor and electronics. 2011.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art, artist Juan Fontanive has been exploring moving images and kinetic sculptures. My favorite of his lastest works are these three flipbook machines using drawings, acrylic paintings, and collages of birds. Two of the original machines above, Ornithology and Colibri are currently available through the New Museum.

Art

Drawings Made with Fingerprint Patterns by Nicolas Jolly

In a drawing style reminiscent of the whorl patterns found in van Gogh paintings, artist Nicolas Jolly draws using a kind of cross hatching that looks like the patterns of fingerprints. The thousands of tiny black ink lines vary in length, direction, and thickness to create landscapes, portraits, and other scenes that seem to be pulsing with energy. You can see many of his drawings close-up in his Fingerprints gallery and several are available as prints over on Society6. (via Behance)

Photography

Explosions in the Sky: Macro Photographs of Fireworks by Nick Pacione

This last 4th of July Dallas-based photographer Nick Pacione camped out below a firework show and captured these awesome shots using a macro lens. He used a special rack focus technique that changes focus during the exposure to create some wonderfully abstract images that at times don’t even look like fireworks. See more from Explosions in the Sky, and if you liked this also check out the work of David Johnson.

Science

Mesmerizingly Creepy Kaleidoscopic Fingers Filmed by Dave Razor

So I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in this video from designer Dave Razor. Suffice to say there are lots of fingers, bizarre sounds, and generally it’s all a little creepy. And yet I can’t stop watching. (via Jason Sondhi)

Design

A Mercedes V12 Engine Built with Hand-Forged Components of Bone, Wood, Fossils and 50 Other Materials

This new sculptural piece by artist Eric van Hove might take the cake for labor-intensive automotive art. After receiving a Cda-Projects Grant, the artist headed to Morrocco to create V12 Laraki, an excruciatingly detailed Mercedes V12 engine built from 53 materials that were hand-forged from 35 master craftsmen from various regions in Morocco.

Nine months in the making,V12 Laraki began when van Hove dismantled a mercedes engine and then set about creating faithful reproductions of every single component, some 465 parts and 660 bolts made of casted copper. Contracting with artists around Morocco the engine was made with white cedar wood, high Atlas red cedar wood, walnut wood, lemon wood, orange wood, ebony wood of Macassar, mahogany wood, thuya wood, Moroccan beech wood, pink apricot wood, mother of pearl, yellow copper, nickel plated copper, red copper, forged iron, recycled aluminum, nickel silver, silver, tin, cow bone, goat bone, malachite of Midelt, agate, green onyx, tigers eye, Taroudant stone, sand stone, red marble of Agadir, black marble of Ouarzazate, white marble of Béni Mellal, pink granite of Tafraoute, goatskin, cow-skin, lambskin, resin, cow horn, rams horn, ammonite fossils of the Paleozoic from Erfoud, Ourika clay, geometric terra cotta with vitreous enamel (zellige), green enamel of Tamgrout, paint, cotton, Argan oil, cork, henna, rumex. In case you were interested.

While the engine is of course not meant to be functional, the piece acts as an incredible testament to Moroccan craft, as well as a fascinating amalgam of natural resources and materials found in the region. You can learn more about the project on the artists website and over on Facebook.

Art

Surreal Drawings, Paintings and Murals by Rustam QBic

With a wildly surreal imagination, artist Rustam QBic from Kazan, Russia creates fish adorned with houses and windows, elephants sprouting giant buildings, and a goose whose feathers are made from a ocean of angry waves. Almost every one of his creations, be it on paper or on a wall is brimming with wonderful ideas and often have to be viewed up close to appreciate their full detail. He most recently completed murals for the LGZ Festival and for Art-Ovrag 2013, and you can see many more paintings, illustrations, and other work over on Facebook. (via StreetArtNews)