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Art

Recycled Shirts and Ski Equipment Take on Sculptural Dimensions in Layered Works by Kaarina Kaikkonen

Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen (previously) transforms old consumer products into sculptural works that are presented both in galleries and as sprawling site-specific installations. In her large-scale apparel-based works, lines of shirts hang in orderly lines above city streets, while in smaller pieces like “I Feel Safe” (2015), she creates an angel-like formation with spread shirt sleeves as wings. In 2015, the artist built a site-specific installation in Tempere, Finland using Finnish cross country skis to create a colorful support for an angular building.

You can take an further look into her studio in this video produced in connection with her 2018 exhibition “You Remain in Me” at the KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark, and see more images of her sculptures on her website and via Galerie Forsblom.

Design

Pleated Garments Inspired by Birds in Flight by Iris van Herpen

Syntopia is the latest haute couture collection from Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen. The line of beautifully pleated garments explores the increasing convergence of our organic bodies and inorganic elements of technology, while also incorporating designs inspired by birds in flight.

“As a former dancer, the transformation within movement has hypnotized me,” explained van Herpen in a statement about Syntopia. “For this collection I looked closely at the minutiae of bird flight and the intricate echoing forms within avian motion.”

Transparent silk organza was pleated and liquid-coated for several pieces in the collection. This technique slowed down the movement of the garment, more closely imitating the flapping pattern of a bird’s wings. This was also the inspiration for a kinetic installation made in collaboration with Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of Studio Drift (previously). The work, “In 20 Steps,” was formed from twenty delicate glass tubes which peaked and bowed above the runway in succession, moving in synchronicity each model.

Other dress forms were made from the sound wave patterns of specific birds. These noises were visualized and laser cut into mylar, black cotton, red organza and transparent black acrylic sheets and then layered like feathers to create a cohesive piece. You can see the entire range of avian-inspired clothing from van Herpen’s recent collection on her website and in the video below. (via Dezeen)

Photography

Soft Shells: A Portrait Series That Presents Subjects in Every Piece of Their Wardrobe by Libby Oliver

Photographer Libby Oliver is fascinated by clothing’s power to both reveal and obscure our identity and desires. Her portrait series Soft Shells explores this tendency to visually represent our personality through garments and accessories, while also using these tools to mask our insecurities from the outside world.

For her series, the Canada-based photographer piled on every piece of clothing her subject owned to create photographs that first appear like heaps of laundry. The viewer is clued into the individual’s presence by small peeks of flesh—strips of foreheads or hands that protrude from the messy stacks of blouses, scarves, and pants.

“This work arises from my interest in artificiality, visual power relationships and indexing a person through their belongings,” explains Oliver in an artist statement about the project. “Through this series I aim to explore the tension point between a person’s curated individuality and my personal manipulation of their aesthetic. Soft Shells speaks to human vulnerability, trust, power and control relations of visual interpretation.”

Oliver hopes to travel the ongoing series to different locations in order to represent a wider range of identities, clothing, and cultures. You can view more of her wardrobe-wrapped subjects on her website and Instagram. (via Konbini)

Design

New Designs Printed Directly From Urban Utility Covers by Berlin-Based Pirate Printers

Berlin-based art collective Raubdruckerin (which translates to pirate printer) (previously) uses elements of urban design to create guerilla printing presses, adding ink to manhole covers, grates, and street tiles to create utilitarian designs on t-shirts and bags. The experimental print makers view the works as footprints of a particular city, with current designs collected from Amsterdam, Athens, Paris, Lisbon, and their hometown of Berlin.

By printing each of the works outside, members of Raubdruckerin are immersed in the population of each city they print, imparting spectacle on aspects of a city’s design that are often overlooked. Other motivations of the project include a desire to stimulate a new perception to their audience’s surroundings, redefine everyday routines, and encourage printed sustainability. The group is incredibly considerate of the source of all materials that go into production, making sure to choose the right manufacturers for each certified organic cotton wearable and eco friendly ink.

The collective is currently on a tour through Europe through early May. You can follow their printing stops on their Facebook and Instagram, and see more urban printed designs on their online shop.

Art Design

Cosmic Hand-Painted Animal Gloves by Artist Bunnie Reiss

Artist Bunnie Reiss enjoys transforming the old into new, and has spent her life as a collector of weathered objects with rich stories. Reiss’s ongoing project turns her collection of old leather gloves into bright works of art, utilizing symmetry and cosmic imagery to connect both the past and present. The gloves are not obvious references to animal faces, but subtle gestures that reference eyes, ears, and noses within their design.

In addition to painting smaller works, Reiss also creates large installations and mural walls. Her most recent work is a 3,500 square foot mural painted on the east side of Milwaukee for the Black Cat Mural Alley. You can see more of her large and small-scale works on her website and Instagram. (via The Fox is Black)

Design

A Miniature T-Shirt Screen Printing Rig Designed by Devin Smith

While working for a t-shirt factory back in 2013, miniature artist Devin Smith was inspired to build a tiny replica of their studio, a project that would end up consuming 5 months of his free time but resulted in a fun gift for his employers that’s now displayed in their front showroom. Eventually Devin took the minuscule clothing idea even further by designing a fully functional miniature screen printing rig that transfers designs onto tiny clothes—Barbie doll scale, specifically. Here’s a video of it in action, and you can see more of his miniature designs on Facebook. (via The Daily Miniature)