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Art

Surprising Juxtapositions of Mass-Produced Puzzles Produce Surreal New Scenes

“Iron Horse”

Artist Tim Klein takes advantage of the widely used die-cut patterns for jigsaw puzzles to form hybridized montages that combine two unexpected images. By carefully selecting pieces from puzzles with complementary patterns yet surprisingly different subject matter, he creates wild new visuals. In one montage, an old-fashioned locomotive takes the place of a powerful horse torso, while in another, the cylindrical shape of an icy-cold beer fills in for the stocky body of a teddy bear toy.

Klein credits Mel Andringa with inspiring his own puzzle pursuits, and shares with Colossal, “For me, the use of ordinary, mass-produced puzzles is essential to the surreal feel of the artwork. As I visit garage sales and secondhand stores in search of vintage puzzles, I sometimes feel like an archaeologist discovering and ‘reconstructing’ strange, shattered images whose shards have been languishing in dark boxes on the shelves of suburban game room closets for decades.”

Klein, who formerly worked as a computer scientist, lives in Vancouver, Washington. If you like these mash-ups, check out Alma Haser’s custom puzzle designs which combine and interchange the facial features from identical twins. You can see more of Klein’s combined creations on his website. (via Kottke)

“The Mercy-Go-Round (Sunshine and Shadow)”

“To Make Much of Time (Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May)”

“The All-Seeing Elephant”

“Surrogate”

“Mountain Plantation”

“Thaw (Warm Breath on a Winter Window)”

“Sphinx”

“Daisy Bindi”

Animation

Children’s Blocks Take the Form of Simplified Animals in Animations by Lucas Zanotto

MINIMALS is a new short film by Helsinki-based animator and director Lucas Zanotto (previously) composed of fictionalized kinetic sculptures based on real animals. The series of short animations catch each simplified creature in a repetitive loop that imitates the extension of an elephant’s trunk, a crab’s sideways walk, or the incessant pecking of chickens. The animals appear to be formed from children’s blocks with colors that hint at their actual breed. Pink spheres with snouts are an easy give-away for pigs, while other configurations, like a flat mauve disk rolling across a slender beige cylinder, are a little bit harder to place. Zanotto’s second book, EVERIMAL, was published earlier this year. You can see more of his short animations on his Instagram and Vimeo.

Design Food

Cartoonish Bread Faces and Other Wheaty Characters by Sabine Timm

Have your kids been complaining about what’s in their lunchbox lately? They must be following Sabine Timm on Instagram. The self-described “artist, creator, beach-trash collector, flea-market lover and photographer” shares a wide variety of work inspired by everyday and found objects. One series in particular is a clever cast of characters formed from sandwich bread.

Timm uses sliced white and whole wheat bread, along with rye crisps, pumpernickle, and baguettes to form the base of endearing, ephemeral faces. Some slices take the shape of humanoid characters, with chives for hair and raspberries for noses, while others, like her canine quartet, feature shiny black olive eyeballs and noses. You can see more from Timm’s eclectic output on Flickr. (via Swiss Miss)

Art

Potato Chip Sand Dunes, Spiral-Bound Swimming Lanes, and More Miniature Transformations from Tatsuya Tanaka

Another year, another 365 days of miniature glory from Tatsuya Tanaka (previously).  On a daily basis for the past seven years, the prolific Japanese miniature artist has shared unique images of imagined scenes created using the simple combination of everyday objects, tiny model humans, and his boundless imagination. (For anyone keeping track, that’d be over 2,500 dioramas.) Crinkle-cut potato chips become desert sand dunes, spiral-bound notebooks delineate swimmers poised to compete, and books filled with sticky notes create an urban skyscraper scene. Tanaka periodically releases books, calendars, and post card collections of his favorite photographs, which he lists on his website. You can also join over a million Tanaka fans on Instagram and Facebook, or if you’re in Japan, check out his show in Nagoya through November 25, 2018.

Art

Banksy Painting Spontaneously Shreds Itself Moments After Selling for $1.4 Million at Sotheby’s

Image via @Banksy

It was 2003 when Banksy (previously), following a record-breaking auction result for one of his canvases, created a harsh critique of the art market widely known as the Morons image. The photograph was taken from the legendary 1987 Christie’s auction where Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (originally titled Tournesols) broke the record for the most expensive painting at auction when it sold for $39.9 million. In Banksy’s interpretation, the elusive artist replaced the painting by the Dutch master with a text saying “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this s***.” A few years later the image was released as an unsigned edition at the Banksy’s 2006 Barely Legal show in LA, and it resurfaced every time a copy of the Morons print sold at auction.

Banksy has now become a household name, and that his work achieves strong prices at major auctions is no longer a curiosity or exception. When Sotheby’s announced that a final lot of their Contemporary Art Evening Auction on the Friday night of 2018 Frieze week in London would be a previously unseen version of Banksy’s arguably most iconic image, Girl With Balloon, the art world was ready for another exceptional result. The painting on canvas was presented in an exceptionally thick and ornate frame, and sold for 1,042,000 GBP (1,357,726 USD including premiums) which matched the artist’s previous auction record from 2008. The real sensation, however, came moments after.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

. “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge” – Picasso

A post shared by Banksy (@banksy) on Oct 6, 2018 at 10:09am PDT

Image via @casterlinegoodmangallery

As the auctioneer was rounding up the evening and saying thank you and goodbye, an alarm went off and the canvas began to slide out of the bottom of the frame in strips. It seems that the artist built a shredder inside the thick frame that would allow the painting to self-destruct when triggered. At this point, it is unclear how the auction house could have allowed such a stunt, or what legal repercussions this act might have. Once again Banksy has managed to deliver quite the statement to the art market, and all inside the heart of one of it’s strongest and most established bastions. To quote his Instagram post on the surprising incident, “Going, going, gone…”

Image via @jonathancheung92

Image via @casterlinegoodmangallery

Art Craft History

A Peculiar Character From a Hieronymus Bosch Painting Comes to Life on the New York City Subway

Artist Rae Swon recently brought a fantastical creature from The Temptation of St. Anthony to life on the New York City subway. The triptych painting created by Hieronymus Bosch in the early 16th century includes a small, peculiar figure on the left-hand triptych (detail below). The character has bird-like facial features, and is wearing what appear to be ice skates and a funnel as a hat. After creating the modern-day costume using needle felting and other found materials, Swon took her character for a subway ride through Manhattan. Although this particular costume is sold out, you can see more of Swon’s fantastical felted creations like a Starling Coin Purse and an Opposum Purse on Instagram and Etsy. (via Hyperallergic)

Detail of Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Temptation of St. Anthony”

Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Temptation of St. Anthony”

Photography

Amusing Finalists From This Year’s ‘Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards’

Mary McGowan, United States, all images licensed through of The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards (previously) just closed submissions for their fourth annual competition which collects the most entertaining images from wildlife photographers across the globe. Last year the Overall Winner was an adorable owl caught as it nearly toppled off a branch, and the Under the Sea Winner featured a sassy sea turtle slap. This year submissions range from a disappointed rabbit, to a rhino sporting some uncharacteristic peacock plumage.

The second hardcover volume of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards is now available for pre-order on Amazon, and award winners for the 2018 competition will be announced on November 15, 2018. To vote for your favorite image from this year’s 41 finalists, or for more information on the competition and their conservation efforts with Born Free, visit their website. (via Kottke)

Amy Kennedy, United States

Jakob Strecker, Germany

Barney Koszalka, United States

Patty Bauchman, United States

Daniel Friend, United States

Robert Adamson, United Kingdom

Kallol Mukherjee, India 

Michael Lane, United Kingdom

Sergey Savvi, Russia

Muntazeri Abdi, Indonesia

Shane Keena, United States