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Art Food

Plump and Peeled Ceramic Bananas Shape Koji Kasatani's Evocative Sculptures

Long before the infamous banana sent waves through the art world last year, Koji Kasatani was forming playful sculptures with the yellow produce. From a couple of peels mid-waltz to another fruit flattened into a puddle, the ceramic-and-resin artworks are evocative and humorous. Kasatani shares with Colossal that while the banana is a recurring motif, its purpose is light-hearted and is a form of idiosyncratic expression.

At 40 years old, the Japanese artist first started sculpting ceramic pieces after a residency in Florence, where he learned traditional Italian techniques. Since 2010, Kasatani has created an extensive body of work inspired by the fruit, which you can find on Instagram.

 

Craft

Ravenous Frogs and Surprised Bears Form an Adorably Expressive Ensemble of Ceramic Creatures

Helen Burgess, who works under the moniker nosey mungo, crafts a playful troupe of characters with endlessly diverse expressions: there’s a flock of startled chickens, a bulging rain frog sporting a dramatic frown, and a whale duo grinning with contentment. Imbued with a bit of whimsy, Burgess’s clay creatures are derived from their real-life counterparts. The ceramicist skims encyclopedias to find lesser-known animals to sculpt, sometimes focusing on endangered species in order to raise awareness. Living and working near Brighton, Burgess creates the adorable critters in small batches, which she shares on Instagram.

 

Design Food

Tote Around Exactly One Watermelon in This Elegant Leather Bag

Say goodbye to the days of fumbling an unwieldy melon while trying to carry in groceries. Japanese designer Tsuchiya Kaban’s latest leather bag provides an elegant, luxury vessel tote around your fruit. Holding exactly one, round watermelon, the carrier was crafted by Yusuke Kadoi as part of a project titled The Fun of Carrying, which encouraged designers to create playful, inventive items as side projects. Watch the video below to see Kadoi’s process and how simply he secures a watermelon inside. (via Spoon & Tamago)

 

Photography

Trendy Octogenarian Couple Sports Stylish, Eclectic Garments Left Behind at Their Laundromat in Taiwan

Many of us fret over the loss of a beloved sweater or discovering a lone sock, but we can at least find some solace in knowing that the garments abandoned at Wansho Laundry in central Taiwan are being worn to their full potential. The laundromat’s owners, 83-year-old Chang Wan-ji and 84-year-old Hsu Sho-er, have been fashioning the skirts, blouses, and trousers left behind into adorable, eclectic styles. Just last month, their grandson Chang Reef began sharing photographs of the octogenarian couple modeling their fashionable outfits—which often include matching shoes, graphic tees, and a range of accessories like hats, big sunglasses, and small leather pouches—on Instagram, where they’ve since gone viral. For more of Chang and Hsu’s backstory (they got married in 1959!), dive into this New York Times profile. (via Kottke)

 

Art

Artist Seamus Wray Paints a Dizzying Series of Portraits of Himself Painting Portraits of Himself

Channeling M.C. Escher and the Droste effect, more broadly, a Chicago-based artist has been painting portraits of himself painting portraits of himself. Seamus Wray, who’s appeared in a similar project shared on Colossal, began with a single representation (shown above) and mirrored his pose in a photograph of the work. He then repeated that process five times, which resulted in a recursive, mixed-media series that changes slightly with each iteration—two cats make an appearance in the final portraits.

Wray hopes the potentially infinite project begs the questions, “What comes next? Another painting. Are we all just living in a painting? What if this is a painting, within a painting?… I have painted hundreds of self-portraits over the years, and this seemed to be a natural progression from those, as I seem to be going mad painting myself, painting myself,” he tells Colossal.

Much of Wray’s work is centered on internet culture and media, and he frequently paints bright, saturated depictions of memes and iconic characters from various television shows and movies, many of which he shares on Instagram. The artist also sells prints and other goods with his work on Threadless. (via Kottke)

 

Music

Seniors Quarantining in English Care Facility Recreate Iconic Album Covers

The next Johnny Cash or Taylor Swift might just be a resident of the Sydmar Lodge Care Home in Edgware, England. After being in lockdown for more than 120 days, the seniors at the assisted living facility decided to recreate some of the most iconic album covers, transforming themselves into Blink 182, Adele, and Bruce Springsteen in some amusing parodies.

The facility’s activities coordinator, Robert Specker, helmed the project—which includes Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut, Madonna’s True Blue, and David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane— and shared the full series in a now-viral post. You also might enjoy this similarly creative endeavor that inspired people to recreate famous artworks. (via Kottke)