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Art Photography

The Diverse Daily Life of a Ping Pong Table in Germany Photographed by Tomiyasu Hayahisa

In 2011 Tomiyasu Hayahisa started photographing a ping pong table located in a public athletic field across from his dorm in Leipzig, Germany for a series titled TTP. Tomiyasu had first noted the location after observing a white tailed fox perched near the legs of the table, and after waiting several days for the animal to return, he began to photograph the other life forms that congregated or paused near the outdoor game. Rather than spotting the fox, he captured families, partiers, and lonesome daydreamers using the area as a bench or bed.

“At the time I had been living in a student doom in Leipzig and it was possible to photograph from window the table tennis table, how people from different countries use it in their way,” Tomiyasu told Colossal. “And it could be the message of this work that the place could be everywhere.”

If you enjoyed this series, you might also enjoy Yevgeniy Kotenko‘s On the Bench, a project which observed the daily life of a park bench in Ukraine for over a decade. TTP has been shortlisted for the 2018 MACK First Book Award. You can see more of Tomiyasu‘s work on his website. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

Photography

The Acrobatic Entanglements of Everyday Objects by Mauricio Alejo

Photographer Mauricio Alejo uses everyday objects to create gravity-defying arrangements within his apartment, staging curious interventions and acrobatic feats on his kitchen counters and filing cabinets. Working within the confines of his living space has allowed Alejo to produce ideas as they come, rather than attempt to find the perfect backdrop for his spontaneous compositions.

“I didn’t always like the apartments I was living in, or better put, I didn’t always like the way some of the places I lived translated into the image,” explained Alejo. “They were somehow random and uninteresting, but I knew that it was just natural to photograph right where the ideas were conceived, besides if I started looking for the ‘right’ place to shoot it was going to be a never ending story.”

This immediacy of ideas has become embedded in the photographer’s practice, even with Alejo’s recent move towards studio-based photography. You can see more of his works on his website and Instagram. (via Ignant)

Design

Public Restroom: A Bathroom Reimagined as a Town Square Using Custom-Printed Tiles

Lithuanian design studio Gyva Grafika has given a second life to a restroom by reinterpreting its tiled walls as building facades. Each tile features a unique view of a generic rectangular window, offering glimpses into the nuanced lives of individuals. Some windows are closed to the viewer with lace curtains; in others, a person or a houseplant peeks out. The creators share that the photos are from the neighborhood where the bathroom is located. They first made stickers to apply to the tiles, and then experimented with printing the photos directly on the tiles. You can find more projects by Gyva Grafika on Behance and their website. (via Design You Trust)

 

Illustration

Clever Sketches by Christoph Niemann Turn Everyday Scenes into Humorous Moments

Illustrator Christoph Niemann (previously) plays with scale and context to create small scenes using ink and everyday materials. In his object-focused works, a few deft brushstrokes turn a pair of socks into the head and torso of a dinosaur, and a pressed paintbrush flares into a dancer’s swinging skirt. Other sketches are based on photographs, usually of the streets of New York City where the artist lives. For the past few years, he has shared these illustrations each Sunday via Instagram. Niemann also sells prints of his series of Sunday Sketches, along with original drawings, in his online store. He has also published a book, Sunday Sketching.

Intro sequence to “Abstract”. I drew this on the car window while driving with the film crew from the New Yorker offices to the Flatiron Building and then just hit “record”.

A post shared by Christoph Niemann (@abstractsunday) on Mar 2, 2017 at 6:29am PST

Photography

Dazzling Chickens Strut for the Camera in a New Photo Book by Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini

Italian photographers Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini have created a glamorous book of dozens of chicken portraits, photographed in a sleek, high-fashion inspired style. The endeavor began in 2013, when the artists were inspired by the beauty of these domesticated birds at an avian exhibition in Milan. It has since evolved into a 190 page book featuring 85 high-resolution photos of some of the world’s most eye-catching avians. The photos were shot on location at the exhibition, and the photographers worked with chickens who are groomed as show birds; they struck their photogenic poses at will. Chicken is currently funding on Kickstarter. You can also follow the project on Instagram. (via My Modern Met)

Art

Recent Street Interventions by Oakoak Turn Architectural Details into Visual Puns

Street artist Oakoak (previously) continues his clever street interventions, cracking visual jokes by combining urban architectural details with well-placed painted additions. Oakoak’s eye for such juxtapositions might be explained, in part, by his former career in urban planning. His interventions often incorporate wildlife or pop culture icons, like a bullfrog’s bulging throat formed from a manhole, or the video game character Mario bounding out of a drain pipe. The French artist’s first show in Spain just opened on March 1 at Montana Gallery in Barcelona, and is up until April 21, 2018. You can also follow his work on Instagram and Facebook.

Art Design

The Quirky Wooden Automata of Kazuaki Harada

With the push of a button or the crank of a handle, these whimsical wooden automata by Japanese woodworker Kazuaki Harada spring to life, with figures that bounce and dance across a miniature stage like puppets. Harada is a prolific designer of mechanical designs fashioned from wood both large and small, from tiny single-crank pieces to giant labyrinthine playscapes in galleries and museums. The delight in many of his automata is derived from their simplicity, but lately he’s explored increasingly elaborate devices like a dot matrix printer and longer sequences akin to a Rube Goldberg machine.

Harada shares his latest work on Instagram and you can watch nearly a decade of his completed pieces on his YouTube channel. (via Spoon & Tamago)