mazes

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with mazes

Art

Infinite Architectural Metropolises Balance Order and Chaos in Benjamin Sack’s Drawings

In Benjamin Sack’s imagined environments, it’s not uncommon to find angular mazes resembling dystopian structures, buildings packed so closely together it’s difficult to distinguish one from the next, and labyrinthine walkways that spiral like fractals. Working in pen and ink, the artist (previously) draws intricate black-and-white metropolises that waver between organization and chaos: He plays with geometry, angles, and dimension to render perplexing maps teeming with both traditional architecture and surreal additions, like treble clefs, astral shapes, and dizzying line- and dot-work.

While many of Sack’s works meld the past, present, and future into a single display, his recent feet-wide maze titled “Roots of Being (Per Aspera ad Astra)” is directly drawn from this last year.  “This piece was a massive, Daedalian undertaking that was started at the outset of the initial lockdowns back in March 2020 and finished upon my receiving the first dose of the vaccine in April,” the artist tells Colossal. “A large labyrinth emblematic of the epoch we persevered.”

Watch the timelapse video below and head to Instagram for a glimpse into Sack’s process, and pick up a print in his shop.

 

Art

An Immersive Inflatable Labyrinth of Light and Color by Architects of Air

Designer and Architects of Air founder Alan Parkinson’s latest architecture maze, Daedalum, is a 153-foot long inflatable structure, recently installed in London as a part of the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival. Light fills the labyrinth’s tunnels through colored panels made of translucent material, bathing the interior in bright and ethereal hues.

Parkinson’s maze is comprised of 19 interconnected egg-shaped domes. Named for the father of Icarus and the designer of the minotaur’s labyrinth from Greek Mythology, Daedalum is one of several traveling luminaria created and installed in over 40 countries since 1992. A highlight of the network of color-soaked roams is the ceiling of its Main Dome, which features a 600-piece pattern inspired by Rome’s Pantheon.

“I design the structures to create a particular encounter with the phenomenon of light,” Parkinson told Dezeen. “I devise an architecture to encourage a sense of wonder.” On his use of inflatables as a medium, the designer said that it is “transient and aspires to be utopian in a way that permanent architecture, with its feet on the ground is often not allowed to be.” He added that as designers he and his team still have to “engage with the parameters that actual architecture engages with–wind-loading, drainage, temperature control and wheelchair accessibility.” (via Dezeen)

Art Illustration

Nuanced Portraits of Women Merged With Abstract Environments by Sofia Bonati

Self-taught artist Sofia Bonati captures nuanced expressions and personalities of a variety of female characters while also integrating them into abstracted environments and patterns. Her illustrations most often feature solo subjects melded with thunderclouds, dizzying mazes, and floral patterns. Bonita renders the women’s features in graphite and she uses gesso, paint, and markers to add colorful accents and build their surroundings. The strong, distinctive expressions on each woman’s face suggests that the characters are in control of their environments, rather than being subsumed by them.

In a recent collaboration with Society6, several of the Argentinian artist’s works have been animated by glitch artist Chris McDaniel. You can see more of Bonita’s work on Facebook and Instagram, and find a variety of products featuring her designs on Society6. (via Visual Fodder)

Design

A Wooden Coffee Table Contains a ‘Playable’ Labyrinth with Moveable Figures

Designed by artist and cabinetmaker Benjamin Nordsmark, the Labyrinth Table is a minimalist rectangular coffee table that contains a maze underneath a glass top. The piece contains a set of six metal figurines that can be moved with the help of magnetic knobs. For his work on the project Nordsmark won a Silver A’Design Award earlier this year. (via Laughing Squid, My Modern Met)

Design Illustration

Father Draws a New Maddeningly Intricate Maze for His Daughter

Two years ago we stumbled onto the story of a girl in Japan who was going through her father’s old belongings when she discovered a hand-drawn maze rolled up in a tube. Kazuo Nomura spent 7 years drawing the sprawling labyrinth while working as a janitor and it hadn’t seen the light of day since 1983. After posting photos of it to her Twitter account, Nomura’s work went viral around the web, and it was quickly turned into a print so others could have a try at solving it.

Responding to pressure from his daughter to draw a second maze, Nomura initially said he had “had enough of mazes.” But, after a 32 year hiatus, he finally sat down to try again earlier this year with the hope of drawing a puzzle that was a bit clearer and easier to solve. After two months of drawing he’s finally done, and if you posess the patience of a saint you can try your hand at solving it: Papa’s Maze 2.0. Nomura assures the maze has a solution, but according to reports from people insane enough to try, it’s actually more difficult than the last, and takes about two days to work through. Read more on Spoon & Tamago.

Design

Hotel That Inspired ‘The Shining’ Announces Contest to Design a 61,500 Square Foot Hedge Maze

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is famous for hosting celebrities, politicians and other notable figures over the last century, but perhaps no visitor was more significant than writer Stephen King, whose stay at the 140-room neo-Georgian hotel inspired him to write The Shining. While the movie adaptation wasn’t filmed at the Stanley, that hasn’t stopped the hotel from embracing their share of fame in association with the legendary book and 1980 horror film.

Now the Stanley plans to build a 61,500 square foot hedge maze, similar to the backdrop of the heart-pounding final moments in Kubrick’s adaptation. The maze will be built from 1,600 to 2,000 Alpine Currant hedge bushes, and the design will come from a (free) public contest. Anyone is invited to submit plans for the maze, they even have templates and detailed instructions about how to create your design. Submissions are open until January 31st, 2015. (via Neatorama)