sculpture

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Art Science

Layered MRI Self-Portraits Engraved in Glass Sheets by Angela Palmer

Artist Angela Palmer creates ipeccably detailed three-dimensional views of CT and MRI scans using multiple sheets of vertically layered glass. Just as magnetic fields are used to carefully image layer after layer of internal biological structures inside humans and animals, Palmer etches these same scans into layers of glass. She says her inspiration for these works is a lifelong fascination with maps and visual topographies.

I have always loved maps. The process of investigating and visualizing topographies, natural forms and landscapes, and then producing them in a form which captures their essence is endlessly fascinating and satisfying. This desire to ‘map’ is at the core of my work, whether it be the internal architecture of the human head or the physical geography of the planet. Peeling back the layers to expose the hidden natural world is a recurring theme, in this context I have appreciated and enjoyed the opportunity to work with scientists in every conceivable discipline, from radiologists and botanists, to engineers specialising in bio-fluidics, to dust-mite and spider experts, veterinary scientists, paediatric dentists and specialists in ancient Egyptian dyes.

If you’d like to see more of her work Palmer had a show earlier this year at Waterhouse & Dodd and you can also check out her online gallery.

Art

Sets for a Film I’ll Never Make: The Unbelievably Intricate Cardboard Sculptures of Daniel Agdag

If you ask Melbourne-based artist Daniel Agdag what he does, he’ll tell you that he makes things out of cardboard. However, this statement hardly captures the absurd complexity and detail of his boxboard and PVA glue sculptures that push the limits of the medium. Agdag is an award-winning creator of stop-motion films and this new series of work, Sets for a Film I’ll Never Make, feature a number of his structural experiments which he refers to simply as “sketching with cardboard”. Miraculously, each work is created without detailed plans or drawings and are almost wholly improvised as he works. You can see these latest sculptures at Off the Kerb Gallery starting October 26, 2012, in Melbourne’s inner north suburb of Collingwood.

 

Art

Nihilistic Optimistic: New Shadow Sculptures Built from Discarded Wood from Tim Noble and Sue Webster

Earlier this week London-based duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster opened their first solo show since 2006 at Blain|Southern in London. Titled Nihilistic Optimistic, the exhibition includes six large-scale sculptures built from what appear to be haphazard clumps of discarded wood but when illuminated by a light projector create uncannily accurate self-portraits of the artists. Via their artist statment:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster take ordinary things including rubbish, to make assemblages and then point light to create projected shadows which show a great likeness to something identifiable including self-portraits. The art of projection is emblematic of transformative art. The process of transformation, from discarded waste, scrap metal or even taxidermy creatures to a recognizable image, echoes the idea of ‘perceptual psychology’ a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble and Webster are familiar with this process and how people evaluate abstract forms. Throughout their careers they have played with the idea of how humans perceive abstract images and define them with meaning. The result is surprising and powerful as it redefines how abstract forms can transform into figurative ones.

If you’re in London the next few weeks I think this is a must-see, if not here are some more installation views. The show runs through November 24.

Art

Circuit Board Fossils, Paintings and Other Found Object Sculptures by Peter McFarlane

Mixed media and installation artist Peter McFarlane has spent his life turning found objects, computer waste and other discarded materials into sculptures, installations, and even the backdrops of paintings. Of his work McFarlane says:

To me, waste is just lack of imagination. This belief carries beyond the boundaries of my art production and permeates most aspects of my life. Most of my home and studio, and much of everything in them, is recycled. I’ve always had an epic imagination along with a driving desire to make things. Thus, used objects have pared my options down to a workable, manageable level. No object is beyond artistic merit, meaning and metaphor. So why throw it out? The materials of my work are connected intrinsically to my ideas, be they tailored beyond recognition or left as found. Each piece I make resurrects an object as an idea specific to the material and the meaning inherent in its use. The history of the object — from the manufacture to the dumpster — embellishes its contexts and the possibilities I have to manipulate them. I have often made a connection with the objects that I’ve used in my everyday life or work experience: that which I know.

You can see much more of his work over at Saatchi Online as well as in his portfolio and he recently had a show of chainsaw sculptures (!) at Pegasus Gallery in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia just last month.

Art Photography

New Rural Light and Book Installations by Rune Guneriussen

A grid of physical entities, 2012

A capacity to breed and recover, 2011

Circle of reception, 2011

An upward displacement, 2010

Resound with an echo, 2011

Revisit the revolution, 2012

Second system of ethics, 2012

Science of planting forest, 2010

Norwegian conceptual artist Rune Guneriussen (previously) explores a fascinating balance of human culture and nature with his outdoor installations of electric lamps, stacked books, chairs, and phones that appear to have gathered in small herds and swarms as if suddenly sentient. Each work is assembled and photographed on-site without any digital intervention in various rural locations around Norway. Guneriussen just updates his website with nearly two dozen new photos of works over the past three years (the photos are scattered around the site, but it’s well worth the clicking) and also opened a show at Rheingalerie Bonn gallery which runs through November 10. (via my modern met)

Art

Giant Tree Branch Sculpture Installed at Croajingolong National Park by Corey Thomas

Spinifex is a recent sculpture by Australian artist Corey Thomas. The piece was constructed from local tree branches and other plant material before being air-lifted with a helicopter into Croajingolong National Park in Victoria. (via my darkened eyes)