spheres

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Craft

Unique Knots From Dozens of Different Trees are Showcased in a Hand-Built Geodesic Sphere

Keith Williams (previously) has a knack for wowing viewers with his time-lapse woodworking videos. One of Williams’ recent projects entailed using offcuts that contain knots. In his hands, the geodesic dome becomes a multi-faceted showcase for the unique patterns, colors, and textures formed by these organic irregularities.

“In the 27 years of my woodworking business, I have never thrown away a knot,” Williams tells Colossal. “Many people see knots as a defect, but to me knots are the visual representation of a trees struggle to thrive. Not all little limbs become big branches, but their combined efforts on behalf of the tree as a whole should be celebrated.”

Step inside Williams’ Oddball Gallery workshop and see more in-progress projects on his YouTube channel.

Art

Pink Inflatable Tubes and Spheres Form Immersive Pyramid Installations by Cyril Lancelin

All images: Cyril Lancelin / town and concrete

French artist Cyril Lancelin recently designed two inflatable structures for the Made in America Festival in Philadelphia. Constructed out of nylon fabric, the installations feature repeated geometric shapes that expand to form giant pink pyramids.

Guests enter Pyramid Sphere through a tunnel that is intersected by round holes on left and right faces of the pyramid. The windows let in additional light and also allow those inside to peer out to the rest of the world. Pyramid Tube has no clear entrance or exit. Visitors are expected to navigate the spaces between where the tubes meet and where the structure meets the ground.

To create the massive inflatable forms, Lancelin used parametric modeling software. From corner to corner and from base to tip, the fully inflated Pyramid Tube and Pyramid Sphere structures are just shy of 33 and 40 feet, respectively. The artist explains that during the manufacturing process, designs are adjusted to fit the technical data and to account for factors such as air resistance, structure resistance, and budget. 3D software is used to create a flat template, which each piece fitting together like a puzzle.

“When I design an immersive installation, I like the visitor to be totally in the sculpture,” Lancelin told Colossal. “I found that inflatables were a good way to make monumental installations, but also using as [little] material as possible, and being very light for shipping.”

To see more of Cyril Lancelin’s brightly colored inflatables as well as his steel sculptures, follow the artist on Instagram.

Craft Design

Time-Lapse Video of Woodworker Keith Williams Shows How Flat Plywood Boards Become Smooth Patterned Spheres

Woodworker Keith Williams of Oddball Gallery in Minier, Illinois creates geodesic spheres that balance math and art. Each sculptural form is created from 170 wood triangles that are then hand-assembled into 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons. Next these shapes are glued together into an angular 180-sided ball that is placed onto a lathe and transformed into a completely smooth sphere.

As Williams removes approximately 1/4″ of wood, natural rings from the plywood are brought to the surface, covering the final piece in a dizzying array of concentric circles. You can watch a behind-the-scenes look at how these objects are made in the video above. Take more peeks into the Oddball Studio on Williams’ website and YouTube. (via Laughing Squid)

Art

Take a Walk Through Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Narcissus Garden’ Inside an Abandoned Factory in the Rockaways

All images: Rockaway! 2018 featuring a site-specific installation of Narcissus Garden by Yayoi Kusama. Artwork ©YAYOI KUSAMA. Artwork courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London/Venice; and David Zwirner, New York. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Pablo Enriquez.

The Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York has a reputation for being a popular destination for those seeking respite from the oppressive heat and congestion of the city during the summer months. Those venturing out to parks and beaches between now and Labor Day (September 3) will have the opportunity to experience a site specific installation of Narcissus Garden by Yayoi Kusama (previously), presented by MoMA PS1 as a part of the Rockaway! 2018 free public art festival.

The installation is situated inside of an old train garage at Fort Tilden and is comprised of 1,500 mirrored stainless steel spheres. The spheres reflect the graffiti-covered walls and rusted beams of the dilapidated building, so while the viewer is walking among the shiny garden, they are also seeing the destruction that Hurricane Sandy caused to the structure and to the region back in 2012. Rockaway! 2018 is the third iteration of a festival said to be a “celebration” of the recovery efforts that have taken place over the years, but the state of the building chosen for Kusama’s installation shows that things are still not back to normal after the devastating natural disaster.

Narcissus Garden was first presented in 1966 as a part of an unofficial performance at the 33rd Venice Biennial. The silver spheres were then made of plastic, and Kusama stood among her garden with a sign that read “Your Narcissism for Sale.” “What was most important about Narcissus Garden at Venice was my action of selling the mirror balls on the site, as if I were selling hot dogs or ice cream cones,” Kusama once said in an interview. The spheres were sold for $2 each.

The current installation is not for sale, but it is free and open to the public Friday through Sunday and on Labor Day from noon to 6pm. (via Hyperallergic)

Art Craft

‘Hikaru Dorodango’ is the Japanese Art of Turning Dirt into Perfect Spheres

Artist Bruce Gardner is a master of a curious Japanese artform called hikaru dorodango (literally: ‘shiny dumpling’) where regular dirt is slowly crafted into perfect shiny spheres. The objects take several hours make as increasingly finer particles of dirt are applied to create each layer. Depending on the desired effect, a cloth might be used to create apply a fine layer of varnish to give the final outer layer a sheen akin to a billiard ball. Despite their appearance the completed dorodango remain extremely fragile and have to be treated with great care. It seems the purpose of making them might be more focused on the meditative benefits derived from process itself rather than the longevity of the artworks. (via Kottke)

Art

The Beetle Sphere: An Actual 1953 VW Beetle Formed into a Perfect Sphere by Ichwan Noor

This month marked a significant milestone for one of the world’s most famed art fairs as China hosted Art Basel Hong Kong for the first time. With over half of the galleries exhibiting at the fair originating from Asia and Asia-Pacific, Art Basel shined a bright international light on hundreds of artists who were relatively unknown outside of their respective regions.

One such artist was Jakarta-based sculptor Ichwan Noor with Mondecor Jakarta who arrived with this giant sculpture of a 1953 Volkswagen Beetle that, combined with polyester and aluminum, has been morphed into a perfect sphere. Apparently this is one in a series of spherical (and cubical!) vehicles by the artist, but he also works in a variety of other subjects including anatomical forms. To see more coverage of Art Basel Hong Kong, head over to Juxtapoz that has two galleries of photos, Part 1 and Part 2.