Paper as a piece of Art, done by the Jen Stark.

Amazing brightly coloured creations,

painstakingly handcrafted to perfection.

You want more visit her site

www.jenstark.com

Spoken through sand…Sand Language.  It was May 09, me along with my friends from Image created two sand sculptures for creating awareness on voting. It was my first experience to work on sand sculptures, not only for me for everyone it was the first experience.

5 hours of continuous work , hot sun, cool breeze, fun talks, sand baths etc., we made it successfully. The final out was more than we expected. Everyone was happy with that. I was very much surprised and amazed to see the response from the public. Hope we changed at least few hearts to vote in the elections. It was  a great team work and I thank Image and Balaji for giving that wonderful opportunity. Sand language was really Stupendous.

Gwon Osang makes extraordinary life-size sculptures of people. He uses hundreds of photographic images to build up the surface appearance of his models, including the face, their hair and their clothes. Gwon’s skills as sculptor and photographer combine to make beautifully crafted figures with both photo-realist and surreal qualities.

If you want to learn some more, visite his site.

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As it’s last destination the Brickism show is now on display at 290sqm in Amsterdam. Here the LEGO sculptures by HuskMitNavn, Delta, So-Me and Will Sweeney will be exhibited until December 21st.

Here is another sample of the public art that graces the cityscape of Jeddah. This one is made of bronze and it is a two piece sculpture called the Astrolabe. I was not able to find out who the artist was, but I do rather like it.

I started sculpting this giant weta a couple of years ago. She has been through several moulding stages and is ready to be finally poured in cold-cast metal pigmented resin.. as soon as I get my hands on a pressure pot!!

So it’s been a while since I last posted, and that’s because I’ve been out doing things and writing papers and finishing applications and practicing drawing and all good stuff that I just haven’t had time to write about! But now the majority of my graduate applications have been submitted (save for the architecture-specific portion of my Berkeley application), and my scholarships are almost done…so in this little breather time I have, I thought I’d update you guys on what’s going on in Paris.

First, the important bit: today, it snowed! Before I came to Paris, everyone told me it rarely snows (if at all, a few flakes in January), and that I’d have to face a dreary wet winter full of freezing rain.  Well, November wasn’t all sunshine, but I continued to hope for a fluffy white December, and here it is! A couple of inches stuck to the ground, and for proof, here’s a shot of what I’m henceforth calling my backyard:

I'm not sure where exactly the body of water in the center of the gardens begins...and I wasn't planning on testing that out with my extremely un-winter-friendly suede boots...

In other news, I paid a visit to the Musée Rodin the other weekend. Some of the roses were still in bloom, and a couple of yellow leaves were clinging to the trees in the garden; I could see why people recommend this as one of the gardens to visit in Paris. I will definitely return in spring, when all the flora is in its full glory.

As for the museum itself, well, it’s a very small museum. That said, I’m particularly fond of its stairs and the arch-topped colonnade in the entry area. The pieces showed Rodin’s process, both in the technical (an exhibit displayed the step-by-step making-of one of the sculptures), and creative (multiple iterations of the same theme). Seeing The Kiss in person amplifies the eroticism of its tangled limbs and contrasting curved and angular forms. Even if it is cliché, it’s one of my favorite sculptures, and I’m probably going to go back to see it again, get a few more sketches in.

Speaking of: to prove that I have been sketching (though, to be honest, not every day as I hoped – but come January, I’ll have all the time in the world to put my pencil to paper…), as I was saying, to prove that I have been sketching, I will now show you two sketches. I did more than these two, but if I show them all now, who’ll review my sketchbooks with me when I get back?

This one's from one of the sculpture atriums at the Louvre. I unfortunately didn't write down the artist's name...

A drawing from the 'Hanako' bust at the Musee Rodin. I'd just like to note that sculptures are much easier to sketch because they aren't as fidgety as humans.

Next up: the last two weeks of school before winter break…

Not a very interesting sky, but… One wouldn’t expect to see much in the way of artwork at a gas station, but many businesses here commission their own art in unison with the amazing public art all over Jeddah. In the city there are several pieces of art having to do with the earth, so this gas station’s huge globe which hovers prominently over the business is in keeping with that theme. In fact one of Jeddah’s most beautiful and most famous pieces of public art is the Illuminated Globe by Spanish artist Julio LaFuente. I don’t know why the globe in this artwork has a ring around it like Saturn – maybe it was just a matter of artistic license.
To fly MORE friendly skies around the world, visit SKYWATCH.

On Sunday, December 20, 2009, 4 PM – 7 PM at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates meet Estates Creative Cottage Artists and Authors for one of-a-kind gifts for the holiday season. The seasonal Creative Cottage is back again this year in the historic Edison Caretaker’s House with a wonderful group of local artists, authors and craftspeople.

Featured artists include:

• Photographer, Manfred Behr with work including hand painted boxes and photographs of the Estates Banyan tree

• Ceramic artist and painter, Augusta Crane featuring handcrafted bowls and sculptures of orchids, hibiscus and other tropical flowers and leaves

• Impressionist painter, Ellen Sheppard who has captured tropical south Florida and forgotten landscapes on canvas

• Painter, Marie Dyer who loves painting on found objects and her work includes furniture, floor cloths and rain barrels

• Metalwork artist, James DiGiorgio with specially designed pieces combining classic lines with modern design

• Jewelry artist, Anita Singh featuring earrings, necklaces and bracelets

• Virginia Harper, a self taught artist whose joyful work includes painted garden furniture, posts and other outdoor three dimensional painted creations.

• Karen Flanders with dazzling glass work, wearables and colorful three dimensional art in clay and multimedia

• Matlacha artist and gallery owner, Leoma Lovegrove who is known for her colorful iconic depiction of Florida themes and modern impressionism

• Painter, Pat Dunn with Florida landscapes and still life in impressionist style

• Norman Love, internationally known, award winning chocolatier who has created a special hand-crafted chocolate in honor of Thomas Edison

Featured authors include:

• Tom Smoot, Jr., The Edisons of Fort Myers

• John Sheppard, One Man’s Family in Early Fort Myers

• Doug MacGregor, Get Creative…Turn on the Bright Side of Your Brain

Estates Creative Cottage Artists and Authors will personalize artwork and books for a one of a kind gift and Estates Members will receive a 10% discount. Shoppers passes will be issued at the Estates ticket counter. Call 239-334-7419 for a list of participating artists.

The Estates is open daily from 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. The Estates was awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 2008 and is an official project of “Save America’s Treasures” at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a Florida Historic Landmark and a National Register Historic Site. For additional information call 239-334-7419 or visit the web site at www.efwefla.org.

after years of quality nature documentaries (the big cat diaries of the nineties, walking with dinosaurs of the naughties) I’ve once again found myself retreating to BBC for an evening of  somewhat relaxing, monotonic voice-overs and visual appealling wildlife.
The series takes a global view of the specialised strategies and extreme behaviour that living things have evolved in order to survive’, what Charles Darwin termed ‘the struggle for existence’

The recent episode I caught on the iPlayer was focused on birds. And there was one bird that just amazed me; The Vogelkop Bowerbird. These eager little Casanovas, essentially display a collection of ‘art’ to attracts females and mate with them. The birds collection choice is picked aesthetically and consists of found objects, such as fruit, leaves, flowers and  ’colour’ is taken into consideration. With all these treasures laid out in front of a well-made bower hut, also constructed by the bird, then this little sex-pot should have no problem seducing a potential mate. Well not quite… as always there is competition, and naturally rival bowerbirds are also out to get some which leads them to create bowers nearby.

Brighter pinks, juicier fruits, it really all  comes down to what the female bowerbird is after. a male will work tirelessly trying to make their pad better stand out more than the other, even if it means going the whole Duchamp way about it and exhibiting the unusual, like a chocolate bar wrapper in one case. And though one might not understand but the unusual does tend to attract a certain females.

Once the curation is completed, the female bowerbird swoops into the scene and like a blind date selects her partner and they enjoy a short-live romance before parting their ways.

BBC Life Website | Vogelkop Bowerbird Wikipedia | Vogelkop bowerbird’s work process |

images via somagallery / brollieboy

Sculptures by artist Michael Johansson.

Via: Booooooom

Invite Paul Hazelton to your home and the chances are it will be spotless by the time he leaves. Why? He likes nothing better than scooping up dust, taking it home and turning it into sculptures.

Mr Hazelton, who has been dubbed ‘the dustman’ and ‘human Hoover’, has created a humanoid, a briefcase and a moth from the waste matter.

The 43-year-old’s latest work is a bedroom complete with a television set, armchairs and a wardrobe, and some of his creations will even be on display at an exhibition in New York this Christmas.

‘I think it all has something to do with the fact that I was brought up in an immaculate environment that was really clean,’ said Mr Hazelton.

‘It all started when I noticed the dust on a mask and was able to pull it off.

‘I started collecting dust and working with it, finding ways of turning it into three-dimensional structures.’

Mr Hazelton starts by collecting dust from furniture, pictures and window sills – but not vacuum cleaners, which he says contaminate the waste.

He then transforms the particles into sculptures – some of which are 50cm (20in) high – by wetting them, shaping them and carefully drying them.

‘Humans were supposedly made from dust, so it is interesting to create other things with it,’ added Mr Hazelton, from Margate, Kent.

‘It is a kind of recycling. The reaction of people when they see the art is one of incredulity.’

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3 Exposure, non-static HDR. Click image for full size, click again to zoom.

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Tree At Rock Plaza

Included on HDR Spotting

From 11 October 2009 to 11 April 2010, the Groninger Museum will present the first large-scale solo exhibition of the work of artist Folkert de Jong (Egmond aan Zee, 1972) in the Netherlands. The exhibition displays a large selection of sculptures, drawings that have not been shown previously, and new monumental work.

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Artist Statement

I am an artist. My specialty lies in sculpture; I have a gift for taking previously-created-yet-not-quite-abstract enough sculptures and adding various components to them, thus making them “even more” abstract.  These  pieces of mine start out as zygote-like mental images, and only when these mental images become larger than my head can withstand do they make their way from my brain to my free-flowing hands. It takes a great deal of time and energy, not to mention an extremely efficient nervous system.

My inspiration comes from nature, as can be seen in my previous trilogy-type gallery, which includes ”The Fellowship of Nature,” “The Two Nature-Like Towers,” and “The Return of Nature”. My art leaves absolutely nothing to the organic imagination. I plan it that way. 

Questions I ask myself while working on a piece include: How will my extreme abstractedness interact with the environment and the space around it? Would the viewer want to touch it? Do I want him or her to touch it? Do I want him or her to touch me? Would that make things awkward?

Whether or not my artwork transfers my thoughts to the viewer successfully, is not of particular concern; true meaning is assigned by and for the individual viewer. The artwork is merely a gateway to personal monetary gain.

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Welcome to my ”What’s Love Got To Do With It” Gallery.  Please enter at your own creative risk.

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“What’s Love Got To Do With It” -Bschooled

“Elephant Shoe” -2002

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This piece of wonderment was created in 2002. I started dating a guy named Joaquin (pronounced “Joe-Queen”), and although it started out casually enough, within a few weeks it had become much more serious. 

At least for him it did.

I didn’t blame him for being head over heals in love with me, I blamed myself for not feeling the same way. Even though I cared about him and his independant wealth immensely, deep down I felt like I needed something more.  But because I wasn’t quite sure what that “something” was, I knew that dating Joaquin would at least pass the time until I figured it out.

One evening, as we lay on the exotic imitation bear skin rug in his living room basking in the warmth of his  clean-burning fireplace,  he leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I love you,” he said, extremely romantically.

I wanted to tell him the same, but no matter how hard I tried , I wasn’t able to get the words out. So instead I smiled, looked him as lovingly as possible in the eye, and mouthed the following:  

“Elephant shoe.”

He seemed a little confused. After a few minutes of careful contemplation, he finally spoke.  “Did you say I love you or elephant shoe?”

I knew that I couldn’t lie.

…Or could I?

Turns out I could. “I said the former,” I replied, even more romantically in order to throw him off. Then, again trying to distract him, I started making extremely sexy facial expressions.

Fortunately, it worked. Although I didn’t think it was possible, after that night Joaquin started loving me even more.

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 ”Wood Eye? Ewe Bet Eye Wood!” -2002

(*sidenote-I didn’t have an Ewe, so therefore I had to use the elephant again)

I was broke. The lack of job wasn’t going very well, and because I had a gut feeling  that there could be a recession in the distant future, I decided it would be in my best interests to wait until the dust settled to look for employment.  It just didn’t make sense for me to get comfortable in a career only to find myself being laid off six years later.

So when Joaquin asked me to move in with him rent-free, I forgot all about the fact that I wasn’t attracted to him, and less than 30 minutes later my bags were packed and this brilliantly abstract sculpture was created.

It was a deal I just couldn’t pass up.

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“Those Who Live in Glass Houses …” -2002

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This delicacy for the eye was created soon after I moved in.

Joaquin lived in an eco-friendly neighborhood, and his house was made entirely from composted materials and PBR cans. His neighbors, however, lived in  a glass-like abode based on designs from German architects, thus making it much more eco-friendly than those built according to North American standards.

Their young son was a miniature tyrant. He was constantly running through our organically-watered lawn  and throwing rocks at Joaquin’s  solar panelled birdhouse, making life miserable for both us and the environmentally-conscious woodpeckers that would come to visit from time to time. And because the child’s father worked long hours and his mother was too busy getting it on with the  ”chlorine-free pool” boy (as everyone within a half-mile radius could see), there was nothing that could be done.

I was also starting to realize that Joaquin and I had very different interests. While I enjoyed sculpting abstractedly and showering regularly, he liked to spend his free time protecting the ozone layer and not showering regularly.

I was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, I’d made a huge mistake.

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 ”What The Fa La La…?” -Dec. 25,  2002

This “creme de la abstract creme” came to me the day I finally reached my breaking point. Sadly it was also December 25th, the day where we as Christians get together to celebrate Santa coming down the chimney.

Unbeknownst to me, Joaquin wasn’t actually a Christian, he was an Environmentalist/Kabbalah hybrid. Looking back, I should have seen the signs. But what can I say, sometimes my mind is so occupied with thoughts of creating that cognizance and/or awareness of my surroundings end up taking a back seat.

It was bad enough that our Christmas tree consisted of two abstract imitation wood sculptures attached by a piece of recycled cloth and hung with an ornament made entirely of composted banana peels. But when I opened my bamboo-fabric tie-dye stocking to find a Kabbalah string and menstrual mooncup,  I knew I had to leave.

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“The Grass is Always Greener on The Other Side” -Later on Dec. 25, 2002

My hands, disassociated from my mind at the time, sculpted this wonderment after finally realizing that free doesn’t always mean “gratis”  (artistically  speaking, of course). 

After an emotional confrontation where I told Joaquin (via Dear John letter) that I couldn’t be with him anymore, I packed up my bags and snuck out in the middle of the night. I knew that I could have left during the day (seeing as he was out of town protesting anti-environmental protests), however I felt this way would be much more emotionally gripping.

I moved back home with my Mother, who, despite her vehement protests, was subconsciously glad for the company.

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Once all of the craziness finally died down (approximately 2 hours later), I pulled out my ingenious Magic 8-Ball Paper Sculpture to ask it whether or not I had a gift for taking abstract sculptures and making them even “abstracter.” And you know what it said?

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“Original Magic 8-Ball Paper Sculpture”- 1990

(Sidenote- I did try again and it said “All Signs Point to Yes”)

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**Thank you for visiting my abstracter sculpture gallery. I wish I could stay and make this post even longer than it already is, but my brain is telling my fingers (via my nervous system) that it is time to go create once again.

Sculpture from Sand and Cement made in the cast of an old bleach bottle

This was made by filling an old plastic bleach bottle with sand and cement and adjusting the finished article with a knife and saw.

tibormartin@gmail.com