Exploding Couture

'Bombshell'
Whitney Biennial 2000
Collection of the Whitney Museum
Reproduction of Marilyn Monroe's white dress from The Seven Year Itch at 200% scale
suspended with monofilament and turnbuckles.
dimensions variable

E.V. Day
at Otero Plassart
West Hollywood, California
November 21, 2009 - January 16, 2010

· E.V. DAY
Anyone who plowed through "Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution," the 2007 MOCA mega-exhibition of just about every striation of Feminist art, may be excused if they think that there is nothing more to be said on the subject. Enter E.V. Day, who has found yet another take on something that defined, confined and classified women since humans began to walk upright: Clothes. This exhibition shows off her remarkable ability to create variations of the proverbial silk purse made from a sow's ear. That may well be the reaction of many who will become intrigued by Day's use of brilliantly hued crotchless panties and other sexy lingerie ordinarily more at home at Fredrick of Hollywood than an art gallery (at Otero Plassart, West Hollywood, California).
- Daniella Walsh
Click here to hear her talk about her work at the David H. Koch Theater
"I want the sculptures to channel and release the energy that flows into these garments from the characters who wear them. I want to fill the space with the lyricism and bravura of opera. To be able to work with this treasure trove of costumes, in this great architectural space, is the opportunity of a lifetime" - E.V. Day

The Making of Space Chair

Escape Vehicle No.6 versus The Space Chair Project

November 18th, 2009

In 2004, Simon Faithfull was commissioned to do a live event by The Arts Catalyst for its Artists Airshow. He decided to launch a weather balloon with a chair attached to it. The audience could follow the live video feed on a large screen. A typical art project.
In 2009, the advertising agency Grey London did The Space Chair Project for their client Toshiba. They also launched a chair with a weather balloon, except that they used HD cameras to create the highest HD TV ad in the world. But somehow they don’t mention Simon Faithfull anywhere …

Update: According to this article, Simon was part of the team who did the ad.

Creating art using an entire town.

today and tomorrow
Cercle et suite d’éclats
October 27th, 2009

Last summer, Felice Varini did this installation called “Cercle et suite d’éclats” in Vercorin, Switzerland. The scale of this point of view artwork is very impressive.

See also, 12 Strangely Painted Homes , from Oddee.com
Grey blocks are overrated; meet twelve wall painting designs that will make you wonder about being different.

A Body Transformed Through Dance

Arts / Dance

Learning His Body, Learning to Dance

By NEIL GENZLINGER for the New York Times

Published: November 25, 2009

Gregg Mozgala, a 31-year-old actor with cerebral palsy, had 12 years of physical therapy while he was growing up. But in the last eight months, a determined choreographer with an unconventional résumé has done what all those therapists could not: She has dramatically changed the way Mr. Mozgala walks.
watch the video: A Body Transformed Through Dance

The choreographer Tamar Rogoff rehearses her new piece, "Diagnosis of a Faun," with Gregg Mozgala, who has cerebral palsy. After a year of working with Ms. Rogoff, Mr. Mozgala has changed how he moves.

"Song of Mable" by Matryomin ensemble

Now for something really different:
Matryomin is the unique, original erectronic musical instrument invented by Masami Takeuchi in 1999. It is a type of theremin - oldest electro-musical instrument invented in Russia - shaped Russian traditional wooden doll, Matrioshka. It hold form of Matrioshka perfectly, moreover, performing five octaves range. The distance of 1 octave at Low-Middle range is equal to Etherwavetheremin of Moog Music Inc. If you have acquired the basic technique to play theremin by Etherwavetheremin, you can enjoy playing Matryomin by same way. Matryomin is only pitch controlled theremin.

Mandarin Electron, a company directed by Masami Takeuchi, started manufacturing Matryomin on a commercial basis in 2003. Now, Matryomin is going on 2nd generation model. Selled over 1,600 till now in Japan.

San Francisco electro artist Moldover, like Beck before him, figured out a way to make physical music purchases superior to digital: Embrace the physical. In Moldover's case, that meant cramming an actual working theremin into the CD case.

Nick Cave: Art in Motion

What happens when textiles meet modern dance all dressed up in a "Sound Suit?" Enter the world of Mr. Cave and contemplate what makes people rejoice in the moment.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth
January 10, 2010 to May 30, 2010

"Experience the largest presentation of work by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave, featuring thirty-five of his Soundsuits—multi-layered, mixed-media sculptures named for the sounds made when the “suits” are worn. Reminiscent of African, Caribbean and other ceremonial ensembles as well as of haute couture, Cave’s work explores issues of transformation, ritual, myth and identity. His virtuosic constructions incorporate yarn, sequins, bottle caps, vintage toys, rusted iron sticks, hair, and more. Mad, humorous, visionary, glamorous and unexpected, the Soundsuits are created from scavenged ordinary materials that Cave re-contextualizes into extraordinary works of art. The Fowler is the first LA-area museum to feature Cave's work and the only Southern California venue for this traveling exhibition."

Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration

A "5th-grader-friendly" collection of clips and making-of footage from notable visual effects films of the past century [1900-2008]. The music track is "Rods and Cones" from the album "Audio" by Blue Man Group.

And while your here check out Pirates of the Caribbean 3 Visual Effects Before and After

Speaking of Recycled....

12 Most Creative Recycled Sculptures‏
Korean artist Jean Shin created this sculpture "Sound Wave" (2007) out of melted vinyl records to connote "the inevitable waves of technology that render each successive generation of recordable media obsolete." Her sculpture and others made from recycled materials are part of The Museum of Art and Design's exhibit "Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary."

gajitz

Gadgets make our worlds go round, from humorous novelty gizmos and entertaining gaming consoles to everyday communication devices, functional personal computers, creative cameras, cool clocks and more. Here you will find some of the greatest new gadget designs, offbeat creations and futuristic concepts – both built widgets and yet-to-be-realized design ideas.
Have you ever wondered what to do with an old computer you don’t want anymore? Sculptor Forrest McCluer rescued 30 old personal computers from the landfill and decided to do something fantastic with them. He’s deconstructing them and using the parts to make incredible sculptures. This set of sculptures consists of computer-part renderings of actual viruses. Above is “Floppy,” based on the shapes of T4 Bacteriophage and Adenovirus 36.

Notes on Photographs

Notes on Photographs - a wiki/website by the George Eastman House serves as a reference database for curators, collectors, scholars, and researchers. It is designed for people with an interest in the study, observation, and valuation of photographs. There is a great materials and techniques section with in depth info on various processes. As well as sections on Conservation and Reference resources including glossaries and places to study conservation.

PORTRAIT DRAWING

This is a portrait done in 20 min. It shows how you can complete a drawing in one sitting. Special thanks to Ron Lemen, Jeff Watts and Paul Tagariello. Carnival of Animals/Aquarium is the back ground music.

Ghost Forest

Ghost Forest: a Powerful Visual Statement About Climate Change
LONDON.- On 16 November, London awakened to find Trafalgar Square inhabited by a series of large rainforest tree stumps, many complete with their buttress roots, transported from a commercially logged tropical primary forest in Western Africa. The installation, entitled ‘Ghost Forest’, is the vision of artist Angela Palmer, and its intention is to inspire and provoke debate about the future of the world’s rainforests.

The installation stands in Trafalgar Square for one week, between 16-22 November, before moving to Thorvaldsens Plads – a city centre square in Copenhagen – to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference from December 7-18.

Trafalgar Square is a particularly appropriate location: with Nelson’s Column standing at over 50 metres (169 feet) tall, it is the approximate height many of the ‘Ghost Forest’ trees would have stood at in the forest. In Copenhagen, the Ghost Forest stand as a symbol of threatened rainforests throughout the world, as 11,000 delegates from 192 countries debate their future.

Accomplished Artists Embrace Aging with Boldness

The Art of Aging
Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self
By Artists Alice and Richard Matzkin

Accomplished Artists Embrace Aging with Boldness

For fifteen years Alice painted and interviewed inspiring older women, some famous and some without clothes, and Richard sculpted older men and couples, most without clothes. Together, they joined creative forces to present their groundbreaking work in a lavishly illustrated and highly inspirational book, 'The Art of Aging: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self'. The book features 80 full-color plates and contains the Matzkins’ personal reflections on acceptance of the physical changes of age, sensuality and mature relationships, aging parents, spirituality and death.

Urban Tree Project - "Elysium"

Port of San Diego Urban Tree Project

GRETCHEN MARS - I always enjoy having my artwork displayed outside of a gallery in a public location. The Urban Tree project has given me the opportunity to display my artwork along the bay in beautiful Downtown San Diego. Having my previous sculptures created from mostly aluminum and wood materials, the Urban Tree Project has encouraged me to learn how to weld and use steel artistically.

EcoLogicalART-Take it all Off

Peter Schulberg of the Eco-LogicalART Gallery presents the July billboard art piece, painted on recycled vinyl and displayed of the Eco-LA Gallery. The July "Second Saturday at Eco-LA" art work was revealed with a dramatic curtain drop viewed by over a hundred spectators. The uber cool Kogi Korean taco truck showed up. The event featured a full on gallery show and spoken word/art performance by the renowned "Street Poets" group.

Premiere: November 14, 2009, 6 - 10pm.
Billboard curtain drop at 7pm

Eco-logicalART
4829 W. Pico Blvd.
(2 blocks west of La Brea Ave.),
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(310) 525-0676
Email, eco-la@sbcglobal.net
Web site, <http://www.eco-la.org>
Gallery Hours: Wed-Saturday, 11 am to 6pm, or by appt.

Powerstick by Ecosol

USB Powered Universal Portable Charger, a great supplemental power source while traveling.

Traveling with a laptop, cellphone, music player and camera often means packing several power adapters.... The Powerstick charges mobile devices, Blackberrys, cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, iPhones, iPods and MP3 Players. It is simply charged from any USB port including desktops and laptops and then used to charge mobile devices; no disposable batteries or wall chargers are required. First plug the Powerstick into your laptop or desktop to get a full charge, and then transfer that charge to your mobile device. The Powerstick comes with nine adapters that are compatible with most cellphones, smartphones, MP3 players and GPS devices.

Art and Science in a Small World, NYTimes

12th Place: Dr. Tsutomu Seimiya
Affiliation: Tokyo Metropolitan University
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Subject/Magnification: Flow pattern in draining soap film (10x)
Technique: Simple Microscope
Science
Art and Science in a Small World
Dennis Breitsprecher
Published: 20091008
The top 20 images plus the popular vote winner from the 2009 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition....Since 1975, Nikon has been awarding annual prizes to scientists and enthusiasts who take pictures through a microscope. Popularly known as a maker of professional and consumer cameras, the company is also a major manufacturer of biological and industrial microscopes. Here are the top 20 images plus the popular vote winner from the 2009 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.

Abeyta's Turquoise Jewelry Making Process

A brief clip documenting the creation of traditional Santo Domingo Pueblo Jewelry.


I found this clip while investigating the Abeyta's Turquoise Jewelry site. They are just one of the groups exhibiting at the Smithsonian's NMAI Art Market in Washington DC and New York, Saturday and Sunday December 5 & 6, 2009.

If you are ever in Washington D.C. plan on a visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian

Adobe Shortcut App

If you’re designing and developing using Adobe products, shortcut help is now available in the shape of the free Adobe Shortcut App for Creative Suite. The Adobe Shortcut App, an amazing new tool from Adobe that lets you find and gather the shortcuts you need on your desktop. The program opens up a window and allow the user to select which adobe product they are using...then you can scroll to find the shortcut you are looking for. Its free and handy.

Gentlemen Broncos

In the new comedy from director/co-writer Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), Michael Angarano stars as Benjamin, a teenager being home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Jennifer Coolidge). A loveable loner, Benjamin's passion for writing leads him on an offbeat and hilarious journey as his story first gets ripped off by legendary fantasy novelist Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement), and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker. Visit the official website, it is full of fun graphics. Delve into the site and discover many other revelations about this really crazy movie.

Into the Darkroom, With Pulleys, Jam and Snakes

“Red Headed Woman” (2008), color print
by Daniel Gordon,
on view in MoMA's “New Photography 2009”

Art Reviews
'New Photography 2009,' 'Processed,' 'Surface Tension'

By KAREN ROSENBERG, November 6, 2009

Three current shows, at two major museums and a university art gallery, outline the manifold choices available to contemporary photographers.

Back when Andreas Gursky was on the rise, the art world buzzed about the supposedly unfair advantages of digital photography. Photoshop and other computer manipulations were seen as performance-enhancing drugs, an impression fostered by Mr. Gursky’s gargantuan, hyperdetailed prints.

We have since learned that these processes need not poison the medium. Some young photographers have made a point of going digital in transparent ways. Others have disappeared into the darkroom, emerging with works that bear legitimizing traces of chemicals. Abstract photographs are everywhere, sidestepping the whole truth-in-representation issue.
read more

NYT: The Forester-Architect

Building green never looked so good.
The Forester-Architect
Paul Kelley for The New York Times

Published: 20091104
Roald Gundersen, who founded Gundersen Design in 1991 and built his first house in the forest 10 miles east of the Mississippi River and 150 miles northwest of Madison two years later, has made a career of working with trees.

Untitled

A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic take on the state of contemporary art. Adam Goldberg (Two Days In Paris) plays the composer, whose work calls for paper crumpling, glass breaking and bucket kicking. Marley Shelton (Grindhouse) plays the gorgeous Chelsea gallerist, whose latest show features an artist (Vinnie Jones, Snatch) who employs taxidermy and household objects. Further complicating the affair is the composer's brother Josh (Eion Bailey, "Band of Brothers"), whose highly commercial art work—the financial backbone of the gallery—is sold to corporate clients discreetly out of the gallery's back room. Directed and co-written by Jonathan Parker (Bartleby). Official Web Site

Drobo Robotics, Storage Solution

Watch our short Product Demo Videos and How-to videos to see the award-winning Drobo products in action. See how Data Robotics’ BeyondRAID™ technology allows for the ease of storage expansion, simple disk replacement, and enterprise-class data protection from potential disk failures, all the while maintaining continuous data access.

Simple for Students and Teachers alike. Spend more time with your students and less time on the phone with IT. Drobo was designed from the ground up to be simple enough for anyone to use. Drobo will save you time and money.

Safe Solutions for Classrooms and Districts
All data needs to be protected against hard drive failures—it’s only a matter of time. Drobo provides the redundancy you need in the classroom or even the district level. Drobo can be incorporated into your environment in a number of ways. Connect a Drobo to your central server by USB or FireWire or to each desktop or laptop. Connect a Drobo to DroboShare to create an independent small group server on your network for departmental use. Use Drobo for redundant primary storage or backup.

For something a bit bigger you can go for the Drobo Pro. It has 8 bay slots which will give you 12.48TB of space if filled with 2TB disks.