Archive for October, 2010
Spanning nearly 40 years, British sculptor Antony Gormley’s work explores the relationship of the human form with spatial planes. With exhibits at the Tate, British Museum, Museum of Modern Art in New York and Los Angeles County Museum of Art among many more, Antony’s pieces can be found in collections worldwide.
[ via antonygormley.com ]
“Painting I think is one of the great human miracles, in that it attempts, in my view, to make alternate little worlds which are in some ways made parallel to worlds which may be close to the world, but finally which are little worlds in themselves. This gives us when we think about it, like literature, like other forms of art, a kind of expanded world that we can inhabit as well.”—Wayne Thiebaud, in a conversation with Susan Krane of the San Jose Museum of Art
[ image via SFMOMA ]
Wild Yam Dreaming
I was absolutely awe-struck by the beautiful interplay of colors and sophisticated simplicity of brushwork in this amazing painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye. One of the most prominent contemporary Australian aboriginal artists of all time, Emily started out working with batik and only got into painting much later in life when she was nearly 80 years old. Breaking from the predominant Aboriginal painting style of the time, her style changed several times over a short time span as she experimented with lines, dots, brushes, and color in new ways, paving her own unique path.
“Through this painting, we are transported to the center of Australia, to a flat, windswept settlement where outsiders might see only an expanse of red dirt. Our guide is an eighty-five-year-old woman whose eyes are full of observations and who has years of experience painting bodies for ceremonies. Emily Kame Kngwarreye discovered the lush fluidity of acrylics in 1988, launching her extraordinarily prolific career that is full of bravado in handling paint.” —Seattle Museum of Art
Photo by Gayle Wheatley
I finally got to see a couple of Walter Oltmann’s sculpted suits up close and in person this weekend at the Seattle Museum of Art. As part of an ongoing exhibit titled “A Quartet of Suits,” two of Oltmann’s sculptures, Caterpillar Suit I and III, sit across the room from a couple of Nick Cave’s suits.
Born in Rustenburg, South Africa, Oltmann creates fascinating wire sculptures by hand which incorporate African weaving traditions and often allude to insects. The sculptures pictured here are made of anodized aluminum and brass wire.
Looking for ideas to celebrate Halloween? New this year to Disneyland park’s Halloween Time celebration in Southern California is Mickey’s Halloween Party, a special event going on every Tuesday and Friday evening in October leading up to Halloween. Here are the highlights:
Costumed Fun
This is your chance to break out the halloween costumes! You’re sure to see plenty of amazing Halloween outfits as you wander between rides. There’s even a costume parade at the end of the night filled with innovative ensembles, favorite characters, and a sampling of hand-picked costumed partygoers. (Your very own Culture Vixen editors were randomly selected!)
Trick-or-Treating for All Ages
Best yet, each guest receives a trick-or-treat bag upon entry to fill up at various trick-or-treat stations spread out around the park throughout the night. Guests are treated to unlimited candy, and the normal rules don’t apply here—there are no age restrictions and everyone is perfectly welcome to trick or treat, no matter your age! Where else but Disneyland would this be possible?
Spooky Fireworks
Disneyland’s fireworks extravaganzas are known for their sophisticated pyrotechnics, and Mickey’s Halloween Party is no exception. The special Halloween Screams fireworks spectacular features Disney villains with flashy individually spinning pinwheel fireworks and sky crawling blasts of sparkles.
Extra Breathing Room
Perhaps the best part of this event is the crowds—or lack of them. There’s nothing like the exhilarating experience of hopping on and off rides with little or no wait time! (Dependent of course on the night you attend.)
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT SUITE101 TO GET THE INSIDE SCOOP
Love these interesting paintings by Natalie Zigal from her series Dissections of Mythological Beasts. Originally from the Bay Area, Natalie now lives in Culver City, California where she works as a content artist for Mattel.
[ via kotterpin.blogspot.com ]
Hongtao Zhou is a furniture designer and performance artist who started out studying chemistry in Harbin, China and ended up working as a furniture designer and sculptor, obtaining a Ph.D. in furniture design from Purdue University along the way. The wax chairs pictured above are from his series “Burniture” and are made to be lit until the candles finally burn, melt, and collapse the piece.
“These small wicks are burning down the “coldness” of the icy-looking wax chairs. Cold chairs generate “hot” seats, baking, melting and disappearing. At the same time, the hot wax liquid is melting down into “icicles.” Conflicts. Over consumption will weaken the chair system and eventually cause chair figures to collapse. It is just a matter of time. Burn the ice, burn our seats, burn us.” —Hongtao Zhou
Many of Hongtao’s works, such as his snow furniture pieces below, involve manipulation of ice and snow.
[ via hongtaozhou.com ]
This installation, titled “cabinet” by Misha Kahn caught my eye straight off. Maybe it’s the concept of everything having its own cubby, or its own specific place in the big scheme of things, but something about it just feels so darn reassuring. It’s extremely visually pleasing from a designer’s standpoint as well, with perfectly customized containers for everything.
“After scanning the hoards of chachkis lying on my bedroom floor I printed out life size puzzle pieces and arranged them into this curious thought bubble.” —Misha Kahn
“couch”
“nest”
You can find these cool cactus-head plant holders online at FloralArt LA, a Venice, California flower boutique located on trendy Abbot Kinney Blvd.
[ via FloralArt LA ]
The Little Cake Parlour makes the cutest little sweets, with a creative twist: Alice in Wonderland inspired treats, luscious lip cookies, and big-eyed owl cupcakes—oh my! And continuing the delectable trend, eye-catching photos of their fancy sweets are accentuated by the lovely graphic design of their website.
[ via The Little Cake Parlour ]
