You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘art’ tag.
I’ve had my eye on Blik’s removable vinyl wall graphics for a while as a potential way to spice up the apartment without getting in too much trouble with our manager. The problem is, they look neatest when adhered on a colorfully painted wall.
Me.
Blik stocks original graphics, as well as designs from Threadless, Nintendo, and, for some strange reason, American indie-pop band of Montreal.
“[Frontman Kevin] Barnes named his band Of Montreal because he wanted people to think his band was from Montreal … Why not just name the band “We’re from Montreal” then, and get it over with? Oh right, because Barnes wanted to make it extraordinarily difficult for fans to use his band’s name in a sentence:
Of Montreal Fan: Ever heard of Of Montreal? I’m a fan of Of Montreal. In my book there’s nobody above Of Montreal.
Hot Indie Chick: You’re hooked on phonics, aren’t you?”
Cracked.com, “The 25 Most Ridiculous Band Names in Rock History,” of which of Montreal* is #16
*See what kind of prepositional bedlam just resulted there? gahh
For me, though, the real gold doesn’t lie in plastering “The Skeletal Lamping Collection” all over my bedroom walls. I’m more drawn to the prospect of Blik’s Prose line, which allows customers to custom-order vinyl graphics of a favorite quote of their choice:
Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Raymond Chandler, The High Window
Lost, Season 1
If I were to choose one, I’d currently go for this line from T.S. Eliot in my kitchen:
“[She] slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganised upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;”
T.S. Eliot, Sweeney among the Nightingales
It seems appropriate for my usual early morning stupor. As usual, feel free to write your own ideas in the comments.
Free poster + printer + craft supplies = Sweet poster mod for my room.
I got this giant black-and-white poster of a lone bird from a recent trip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I wanted to spice the poster up a bit without ruining the poignancy of the shot, so I went at it with a minimalist design and some basic craft supplies.
The words I chose for the poster are the final lines from a gorgeous e e cummings poem that reminds me how love is often more emotional than logical:
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
–the best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids’ flutter which says
we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis
e e cummings, “since feeling is first”
Apartment art doesn’t have to be expensive; the total cost of this project was just $0.11 for the yellow paper. On an adjacent wall, I’ve hung an iconic image of actress Audrey Hepburn from her 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. It’s actually a cardboard box that used to hold a canvas of an identical image; I found the empty box at Goodwill and convinced them to give it to me at no charge. It too was a triumphant moment in my career as a thrifty college student.
If you liked “since feeling is first”, or if you’re just not a big fan of capital letters, read a small collection of other e e cummings poems here.
“From 52 to 48 With Love” is a cool and inspiring social/political/art project that encourages voters from any party to send in photographs of themselves reaching out to voters from opposing parties with healing messages. It derives its name from the 52% who voted for Barack Obama and the 48% who voted for John McCain in this month’s presidential election. Here is the original blog post from Ze Frank, the project’s creator, explaining his idea:
“i would love to have a place for obama supporters, mccain supporters and supporters of third parties (over 1%) to reach out in a gesture of reconciliation…
simple messages from individuals.
perhaps it is naive. the differences are real, i know. but we have to repair the damage done from this election cycle somehow…”
Ze Frank, Blogger
It’s a pretty neat project. Here are a few of my favorite submissions:
Frank began the project on November 5th, the day after the election, but since then it has grown and expanded. You can take a look at all “From 52 to 48 With Love” submissions here, and perhaps afterwards contribute your own photograph to ze@zefrank.com.
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is a spoken word piece by Gil Scott-Heron, who is widely considered to be the “godfather of rap”, and is probably Scott-Heron’s best known work. Most of Scott-Heron’s work was centered around the political issues of his day; “Revolution” references Richard Nixon and the Watts Riots in L.A. I like the references to slogans Scott-Heron employs throughout to make a point about rampant commercialism. All in all, it’s a great song, as Dan reminded me the other day at dinner.
Screenshots from Apt Studio's video of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", to promote the book "Now and Then", a collection of Scott-Heron's lyrics and poems.
If you like the visual representation of GOOD’s “The Hidden Cost of War”, then you’ll find this music video of “Revolution”, created by Apt Studio, equally appealing. It’s done in a different artistic style than GOOD, but it’s equal parts eye candy, especially considering it was created in 2001. You can watch it on YouTube below, but I recommend watching the original on Apt Studio’s website for better quality and faster loading.
While you’re watching, here are the lyrics to “Revolution”, below; I excised the stanzas that this music video cut out, but the full song and lyrics can easily be found online.
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
and skip out for beer during commercials,
because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
in four parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from the Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
on report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers on the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers on the instant replay.
The revolution will not be right back after a message
about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run, brothers;
The revolution will be live.
Ecoist.com sells handbags and accessories made from repurposed candy wrappers, food labels, movie posters, billboards, and other materials that would otherwise have ended up in landfills. Their collections are designed by artists from around the world, and are manufactured in non-sweatshop, free trade environments.
We believe that style comes first. However, by promoting our brand, we hope to enhance the planet, elevate consumer consciousness, and transmit our values, not just our sense of style.
Ecoist.com
Ecoist’s bags are pretty pricey at $25 – $150 for any bags approximating a practical size, though they do carry other items and have periodic sales. You can do what I do and window-shop by signing up for their email newsletter. You’ll be entered in a monthly drawing for a free handbag; besides, the newsletter is just fun to look at for the adorable and innovative designs they carry:
Coasters, Subway collection, $18
_A_z.jpg "coin purse")
Coin purse, Sprinkles collection, $22
_md.jpg "baguette")
Baguette, Coca-Cola collection, $48
Small Tote (made from a movie billboard), One-of-a-kind collection, $48
_md.jpg "the lbd")
The LBD, Confetti collection, $60
-1_md.jpg "francisca")
Francisca (made from soda can tabs), one-of-a-kind collection, $84
_md.jpg "the daily")
The Daily, One-of-a-kind collection, $158
Ecoist’s website also has a photo gallery that offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at all of the work that goes into making one handbag:
Coca-Cola bottlers provide off-spec labels that could have otherwise end up in landfills.
The labels are cut according to design specifications.
Each piece is folded individually to create a module; modules are interlaced to create braids which are then sewn to make bags.
The zipper is placed and the bag is complete.
Look to Ecoist’s website to learn more about their business model and philosophy, the variety of media coverage they’ve gotten, and of course, all the collections and products I didn’t have space to cover.
Burning Man is an annual Labor Day event that draws thousands of people to Black Rock Desert, Nevada to participate in a four-day experiment in community living and self-reliance. It’s obviously famous for its namesake effigy of The Man, but also for its participants’ self-expression (think elaborate costumes and the annual Critical Tits procession, which is exactly what it sounds like) as well as art of stunning proportions that is centered around an annual theme.
Nearly 50,000 people participated in Burning Man 2008, “American Dream”. Burning Man is a big thing among the Berkeley community; even my Physics professor from last spring goes. I have never gone, but here are some images, posted by attendees, of the striking art at this year’s exhibit:
Bone Tree.
Mutants.
The Man from afar.
Nightlife.
The bumper actually reads "Bummer".
The men in this giant ketchup bottle served free french fries each night.
Actually two seperate pieces rather than a strange tribute to Donnie Darko.
As with many Burning Man installations, this one featured real people as part of the art.
Dragon car.
These are attendees, not an art installation, but I couldn't leave it out. So awesome. It looks like the Black Rock Desert is Tatooine.
You can see more images from Burning Man 2008’s attendee-submitted image gallery, or check out Robyn Johnson’s list of the 13 Coolest Art Installations in the History of Burning Man. For more on what it’s like to attend Burning Man for the first time, read Madeline Greco’s well-written account of her experience. If you have an extra $200-$300 lying around and a free Labor Day weekend, you can attend Burning Man 2009, “Evolution: A Tangled Bank”.
MUTO is the newest stop-animation movie from Blu, an Italian artist who specializes in urban street art. He describes it as “An ambiguous animation painted on public walls”; it was filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Baden, Germany. MUTO is notable for the sheer amount of time and patience it must have took to paint a mural, take a photograph, repaint it slightly differently, photograph, and repeat, thousands of times.
Here is some of Blu’s still art:
You can find more stop-motion videos and still art on Blu’s website or see work in progress on his blog.
Update 11/20: Vailancio Rodrigues over at Smashing Magazine wrote a great article this week called “50 Beautiful Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography”, which includes tilt-shift videos as well as photographs. Check it.
I don’t know much about photography, but I love the effect that tilt-shift lenses have on making everything in the shot look like a toy. The same effect can also be simulated in Photoshop. Photos from Flickr:
Jhongjhu Port by *Yueh-Hua 2008
Fenway Park by girlzone41
Harvard Bookstore by carmel kozlov
exploring berkeley 