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For over a decade, photographer Jonathan Higbee has walked the streets of New York with a camera in-hand, spotting extraordinary juxtapositions and unusual moments when the world aligns for a split second in front of his lens. At times he manages to completely erase the boundaries between manufactured imagery found in billboards or signage that pollute the city streets and captures anonymous passersby who seem to live in an alternate reality.

This uncanny talent for observation has made the Missouri-born photographer a rising name in street photography where he won the World Street Photography grand prize in 2015 and a LensCulture 2016 Street Photography Award. Higbee’s work has been exhibited in group shows around the world and his photos were recently included in World Street Photography 4. You can follow more of his photography on Instagram. (via LensCulture)

There are over five and a half million vending machines across Japan which sell a variety of merchandise from soda and cigarettes, to fresh eggs and flowers. These machines are not only scattered within the large city centers of the country, but also are common sights in smaller, more rural towns. The beverage dispensers are functional all night, serving as main a light source in remote areas without prevalent night life or street lamps.

Many vending machines populate the country’s prefecture of Hokkaido, a northern island that experiences harsh winters. Photographer Eiji Ohashi noticed how the light from these vending machines would illuminate surrounding snow, precipitation that had either piled on top of the machine or buried it completely. These glowing subjects became a source of intrigue for Ohashi who has created a series based on the machines titled Time to Shine.

“As dusk approaches, roadside vending machines light up in cities and in the outskirts,” says Ohashi in a statement. “These scenes of vending machines, ordinarily standing on the roadside, are particular to Japan. The vending machines downtown or in the wilderness, placed to stand in solitude, are an image of loneliness. They work tirelessly, whether it is day or night. But once their sales drop, they are taken away. If they do not glow and shine, they will stop existing. There might be something human about them.”

Ohashi compiled several of the images from his series into a photobook titled Roadside Lights. You can see other images from a snow-covered Hokkaido on his website. (via Spoon & Tamago)

For the last several years, Danish design firm MONSTRUM (previously) has constructed wildly imaginative playscape features for playgrounds around the world with an intense focus on both artistic and architectural quality. The playgrounds are designed and built locally in their large studio just outside Copenhagen and then shoppied in components to sites around Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and even Dubai. The design studio has a strong background in theatrical set design which lends itself to their thematic playscapes, one of our recent favorites being the “Justin Beiver” playround in Partille, Sweden. Collected here is a sampling of designs from the last few years, but you can see more on their website.

Author, illustrator, photographer, and LEGO aficionado Chris McVeigh (previously) has added new retro technology kits to his cache of minimalist models, sets which include several decade-specific desktop set-ups and a boombox with multiple lego tapes. McVeigh even attempts to make each desk’s contents comply with the decade of its corresponding computer, like the version above which includes floppy disks which can be inserted into the computer, and a stack of computer manuals. You can view more of McVeigh’s lego kits (which also include different foods, bonsai trees, and video games) on his Facebook and Instagram.

German photographer Frank Kunert builds miniature scenes that at first glance appear like mundane depictions of everyday domestic and urban settings. However after glancing at the photographs longer, one is able to dissect the strange anomalies found in his playgrounds, kitchens, and parks, noticing that his half pipe has the markings of a tennis court and his children’s slide leads straight onto a busy highway.

“On the surface, these photographs confront us with all of the hollow words, catchphrases and banalities we encounter in our daily lives,” says Dr. Christine Donat, who provided the text for Kunert’s online portfolio. “The stereotypical and senseless aspects of human communication cannot be unveiled more convincingly than in their literal conversion into a visual medium.”

The works are a part of Kunert’s series Photographs of Small Worlds, handcrafted models that play with the audience’s perception through the use of darkly satirical twists. Each miniature set is created over the course of several weeks to months, and are not captured until they can perfectly convey the scene without digital assistance.

Kunert’s upcoming solo exhibition at the Museum Boppard from September 10 to January 28, 2018 shares the same name as his most recent photo book, Wunderland. You can view more of his miniature works and past photo books on his website. (via Cross Connect Magazine)

 

frequencebariole:

Gaston Barret - illustration

This made me laugh.

Apparently I have posted only eight times in the last year. This is due to a new addition to the family, who is now too big for his skeleton suit.

All I have for you at the moment is this: the spooky tag

(above image: ““Farman 40 of pilot Lt. Jaumotte and observer sLt. Wouters”, from a website/source that no longer exists!)

Hope to be "back” soon.

Imperium der Steine is holding an Architecture Contest, to build a MOC in the scale and style of the Architecture sets. Kit Bricksto came up with this great version of Hogwarts for the "Entertainment Architecture" category.

This is an illustration by Hans Arnold for an episode of the short story series ”Veckans Chock” (Shock of the week) in the Swedish magazine Veckorevyn. The story was written by Pat Stadley and in translation (back to English, I guess) the title would be "Chocolate for my sister". It was probably published in the late sixties or early seventies, is my guess.

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Fantasy Ink: Bernie Wrightson
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“String Fountain” is a kinect sculpture by Paolo Salvagione.

The challenge, how does one present 50’s synchronized swimming, or water works like the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas, without water. Pushing string with a motor is not a new idea. Adding servo motors and a microcontroller to create automated and interactive installation is what I was looking to do during my residency at Autodesk’s new facility on Pier 9.

The Pier 9 Artists in Residence program gives artists, makers, and fabricators a chance to work with us in our digital fabrication workshops at Autodesk. Our artists explore, create, and document cutting-edge projects, and share them with the DIY community.

That’s why you can find an Instructable to build one element of the String Fountain here.

You can see the sculpture in this video.

Here you can see one element of the sculpture in detail.

found at prosthetic knowledge

Robin Williams by Harry Langdon

Over the last three years photographer Jem Cresswell has photographed humpback whales during their annual migration to Vava’u, Tonga, swimming with the great creatures in the vast waters of the southern Pacific Ocean. Cresswell’s series Giants captures the individual personality of the great whales, each of which seem to pose specifically for his underwater camera.

“I was initially drawn to the whales’ gentle nature, sheer size and the feeling of insignificance in their presence,” said Cresswell. “Over the past 3 years returning to Tonga, I have sought to capture intimate portraits of these complex and conscious animals, bringing the viewer into the world of these mystical giants.”

In addition to being intrigued by the animals’ size, the Australian-based artist is also fascinated by their brains. In 2006, spindle cells, which were only thought to be present in humans and great apes, were also found to exist within the brains of humpback whales. These cells, which are tied to social organization, empathy, and intuition, were found to be more than three times as prevalent in humpback whales than they were in humans.

This sense of humanness is one of the reasons that Cresswell chooses to shoot his underwater subjects in black and white. “The main focus of the project concerns the whale’s sense of character and consciousness,” he explained to Colossal. “To me, black and white avoids distraction and draws the viewer directly to the subject. Black and white also has a sense of timelessness to it, which I feel represents how long these creatures have been around for.”

Cresswell will continue photographing humpback whales in the future, but at the present he is taking a break to work on a new series focused on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. You can get a behind-the-scenes perspective of Cresswell’s underwater shoots on his Instagram and in the short video below. (via My Modern Met)

 

The delicious rumors are true: Nintendo is gearing up to launch the SNES Classic, a miniaturized version of the glorious original Super Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Nintendo's Twitter account, the system will be available on September...

If you have a late-night hankering for some felty gefilte fish or a bottle of fermented fabric, be sure to stop by 8 ‘Til Late, the newest temporary installation by British artist Lucy Sparrow known for her felt recreations of everyday objects. Located in Manhattan at The Standard, High Line, the bodega is filled from floor to ceiling with thousands of objects you might find at a typical corner store from breakfast cereals, a deli counter brimming with meats, frozen foods, and spirits—all made from felt and a bit of paint. And just like a real store, every last thing is for sale.

Over the last few years Sparrow has exhibited her felt objects in galleries and art fairs around the world including Art Basel, Scope Miami, and the New York Affordable Art Fair. 8 ‘Til Late is a companion piece to her 2014 installation in London titled The Corner Shop with a similar concept but with Eurocentric products. We have word that lines stretched around the block the last few days and every object in the store has since sold. While originally scheduled to be open through June 30th, the exhibition is ending early, specifically 10pm tonight. So if you’re nearby, now’s your chance. Maybe?

You can see the finer details of some 400 individual items from 8 ‘Til Late on Sparrow’s website.

The female characters inhabiting the world of London-based illustrator Miles Johnston appear to be undergoing near perpetual transformation, their faces or bodies split in half, or their entire form morphing into globby organic forms. Over the past few years he’s examined four specific transformations organized into series titled Deform, Divide, Attract, and Recur. Johnston will have work on view at the upcoming Small Works exhibition at beinArt Gallery and you can also follow him on Instagram. (via Booooooom, Artnau)

Ori Toor

Built between 1883 and 1885, Casa Vicens is the very first home designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. During most of the Barcelona home’s 130-year-old history it served as a private residence, but thanks to a 2014 purchase by MoraBanc and a massive two-year renovation, the 19th-century building will be repurposed as a cultural center opening this October.

Casa Vicens was originally commissioned by the tile manufacturer Manuel Vicens i Montaner as a summer home, but sold in 1899 to the Jover family who owned the house for more than a century. The restoration of Casa Vicens began in April 2015, led by architects José Antonio Martínez Lapeña and Elías Torres, of Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectes, and David García of Daw Office. The new museum will display many of Gaudís original designs while hosting both permanent and rotating exhibitions within its grand interior.

The building itself stands as an early example of the architect’s Neo-Mudéjar architecture, and is one of eight UNESCO World Human Heritage Site in Barcelona. Casa Vicens completes the Gaudí Route, a series of more than a dozen buildings designed by the architect including the breathtaking La Sagrada Familia. (via Dezeen and Hyperallergic)

Building the new Tomorrow section for Engadget

– Tomorrow Section Cover (article link)

– The Art of Nuclear War (article link)

– Hacking laws (article link)

– The future of video game violence (article link)

Working with Engadget I helped to build the new ‘Tomorrow’ section, teaming with Aaron Souppouris, features editor at Engadget.
‘Tomorrow’ launched needing illustrations to set a tone for the topics, visualise the articles and draw attention to the new section.
‘The new home of stuff that hasn’t happened yet.’ – Engadget
Articles on Engadget: #1 Tomorrow | #2 Nuclear | #3 Hacking | #4 Videogames

Heads facing downward, eyes closed, the figures inhabiting the world of painter and sculptor Jaime Molina (previously) seem to be in a state of deep contemplation or sorrow. Or maybe they’re just hungover and taking a nap. The mystery is part of Molina’s intention as he assembles these strange characters from found wood to inhabit his fictional world called “Cutty Town” — he refers to the objects themselves as “Cuttys”. At once strangely familiar and approachable, the pieces sprout hairdos of bent nails, cacti, and leaves that add more questions left only to the viewer to answer.

The Colorado-based based artist most recently exhibited several works with Stefanie Chefas Projects in Portland and Galería UNION in Buenos Aires, and he has a few works available through Thinkspace Gallery. (via Juxtapoz, Creators Project)

Une eau dure est une eau qui contient beaucoup de sels dissous, en particulier des sels de calcium et de magnésium. Une droite dure est une droite qui contient beaucoup de fascisme dissous, en particulier du nationalisme et du racisme.

(source)

Created for the Hadrian Exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem last December, this short animation details the elaborate process of creating a bronze cast using the lost-wax technique. The mix of stop motion and 2D animation is perfect for showing the materials used in each step along with helpful cross sections of what happens inside the mold. It’s so interesting to realize that the image depicted is transferred five times through different mediums —the original sculpture, plaster mold, wax, plaster again, bronze—before arriving at the final bronze artwork. Directed and animated by Renana Aldor and Kobi Vogman. (via Vimeo Staff Picks)