I haven’t had positive experiences with Kickstarter technology offerings, I’m hesitant to throw money at gimmicks. But I remember lusting after the original Sisyphus Table years ago when it was Kickstarted. These varying sizes of tables create hypnotizing slow-moving patterns from magnets, metal balls, sand, funky lights and geometric algorithms. Fans post their creations online. I still won’t buy one because I’m not rich (I’m a social worker), but if a wealthy reader would like to get one for me I won’t complain too much. You can buy it a Sisyphus Industries.
Category: Art
Butterfly Wings: Fonts in nature
The English language resides on the wings of butterflies, as photographed by Norwegian photographer Kjell Bloch Sandved. You can purchase a poster print from Sandved’s website.
Impossibilities: Down is up
Painter Lindsay Pickett bends perspective, channeling the surrealists and M.C. Escher, folding urban skylines and bending roads to where we don’t know up from down, designing a pleasant, mind-expanding chaos.
From this Hi-Fructose article: “To create a warped landscape or some other kind of impossible reality the chosen idea or theme must create one impossible landscape and for that, the lighting has to work together and not look too much like a collage,” the artist says. “This is often the longest part of my studio practice as finding ideas can take time. The two or more landscape images must blend together in a subtle way. A lot of my ideas also come from some films of the science fiction genre. Especially when seeing films that have a lot of cinematic scenes in them. Whereas such images are mostly created on computer, for me I like the challenge of creating something impossible by hand. I find it much more challenging and stimulating. This is also where I feel my work stands out.”
Illustrate: How drugs feel
Bay-area Artist Pixel-Pusha went on a variety-drug binge, trying 19 different intoxicants in 19 days. He drew an illustration while under each influence, attempting to capture the essence of each. His drugs ranged from nitrous to GHB , and he added a 20th-day influence of “love”, which also happens to be intoxicating. You can learn about Pixel-Pusha and purchase posters of his 20-day binge here.
Melting: Bruce Riley paints
“You can’t have any other intent but moving. You can’t worry about it, you can’t stop, you can’t choke. It’s obvious when it works. It’s obvious when it fails. The paintings aren’t about specific things, they’re all about kind of the same thing. And I’m not really trying to define any ideas, I just let it flow.”
Bruce riley
Chicago-based artist Bruce Riley is suspends layers of paints and resins to create organic, vibrant, hypnotizing paintings.
Visualization: Subtle environmental control
Casually play god with this “visual journey”, growing mountains in an ocean inside a sunset, and more. Works on phone but better on desktop.
Mechanics: As high art
Photographer Freddy Fabris captures auto mechanics as visual homages to Italian Renaissance masters. Enjoy.
Costumes: A Love Story
Via BoingBoing, Verasphere is a vibrant and adorable 20 minute documentary about costuming, romance and community.
“We had a terrible burrito, but it was great.”
“It’s always Ms. It’s Mrs. Vera. She’s had a history.”
“The only thing that’s required is the interest to do it… it’s not normal to want to look that strange… but it’s really fun.”
“Our collaboration saved his life.”
[It] follows two San Francisco artists, David Faulk and Michael Johnstone, who fall in love at the height of the AIDS epidemic. While most of their community is overcome with grief and rage, David and Michael discover an unlikely joy through the creation of Mrs. Vera, an outrageous costumed character made from found materials. What began as an intimate art project and a way to pass the time while they faced an inevitable death, soon took on a life of its own. Now 25 years later, a large and diverse community has evolved around Mrs. Vera, all centered around one day of costumed celebration in the San Francisco Pride Parade.
String Theory: 100 miles of yarn
Psychedelic yarn art. Krakow based artists Przemek Podolski and Marta Basandowskaby spin the yarn into mind-bending installations, highlighted by blacklights. Podolski said: “I was fascinated by the cosmos and its space. When I first saw string art I thought it was suitable for visualising the matter of the cosmos.”
Pinocchio : These people aren’t real?
If you look someone deep enough in the eyes you can see their soul, the idiom claims. This Person Does Not Exist plays with God’s digital palette (also known as machine learning) and designs people who don’t exist. If you look into their eyes deep enough they might become real. Learn how this is done here.
