Cereal Sampler

Judith Klausner's unbelievably careful embroidery of everyday objects caught my eye recently:

More here on her website.

Tokyo Subway Good Manners Posters

Some classic and frankly bonkers graphic design here from the 70s, advocating good manners on the Tokyo subway system.

More here.

This one is really weird. It loosely translates as:
 'I look like Santa because you're drunk. It's only October. If you drink, be considerate of other passengers.'

Like Watching Paint, err, Drip

Bizarrely mesmeric...



More time lapse related video here.

Art of America

If you haven't been watching the BBC's 'Art of America' short series, get over to the iplayer immediately!

Andrew Graham-Dixon is as succinct and refreshing as ever as he revisits old favourites from Hopper, Sheeler, Stella et al in between key works of architecture and societal issues. Great stuff.

Graphics

I don't tend to flag much in the way of Graphics, so here's an illustration/typography/graphics portfolio from 'Aeiko' (Pete Harrison) I was recently shown. Some great stuff for Nike especially to check out.

Arctic

Big fan of the photographs of Bryan Alexander, particularly his series investigating the lives of the Arctic peoples.

Canimation

Red Bull are currently running an animation competition in their hunt for new talent (and indeed free, sorry - 'crowdsourced' advertising).  You can vote for your favourite entry - the top 10 go to a judging panel - with prizes including internships at some seriously prestigious creative agencies.

Check them out and comment on your favourites - the most 'shared' and 'commented' rise to the top.


Red Bull Gives You Springs from Max Martin on Vimeo.

Podcasts: Royal Institute of Philosophy

Follow this link for some excellent podcasts from the Royal Institute of Philosophy, on visual arts. Mark Rowe's discussion of 'perfect fakes' looks particularly good, examining the issues surrounding works which appear aesthetically identical to the originals they mimic.

House of Thorns

I was drawn by an image of Alice Maher's 'House of Thorns' sculptures in one of this weekend's newspaper supplements, and thought I'd post a few examples of her dream-like work.

House of Thorns

Shirt of Nettles

Bee Dress

I think her work on ostrich eggs is particularly intriguing though:

More here on her site. 

You can read an interview with the artist here.

Tokyo Compression

I had to commute today (I know, dreadful!) and later happened upon a copy of a photography book by Michael Wolf, 'Tokyo Compression Revisited'. 

It seemed pretty apt.

A great concept and some really beautiful results.

New York City

Just back from a trip to NYC. After over half a dozen visits, it has to be one of my favourite cities anywhere, and still offers surprises and visual treats at every turn.

I didn't take many photos on this trip, but here's a few 'details'.

View from the High Line Park

Brooklyn Bridge

Architectural concept model for WTC, MoMA

Lee Bontecou, MoMA

Natsuyuki Nakanishi, 'Compact Object', MoMA

Takako Saito, 'Smell Chess', Met Museum (each identically-shaped vial contains a different perfume to establish which chess piece it represents) 

Patrick Oliphant, 'I Have Returned', lithograph, Met Museum

Detail from Rauschenberg's 'Canyon', Met Museum

Detail from Rosenquist's 'House of Fire', Met Museum

Kiki Smith

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 'Ugolino and his Sons', Met Museum

Detail from 'Sloth', from Paul Cadmus' 'Seven Deadly Sins' series,  1947

Tracks in the High Line Park