Stripping without triggering a security light

Kianoosh Motallebi
2006-2007

Display Book Shelf

Daniel Eatock
2009

Five years ago I had photographs printed measuring about 4' wide. Each print was askew, printing a nearly imperceptible bend in the middle. It was like a visual take on a record's wow. A problem at the time, the printer gave me a credit for the mistakes. A friend suggested that I print a black band as long as the credit would afford... Up close, the print would look like a waste of money and ink; at a distance, however, the 'wow' would just be more pronounced.

British graphic designer and artist Daniel Eatock* uses the same incidental wow with his book shelf pictured above. Using MDF and the weight of too many books and insufficient support, the shelf gives in the middle. The books hint at a problem, but in leveling themselves, they boast purpose. The wow, underlying and supportive, is hushed.

*The same who created indexhibit, which can be seen here and downloaded here.

Samson

Chris Burden
1985

Green Trace

Innovo
2010

Seedlings in the tray of this pseudo-stand are grown by the used umbrellas that drip dry atop it.

Innovo, the Chinese design collective, describes Green Trace as such:

Random movements of people could influence easily life circumstances.The Chinese ancient philosophy believes that respecting the principle of nature is how humans are able to survive in this world. If the human habits follow the law of nature, they can be embodied in the products through kinds of phenomenon. When a design conforms to the natural habit of human, the product will have more vitality.

Translation: Best Umbrella Stand Ever.

Carnation

Holly Coulis
2011

When I saw this,


I immediately thought this:

When I met my friend, Lauren, for brunch last year, I brought her a peony from outside my building. The best way to tote it around was in this bottle of water. Set beside the restaurant's table piece, our resourcefulness at once signified poor etiquette but a hell of a lot of charm.

Depleting 89 marker pens that I received on the occasion of entering the computer age

Toril Johannessen
2008

Depleting is nice. Everything that could be done was done, and look what came of it.

Prelude

Michal Kohút
2009

If sounds of nature must be disturbed by anything, let it be this. Czech artist Michal Kohút set a xylophone underneath roofs, gutters, and trees, letting the melting snow strike the bars however they fell.

Armada

Jessie Henson
2009

Found paintings of schooners on the open sea meet at each one's horizon. Individually, they boast the vastness of the sea, the fresh air, calm, and occasional bout of danger. Edging the perimeter of this angular space, they suggest a time line of fallen ships, regaling cavalier notions of survival and a flat planet.

Janelle Monáe Rocks To Lauryn Hill & Kanye West

2011

Magical Monáe filled a Toronto club with soul.

I wish I was there.

Flower Tree

Matt Wedel
2010

Messy, meticulous, and gorgeous all in one. This makes me miss working with clay.

Wedel is offering this piece through the GlobalGiving eBay project/store "Handmade for Japan". 100% of the final selling price will be donated to help raise relief funds for Japan.

Famous Are Dreaming

Luis Dourado
2010

Words cannot describe.

See the series here.

iksi.tv

Iksi
Ongoing

A manipulable image reveals a snippet of time from Antwerp- and Amsterdam-based designer Iksi's immediate or passing scenery. The solitary feel projects a sense of knowing neither language nor anyone. For a moment, you are visitor of his locale, site, and life.

Broken Things

Livia Marin
2009

Broken à la Things, I melt like Amélie.



Photos from Booooooom.

The Shining Recut

neochosen
2006

Today is the Ides of March. The Ides of March marks the date of Julius Caesar's imminent death that was dramatized in Shakespeare's play. Backstabber (curated by Dave Dyment for Art Metropole, 2001) was an exhibition for the Ides of March. There's a bit of romanticization in both Shakespeare's and Dyment's work, so to honor all of that, here is the pinnacle of recut trailers (and with a bit of Ides in it too). You know the scene where Jack hurls the baseball down a long corridor? The first time I saw neochosen's trailer, I felt like that baseball -- happy-go-lucky-ly. That is how much I wish I came up with this first.

Help Japan

W+K
2011

W+K studio designed this print to raise relief funds for the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, and now threat of nuclear meltdown. Buy a poster for $25 or more, 100% goes to the Red Cross.

To donate and receive a print, visit W+K Studio here.

To make a $10 donation directly to the Red Cross, text REDCROSS to 90999 or click here.

Found by James

James
ongoing

Not only does he share with us rare finds from around the world, but he also makes them attainable.

Alto Cumulus

Max Streicher
2006

Oxygen chemoreceptors in our bodies is what cues the respiratory cycle for most people.  This hypoxic drive to breathe is what I feel when seeing this work by Canadian artist Max Streicher.  Symptoms of hypoxia, the lack of arterial oxygen that fuels tissues and entire body, can be felt by headache, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, and slight euphoria.  Shortness of breath and euphoria?  Check and check.  With severe hypoxia, the skin may take on a blueish color, which is only funny here because the reflection of the swimming pool gives off the cyanotic appearance.   The hypoxic urge to inhale all the air in the room and the stench of chlorine in an enclosed space is nauseating; therein lies the humor.  None of this matters to Streicher, whose drive is to make swimming more playful within the architecture of the room.  Check.