Sunday, December 18, 2011
Max Sauco, Artist, Russia, b. 1969
Was born in Irkutsk in 1969, after leaving school he entered
the Irkutsk College of the Arts. From 1987 to 1989 he served
in the Soviet army. In 1992 he degree in the professional graphic
designer. Until 1998, he worked in painting, sculpture and
photography. At the same time he studied plastic anatomy,
psychology, esoteric, holds a professional astrologer, which
influenced his future work. In 1998 he was admitted to the Union
of Designers of Russia.
Artist's website link here.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Joseph Cornell, Artist
"By collecting and carefully juxtaposing found objects in small, glass-front boxes, Cornell created visual poems in which surface, form, texture, and light play together. Using things we can see, Cornell made boxes about things we cannot see: ideas, memories, fantasies, and dreams.
He was a kind of magician, turning everyday objects into mysterious treasures. In Homage to the Romantic Ballet, plastic ice cubes become jewels when set in a velvet-lined box, souvenirs of a famous ballerina's midnight performance on the frozen Russian steppe. A small glass jar filled with colored sand is transformed into powdered gold from a Mayan temple, carefully preserved in Cornell's Museum. A symbolist, Cornell used the found materials that inhabit
his boxes—paper birds, clay pipes, clock springs, balls, and rings—to hint at abstract ideas. A metal spring from a discarded wind-up clock may evoke the passage of time; a ball might represent a planet or the luck associated with playing a game. Although his constructions are enveloped in nostalgia—the longing for something that happened long ago and far away—their appearance is thoroughly modern." From a Joseph Cornell website. Link here.
A wonderful collection of Cornells's work from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Link here to view images.
Joseph Cornell was not a sculptor, a draftsman, or a painter. This internationally renowned modern artist never had professional training. He was first and foremost a collector. He loved to scour old book shops and secondhand stores of new York looking for souvenirs, theatrical memorabilia, old prints and photographs, music scores, and French literature.
Joseph Cornell was born on Christmas Eve 1903. He was the oldest of four children born to Helen and Joseph Cornell. He had two sisters, Betty and Helen, and a brother, Robert.
Cornell grew up in a grand house in Nyack, New York, a picturesque Victorian town on the Hudson River. Cornell's parents shared their love of music, ballet, and literature with their children. Evenings were spent around the piano, or listening to music on the family Victrola. Trips to New York meant vaudeville shows in Times Square or magic acts at the Hippodrome. His father often returned from his job in Manhattan with new sheet music, silver charms, or a pocket full of candy. But Cornell's childhood was not without sadness. His brother, born with cerebral palsy, was confined to a wheelchair. Joseph, who was extremely attached to Robert, became his principal caretaker. -text source from website josephcornellbox.com
Umbrella Lights The Way
"LightDrops looks like an ordinary umbrella but don’t let that fool ya. There’s more than meets the eye here. As water pours over the surface, potential energy from raindrops slamming onto the conductive membrane called PDVF transforms into electrical energy powering embedded LEDs sending your umbrella ablaze with light. The heavier the rain, the brighter the light to help you see your way." Found here on Yanko Design.
Michele De Lucchi, Designer
"The small wooden houses are studies, born from the desire to experiment and research independent from the clients’ needs. Most of the sculptural works are made of solid wooden blocks, which Mr. De Lucchi models with a chainsaw. The architect said he realised the wish to work manually with wood while sharpening pencils with a penknife. I moved from the lightness and quietness of the pencil to the roughness and din of the chainsaw, but without sacrificing my effort to treat the wood tenderly, as if it were paper, with effects that may be random but never mechanical“, says De Lucchi in a text about the models. These are not necessarily houses to be built; they were not made to add houses to houses. I am still wondering why I do these wood houses and why they look so nice so small and twisted, whereas they would be so ugly built on a real scale, all straight and perfect, with their gutters and sealed windows, their shutters and balconies and switches to turn on the lights.“, he continues." I found the article and images here on dezeen.
Michael Dennis, Nadar Tehrani, Yap Zhang
d"Michael Dennis and Nader Tehrani co-taught a design studio at MIT that looked at urban infill sites in Palermo. Yap Zhang presented a beautiful wood model of an infill project comprised of “P” and “9”-shaped housing blocks with continuously sloping roofs. Each of the buildings was rendered in a different species of wood, distinct from the bass wood of the base model."
I found here on Utile's Blog.
Yellow Tree House Cafe
The assignment for this class asks you to make a relief sculpture inspired by architecture.
This is not an example of relief.
However, you could adopt the convex, linear structure to the assignment.
Located in New Zealand.
Designed by Pacific Environments Architects.
Annette Messager, Artist, France
"One of the most important contemporary artists working in Europe, Annette Messager fragments images and language to explore the concept of fiction, the dialogue between individual and collective identity, and the social issues of normalcy, morality, and the role of women. In her work she forcefully illustrates the idea that all things -- a child's beloved toy, a photograph, a piece of embroidery, a word with seemingly unambiguous meaning -- can be transformed into objects of potent expression."
Stephanie Metz, Artist
"Stephanie Metz's innovative work in felted wool has garnered international attention. Her sculpture, focused on the relationship between humans and the natural world, fuses sharp wit, thoughtful observation and careful craftsmanship in an unusual material to blur the line between art and science, natural and unnatural, organic and man-made." From Metz's website. Link here to see and read more.