Oh, Zoe… Give us your best spin, will ya?

 
Edmark shares a bit about the project:

‘The rotation speed is synchronized to the strobe so that one flash occurs every time the sculpture turns 137.5º—the golden angle. The placement of the appendages is determined by the same method nature uses in pinecones and sunflowers and if you count the number of spirals on any of these sculptures you will find that they are always Fibonacci numbers.’

If you’ve got a penchant for the future of design, browse our #FYI category - where you’ll find our hand-picked collection of crazy, fascinating, funny and bizarre findings that range from technology, design, art and music!

–

The inspiration behind the artist’s fiercely beautiful sculptures is said to come from his own unique experience and, buried at the center of each faerie’s core is a stone ‘heart’, sometimes engraved with its own special message. Now and then, we all need a bit of a reminder to believe in that childhood way of thinking where the ‘everyday ordinary’ could be easily turned into something so wonderfully magical.

Sometimes only images can express what words just can’t. Just take a look below…

Like this post? then CLICK HERE to take a look at our post of colourful paint being tossed at a speed of 3500th of a second! Eye-popping and seemingly sculpture-like, it’s definitely worth checking out!

image: coarselife.com

image: coarselife.com

The German artists behind coarse, Mark Landwehr and Sven Waschk, have become recognized by art collectors worldwide for their solo exhibitions in Chicago, Berlin, Munich, Bangkok and Taipei, showcasing original sculptures, paintings and photographs. Selected works, crafted in limited quantities from vinyl and fibreglass, are frequently released and are made available via gallery stores, selected retailers and the coarse online store.

image: coarselife.com

image: coarselife.com

image: coarselife.com

Images courtesy of: coarselife.com

Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, the Singing Ringing Tree is a three metre tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel which embrace the energy of the wind to produce a slightly penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.  If we go to a concert, the experience of the music depends on where we’re located in the back or in the front. Even if you go to a church, the acoustics of religious spaces have a symbolic meaning. Every environment has another aural architecture. The ‘Singing Ringing Tree’ is a good example of Aural Architecture.

The Panopticons are a unique series of 21st century landmarks, designed to attract visitors into the countryside to enjoy the stunning landscapes. Each Panopticon is situated on a high point site commanding spectacular views, and are all within easy reach of the M65 motorway. In 2007, the sculpture won along with 13 other candidates the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA, for architectural excellence.

Other Panopticons include Colourfields by Jo Rippon Architecture and artist Sophie Smallhorn in Blackburn’s Corporation Park; Atom by Peter Meacock, Katarina Novomestska and Architecture Central Workshop in Wycoller Country Park, Pendle; and Halo by John Kennedy and Landlab on Top o’ Slate above Haslingden in Rossendale.

Watch this documentary about ‘Singing Ringing Tree’

A South African-born, Massachusetts-based artist, Jennifer Maestre is known for her unique pencil sculptures. She derives most of her inspiration from the form and texture of the sea urchin.

Skillfully crafted from hundreds and hundreds of colored pencils, they’re cut into one inch pieces, sharpened and then drilled through to become beads, and then sewn together using a peyote stitch. In each of these incredible works you can feel the approach-avoid paradox from her medium –a clear and surprising achievement (and one of her goals). Meet some of her best artworks below.

Article Courtesy of Oddee.com

Originally published on onesmallseed.net on June 4 2009 by Jessica Manim

Jamie McCartney, a sculptor and ‘Plastercaster’ from Brighton, UK, has spent years making and arranging 400 plaster casts of vaginas to create ‘The Great Wall of Vagina’. One would imagine he must be pretty charming to have convinced such a number of women to strip off for him…

Where did the idea for this come from?

I was commissioned in Summer 2006 by an erstwhile sex museum to produce a sculpture that was to be an exposé of the different shapes and sizes of breasts and male and female genitals. As an artist this really interested me. I came to realise that most women don’t know what other women’s genitals really look like.

After five years working on the project, have you just about had enough of vaginas?

Well I don’t think I would do another project about genitals. I’ve certainly done enough vagina casting to last a lifetime and artistically I’m already onto other things. However, I’m a straight man and I love women. I don’t think I could have done a project like this if I didn’t. Let’s just say that professionally I’m done with them but recreationally I’m still enthusiastic.

You’ve said that the work avoids being pornographic because of how it is presented – tell us how you decided on the materials and arrangement?

These rows upon rows of casts displayed in this way have nothing to do with eroticism. This was never about that. It is in fact not sexy at all. The brick-like grid of the uniformly white plaster casts becomes just texture from a distance. As you approach you realise what you are looking at. The geometry of 4 rows of 10 casts in each panel is repeated in the 10 panels, creating 4 lines of 100 casts. The solid aluminium frames in contrast to the undulating curves of the casts give it an almost architectural strength. That imposition of geometry on these simulacra of flesh and their sheer number and juxtaposition abstracts it away from any notion of pornography.

No doubt had I chosen to create this piece photographically then, by the use of that common language, it could never have escaped from pornographic connotations. Had I painted them to look realistic, they would have just looked like medical models. It would also have brought the whole issue of race into the piece, which I felt was very important to avoid. The language of sculpture allows the piece to transcend all of that.

You did a before and after cast of a woman who had labiaplasty – what was her motivation to do it? I ask because it seems odd that someone who hates how they look enough to go under a knife would immortalize themselves in plaster, especially as you were unable to find a victim of FGM who would participate.

If a woman chooses to have cosmetic surgery after seeing all these casts then at least she is making an informed decision. This lady saw my casts and still wanted to get the surgery and she is happy with the results.

One of your videos begins with the words, ‘One Man, 200 Women.’ How has being a man affected your work with all these vaginas?

Yes that video was made two years ago when it was a work in progress. I think of it as working with 400 women rather than 400 vaginas. Some people have suggested it is less powerful coming from a man but I disagree. This is about changing both male and female attitudes and I don’t think my sex is relevant, although other men may take it better coming from another man.

Jamie is producing a book about the wall, with stories from participants, and is hoping to take it on tour. Check it out at www.gwov.co.uk

Source: Rosalind Duffy, dontpaniconline

Sarah Jayne Fell talks to AJ Fosik about God, acid trips and impending doom, as well as his latest body of work, which fits somewhere roughly in between.

The Third Way Out (2009) wood, paint and nails 213.4 x 91.4 x 91.4 cm

Images courtesy of Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York

Who is AJ Fosik? (And what does AJ stand for?)

AJ Fosik is a benevolent and loving creator who will smash and burn everything you love if you don’t exalt and praise his name, which the faithful can tell you is Antonius Jamiroquai.

Tell me about when and where you grew up…

I grew up gnawing on the rusty bones of Detroit, Michigan. We washed down dinner with a glass of tears from each of the Big Three and at night we would use the axles of Plymouths and Pontiacs to bar our doors against the wolves and prostitutes.

Always to Dust (2007) mixed media 127 x 132 x 35.6 cm

I’ll probably never get to meet you so what kind of person would you say you are?

Don’t be so negative, we could have a chance encounter in an airport bathroom in some far-flung port of call. I’m a raptor.

Does it surprise you that there would be an interest in your work all the way in ‘deep dark Africa’?

I’m surprised, yes. Given that I’m American, and a product of the American education system, I was quite surprised to learn of the existence of a ‘South’ Africa. The globes we buy from Walmart only feature the US of A on them so I’m not sure exactly where you are but I’m guessing it’s close to Florida.

In the Teeth of Stupifying Odds (2010) wood, paint and nails 121.9 x 121.9 x 38.1 cm

You studied illustration. Why the departure?

I still illustrate, I just don’t make clever little jokes for art directors. I make clever little jokes for people to hang above their sofas.

Read the full article in issue 22 of one small seed: South Africa’s pop culture quarterly. Order your copy here.