In The Name Of Art >>

Making A Splash In The Art World

“They could be the latest Nasa photographs from the cloud systems of Jupiter, a new species of jellyfish, or microscopic views inside the human body. But in fact these amazing images are a whole new art form. The work of self-styled ‘aqua artist’ Mark Mawson, they are created simply by dropping paint into water. Splashing paint around has been a standard artistic approach ever since Jackson Pollock made his name with it in the 1950s. But by dropping the paint into water instead of onto a canvas, Mawson has arrived at a startlingly new look. The 41-year-old, from London, has been taking pictures for 22 years but only recently came up with the eye-catching way of creating stunning and beautiful abstract forms at random.” w/ photos

Paper Craft Castle

“I had the immense opportunity to see this wonderful paper craft art installation by a genius of the name of Wataru Itou, a young student of a major art university here in Tokyo. The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper! Clearly, this man must have created one of the most stunning examples of Paper Craft in the world?” w/ photos

The Nose Painter

“A man in Hyderabad, India, has ‘mastered’ the unusual technique of nose painting.”

Cardboard Clouds

“Being that the exhibition is set to present brand new design objects, we decided to base the architectural concept on the thrill of unpacking. The installation consists of over 3,000 hanging cardboard boxes resembling a large pixilated cloud, hovering over the exhibited material. The construction creates a large variety of spaces, from cave like to lifted and open areas, inside the 350m2 exhibition hall. The objects and design concepts are exhibited both inside and outside the boxes. In an environmental perspective the ambition was to create an exhibition with focus on reuse and low material cost. The cardboard boxes will be recycled at the end of the exhibition, which only leaves wires as leftovers.” w/ photos

Nude Mona Lisa

“Leonardo da Vinci, in a Renaissance version of Mad Magazine, may have painted his famous Mona Lisa in a number of ways, including nude. Now, a painting has surfaced that looks much like the original, sparking debate over just how far the master took his iconic painting. The newly revealed painting, hidden for almost a century within the wood wall of a private library, shows a portrait of a half-naked woman with clear links to the famous (and clothed) Mona Lisa.” w/ photos

Mini Obamas

“A British sculptor has brought U.S. President Barack Obama down to size. Talented Willard Wigan has carved Mr Obama and his family into the eye of a 24-carat gold needle. Speaking in Los Angeles, as he was about to launch his first American exhibition, Willard revealed: ‘My favourite piece has to be President Barack Obama and his family. ‘I never thought I would see a black President in my life time, so this is historic and I wanted to celebrate that.’ The micro-sculptor’s work is so small, you need a microscope to see it – it is invisible to the naked eye. But Willard creates it all by hand in an astonishing process. It takes him up to three months to create each amazing and unique sculpture, which usually sits within the eye of a needle or on a pin head.” w/ photos

40,000 Terracotta Army

“It had been a long and hard week’s work to get 40,000 terracotta figurines individually placed in a carefully plotted pattern. So as the last pieces were placed in the ‘Field for the British Isles’, by Turner Prize-winning artist Antony Gormley, everyone held their breath to ensure no slapstick calamities befell the artwork. Luckily the task was handled with care, and the nightmare of a disastrous round of dominoes thankfully never came to pass. The famous collection is made up of thousands of individual terracotta figures each between 8cm and 26cm high. It has now moved to its new home, the Torre Abbey’s Spanish Barn in Torquay, Devon, for an exhibition over the summer. The work of art was put together using laser markers by a dedicated team of volunteers under the watchful eye of a team from the Arts Council and a careful list of instructions from Gormley.” w/ photos

Watchmen Graffiti Time-Lapse

“Too bad the graffiti is better than the movie.” — Rizing Sun

Awful Boob Art

“I have 4 rare vintage topless sculptured wall hangings for your bar that I have put Post-It notes on the naughty bits. I found these while cleaning out the attic at my father-in-laws… yikes! They are funny and inappropriate for anywhere in [your] house.” w/ photos

Opera House’s Spectacular Light Display

“Bathed in an ever-changing display of brilliant light, this is Sydney Opera House as you’ve never been seen it before. The iconic building – famed throughout the world for its graceful white ’sails’ – has been transformed into a canvas for a kaleidoscopic array of images. Called 77 Million Paintings, the installation is the work of artist and music producer Brian Eno and features 300 of his drawings. He told the BBC he wanted people to ’surrender to another kind of world,’ as they watched the transformations.” w/ photos