Going West - An animation by Andersen M Studio

Have a look at the Andersen M studio website here.

Menashe Kadishman - Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves)

I saw this piece by Menashe Kadishman when I visited the Jewish museum in Berlin two years ago, and it really had an impact on me. it's an installation, entitled Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves). It is located in one of the Voids of the building, normally empty concrete spaces intending to 'serve as an architectural expression of the irretrievable loss of the Jews murdered in Europe'.

Menashe Kadishman, Installation Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves), 1997-2001

Kadishman's installation consists of over 10,000 open-mouthed faces coarsely cut from heavy, circular iron plates covering the floor.What you can't experience from looking at the images is the heavy, echoing clanging that fills the space as you walk across the installation, or the distinct feeling of unease that you feel as you tread across the thousands of faces. It's a powerful experience. Kadishman's sculptures 'evoke painful recollections of the innocent victims of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.'

See more at http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/01-Exhibitions/04-installations.php.

Todd Schoenbaum, Fine Art Photographer

I came across Todd Schoenbaum while I was researching photographers for my Alphabet Project. He works with traditional film photography, and creates beautiful black and white prints, that are hand-processed from start to finish.

Crinkled Pot

Bodie boiler




Woodwork, plate 2



 Schoenbaum explores texture and surface in his work, photographing brickwork, woodwork, old tools and machinery among other things. His images are high in contrast, with an emphasis on strong light and shadow to hightlight the texture of his subject matter. You can find more of his work here.

While I was taking photographs for my alphabet project, I tried to emulate his style by choosing surfaces with texture to photograph, and zooming in with the camera. I edited the photographs later in photoshop, boosting the contrast and converting the picture to black and white.

Below is my photograph of the letter P in the style of Todd Schoenbaum. You can find the rest of my Alphabet project here.



The Letter P



The Sistine Chapel - Virtual Tour

I came across this the other day - it's a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel and it's pretty impressive.


Have a look at the Vatican Website for more virtual tours of Saint Peter's and other Basilicas.

Andy Goldsworthy

A Model City - drdharchitects

I found this ceramic installation while I was researching for my summer project this year. London studio drdharchitects exhibited a miniature city made of clay, as part of the 2009 Shenzhen & HongKong bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture.

Five hundred children from local schools in Shenzen took part in workshops across the city. Each child was given a clay block with the proportions of a brick and asked to decorate it with windows and doors. Each model house was inscribed with a code on the base and coated in an ivory white glaze, before it was positioned on a white felt grid, laid out by the children.

Here is what drdharchitects say about the project:

“We wanted to engage local school children in imagining their own city. The process started by asking them to think about their home, through building a collection of miniature clay houses. We asked them a series of questions such as where an entrance or window might be; how these played a part in defining the overall appearance of their buildings and how it might speak to its neighbours. It concluded by asking them to consider the individual house as part of the collective city, how it might be laid out, its patterns and the relationships between things.”

Find out more, at drdharchitects.

Ai Weiwei at the Tate Modern

Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, China, where he lives and works. He is the lastest artist to exhibit his work in the vast Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London. 

"The sculptural installation is made up of what appear to be millions of sunflower seed husks, apparently identical but actually unique. Although they look realistic, each seed is made out of porcelain. And far from being industrially produced, 'readymade' or found objects, they have been intricately hand-crafted by hundreds of skilled artisans."

"Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall's vast industrial space, the seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape. The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content make this work a powerful commentary on the human condition."

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds is curated by Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern, supported by Kasia Redzisz, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern.

Images and text taken from:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/room1.shtm

Incredible paper art by Peter Callesen

Peter Callesen is a Danish artist born in 1967 – Everytime I look at his work, I am more amazed- Check out his incredible paper art:

White Window, 2010

On the Other Side, 2006

On the Other Side (Detail), 2006

Little Erected Ruin, 2007

 Erected Ruin, 2007

Erected Ruin (detail), 2007

The Core of Everything, 2006

The Core of Everything (detail), 2006

“Lately I have worked almost exclusively with white paper in different objects, paper cuts, installations and performances. A large part of my work is made from A4 sheets of paper. It is probably the most common and consumed media used for carrying information today. This is why we rarely notice the actual materiality of the A4 paper. By taking away all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white A4 paper sheet for my creations, I feel I have found a material that we are all able to relate to, and at the same time the A4 paper sheet is neutral and open to fill with different meaning. The thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works.”                                                                                          

   Peter Callesen

Images and text taken from  http://www.petercallesen.com/, with Thanks.

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