I’ve gone too long without posting links to some of the trés cool art I’ve been seeing across the web. Let’s get started!
◊ SLOW DANCING.
David Michalek is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose project Slow Dancing (2007) is pretty phenomenal. Here is one of the video portraits from that project, focusing on the dancer Herman Cornejo (my favorite part starts at 6:45). After the clip is a description of the project.
The official description from the project website:
Slow Dancing is a series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world, displayed on multiple screens. Each subject’s movement (approximately 5 seconds long) was shot on a specially constructed set using a high-speed, high-definition camera recording at 1,000 frames per second (standard film captures 30 frames per second). The result is approximately 10 minutes of extreme slow motion. The trio of portraits will be randomly selected for each cycle, allowing viewers to simultaneously compare dancers from different styles and cultures.
What at first appears to be a series of still photographs unfolds gesture by barely perceptible gesture—a motion portrait in which each dancer’s unique artistic expression and technique are revealed. Viewers can choose to focus on one dancer’s complete performance or observe the interplay among the screens. The extreme slow motion enables the viewer to share privileged information about the complexity of the simplest gestures, catching details that would normally escape the naked eye.
Also, if you’re intrigued, check out this short documentary about his Figure Studies project. Most interesting!
◊ BODY PAINTING.
Johannes Stötter‘s fine art body painting is mind-blowing. Each project can take up to five months to plan, and the execution takes at least eight hours, but the results are amazing. You can see tons more of his work at his website, or mini galleries in this Daily Mail article or in this Bored Panda post. Below are a few of my favorites (each picture will take you to somewhere on Stötter’s website). Via.
Johannes Stötter
Johannes Stötter
James Stötter | Photo by Meinhard Niederstätter
The Frog, above, is extra special because that frog is made up of five models. Five! Check the video:
The World Bodypainting Festival last month saw some amazing examples of bodypainting. Below is my favorite, but check out the website (link above) and the Facebook page for more greatness. Via.
Getty Images | Photo By Didier Messens/Getty Images
◊ PHOTOGRAPHY.
I think this piece by Ellie Lane is amazing—mesmerizing, even! Sometimes I think it’s moving… (you can see another photo in this series here).
“She Borrows Light” by Ellie Lane, July 2013
If the photo below (or the photos at any of the links) gives you nightmares, blame my friend Andy, who sent me this link. Joshua Hoffine photographs the stuff of nightmares, and I couldn’t be happier (at the link for his website, an interview with Hoffine will start playing almost immediately—good insight into his work and processes). Click the image below to see it larger. If you dare.
Basement by Joshua Hoffine
This photo by Joel Schekman has made an appearance on many a blog & tumblr I read, and I too can’t resist posting it here. Love love love it.
The Albany Bulb, CA | Joel Schekman
Two great galleries at Flavorwire:
Photographic proof that your awkward phase won’t last forever: photos by Merilee Allred “of fairly normal-looking adults holding pictures of themselves as teenagers right in the middle of their awkward phases.”
Transportraits by Lorenzo Triburgo: “Renaissance-style portraits of trans men set against Bob Ross landscape oil paintings. The artist actually painted the backgrounds himself, using Ross’ The Joy of Painting as his guide. Triburgo wanted to portray the idea that nature, like gender, can also be a construct.”
These three photos by Andy Lee just take my breath away. Here’s one:
Andy Lee
◊ SCULPTOR VS. PAINTER.
Check out Grant Snider’s new comic at Medium. Teaser below:
Grant Snider
◊ SCULPTURE.
Remember when I shared Ellen Jewett‘s work on the blog? And I mentioned that I discovered her through Erin Morgenstern‘s blog? Well, Morgenstern commissioned a piece from Jewett, and I thought it was so lovely I wanted to share it (I know at least one of you really liked Jewett’s work). A couple more pictures here.
Sculpture by Ellen Jewett | Photo by Erin Morgenstern
Sue Beatrice does some wonderful steampunky work with clockworks. Check out two examples of her work below, and click through to her site to see even more. Via.
◊ PAINTING & ILLUSTRATION.
Swooning over this piece by Pam Hawkes (via):
Just a Song at Twilight by Pam Hawkes
Check out these posters from the London Transport Museum‘s exhibition, Poster Art 150: London Underground’s Greatest Designs. My favorite:
I only recently discovered artist Nadezhda Illarionova (via Once Upon a Blog…), and I’m completely enamored of her work for a collection of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales. You can see many, many lovely examples of Illarionova’s HCA work in this gallery, but here are my two absolute favorites (though it was very hard choosing!).
from The Wild Swans | Nadezhda Illarionova
from The Little Mermaid | Nadezhda Illarionova
