Kaija Straumanis - stuff being thrown at my head

"Stuff being thrown at my head," by Kaija Straumanis, is a great series of photographs that totally made me laugh. See more of Kaija's work on Flickr.


(Via The Design Ark)

Fong Qi Wei - time in motion

If you enjoyed Singapore-based photographer Fong Qi Wei's Time is a Dimension, then you're going to love Time in Motion.

Rather than simply capturing a period of time in a static image, Wei has created these gorgeous, shimmering animations. See more on his website.


(Via Colossal)

Michael Mapes - specimens from the "dutch master collection"

Dutch female specimen: J, 2013; 28"w x 34" h x 3.5" d; photographic prints, insect pins, pinning foam, gelatin capsules, glass vials, test tubes, paint samples, cast resin, magnifying boxes, plastic specimen bags, cotton thread.

When I see something by an artist that makes me wonder just what, exactly, I'm looking at, I know that I'm going to end up wanting more. And as you can probably imagine from Michael Mapes' specimens from the "Dutch Master collection" series, that was exactly my reaction to these works. At once fascinating, beautiful and not a little creepy, Mapes' collages of famous 17th century Dutch portraits are as wonderful to behold in the micro - with their thousands of dissected photos and materials that range from bits of hair to costume jewelry - as they are in the macro, where they're recognizable as portraiture.

Dutch female specimen: J (detail)

case no. 1627; female-Dutch; 2013; 29"w x 13" h x 3" d; photographic prints, insect pins, pinning foam, gelatin capsules, glass vials.

Dutch specimen MT2; 2013; 28"w x 34" h x 3.5" d; photographic prints, insect pins, pinning foam, gelatin capsules, glass vials, painted canvas, cast resin, pill organizer, plastic specimen bags, antique optometrist lens, cartography pins, cotton thread, magnification boxes, fake pearls.

Dutch specimen MT1639 (detail)

As the subjects of the paintings are divorced from their original context, which is to say the figure is dissected from the painting, the hierarchy of perception shifts from the subject as painting to that as person. Working with highly recognizeably source material maintains a strong connection to the orginal painting, which allows me to further abstract the reconstruction without losing an essential connection to the fact it is a painting as much as a person.

See more on Mapes' website.


(Via designboom)

2013 year in review

Well, 2013 sure was a busy year. Our life got a whole lot more interesting with the addition of Theo to the family, and it's been quite the whirlwind ever since. I did manage to document at least some of it on Instagram though, so I thought I'd do a year in review post again this year with some of my favorites.

January

February

Nothing from March, but this was April!

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

And 2 for December. Wishing you all the best in 2014!

George Clooney customized by Yayoi Kusama

How could these images not make you smile? From a photography shoot by Emma Summerton for W Magazine comes Mr. Clooney in an Armani suit and set customized by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Yes, it seems like Kusama is everywhere these days, but there's certainly nothing wrong with that when such great images are the result. Read the interview right here.


(Via The Fox Is Black)

2014 calendars: part 6

This week is all about a multitude of flowers of the Scandinavian, perennial and watercolor varieties.

To start, we have this lovely year-at-a-glance Scandinavian floral calendar, from Brittany Jepsen of  The House That Lars Built. Starting with a traditional painted Scandinavian folk pattern, Brittany took the original design and replaced all of the florals with photographs for a calendar that's as pretty as a picture.

Then there's this gorgeous collaborative perennial calendar, from Brown Parcel Press and one of my favorite florists, Saipua. Rather than simply creating a traditional 12-month or year-at-a-glance calendar, these two teamed up to produce a collection of 6 letterpress prints containing carefully detailed illustrations and naturally inspired colors from Saipua's seasonal arrangements.

And finally, we have an annual favorite with Bookhou's 2014 calendar. This is one that hangs above my desk at work all year, and never fails to make me smile. This year's version, with lovely floral and nature-inspired watercolors is definitely my new favorite.

Javier Pérez

Ecuadorian designer Javier Pérez has been creating this very fun series of object-based illustrations. I love how fun and clever some of these are. See more and follow along on Instagram.

(Via Colossal)

Friends, I'm signing off for the week for Thanksgiving. See you all on Monday!

murakami's monster magic

Everything about this photo shoot was just so outrageous that I had to share it. A very unusual accompaniment to a Harper's Bazaar interview with Takashi Murakami, about his new movie Jellyfish Eyes, it features photographs by Jason Schmidt of model Angela Lindvall enjoying a lovely day in Los Angeles with some of the characters from the film. It's bizarre, to be sure, but it definitely made me smile.


(Artwork©Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Photographs by Jason Schmidt. Fashion Editor: Jessica de Ruiter. Via The Fox Is Black)