Maps made of clothes!

Courtesy of Corriette Schoenaerts...although these seem to be complete anomalies when compared with her other work. Still cool. 

Leave it to the dutch...

Tord Boontje studio- so full of light, flowers and whimsical stuff. Peruse his projects- both practical and beautiful...I'm particularly fond of the glass ware, made of recycled wine bottles and beer bottles.

Speaking of plastic...

Adrian Arias has some pretty great insights into the evolving role of plastics in our lives...

"Beautiful Trash," incorporates photos he has taken of plastic found on beaches around the world as well as impromptu artworks made from everyday plastic objects. "The aim of the project is to provoke a collective consciousness regarding the unmeasured use of plastic and its deleterious environmental impact," he said.


"When I discovered the existence of the garbage patch in the Pacific, I thought to myself, 'Nature is something incredible.' It takes all of these terrible things, all of our crap, and pulls it into one place," Arias said. "Our excessive consumerism is creating a new environment. It's like plastic soup."

As Arias toured the gallery, he said, "I'm looking for plastic in the right place. I'm looking for the beauty of it, to show the contradictions. I'm a poet. I explore the world of what happens when reality has changed to a dream and dreams to reality and we see the absurdity of human beings."

We know there's beauty in it, too...we've all seen American Beauty.  Read more about his project here. 

If you haven't already heard of him...

Joshua Allen Harris is the name of the artist who used the exhaust pouring from the subway vents around New York City to erect his temporary plastic sculptures. Polar Bears, Giraffes, and even a Loch Ness Monster...Harris started with just one tiny bear- as an experiment, and gained rapid popularity among pedestrians- who photographed, you tubed and tweeted the images of his work.

On another note, plastic bags! What a ubiquitous sign of our times. An ever present eye sore strewn along the streets of big cities and populated areas, a symbol of man kind's stamp on the enviornment, and now a viable artist's medium. People are doing amazing things with plastic bags these days, resurrecting and recycling the old staple and bringing awareness to the world that, well, we don't really need any  more of them! 

Bags, rugs....mostly bags, and art can all be made from recycled plastic materials. Anything that can be crocheted can be done so with stripped plastic bag 'yarn'. The above purse is from ecoist...which is definitely worth a browse. 

Angelique Kuyper

Ok, so I'm a bit biased...I know the artist in question as a former co-worker, colleague and friend. Her life itself is an art- but with my limited means on blogger, I can only do her justice by introducing her photography. Take a look...

I picked a variety to show here, but the Korea and Thailand series are the most compelling to me. The artist lives in Korea now, and shoots photos in her (very sparse) free time.

The case for staying put...

I will never leave. I have been offered money to go other places to shoot. I will not go. I don’t want to mess up my mind, my vision. I can go anywhere to shoot, but I wouldn’t feel for it.


This quote by A Yin struck me, since I have always been of the mind that seeing the world and experiencing new things is a great source of inspiration and perspective- and that artists and other professionals alike could only benefit from broadening their perspective. But what if the calling is already clear? What if the inspiration, the vision, the goal comes first...and the artist comes second. The perspective necessary to create meaningful work is already there. In this case, to leave the source of his artistic influence would "mess up" his mind, and the vision would be lost. 


A Yin makes a strong case for drawing meaning and feeling into work from one's own backyard. 

Mark Bullwinkle prints

Mark Bullwinkle's kooky prints span a vast number of subjects. Browse through his different pages of prints and other medium, and you'll see the same stylized faces, quirky scenarios and skilled carving techniques. I especially like the freaky sun....

This kind of work makes me wonder how a print maker gets by in the art world. Despite the intricacy and skill required in creating this work, I find more print makers selling greeting cards and post cards than full-sized prints. Why should a print be considered a lesser medium than acrylic or oil? Why should it be priced lower than a painting?