fall

Origami paper flower

Have you ever seen a flower bed made entirely of paper? Well, look no further! Folding for Peace is a white paper garden in Nagasaki, Japan realized by Swiss designer Anouk Vogel. The patch of faux flowers are aligned in a circular bed, angelically standing tall and vibrant against a naturally viridescent backdrop. The piece was commissioned by the Gardening World Cup and awarded the Silver Medal and Judges' Special Award at the Festival of Flowers and World Peace.

Inspired by the Japanese legend that guarantees good fortune in life and health, in the form of a wish, to anyone who practices the paper folding art of origami to create one thousand cranes, the outdoor installation represents a wish for world peace. While world peace may be a tad difficult to fully attain, the paper garden does provide a sense of peace between nature and allergy sufferers. This is one garden that people who are afflicted with seasonal allergies can enjoy. Just watch out for paper cuts.

www.mymodernmet.com

Je veux des bisous!

via artpassionzsazsabellagio.blogspot.com

Wrapping PAPER?

all pictures via pinterest

last picture by bouboubisou

Joana Vasconcelos in Versailles

A artista plástica portuguesa Joana Vasconcelos é a primeira mulher e quinta artista a expor no Palácio Versailles, França, desde que o espaço abriu as suas portas à arte contemporânea. Além de peças emblemáticas como o sapato "Marilyn" e o lustre "Noiva", a exposição inclui também obras inéditas. Inspirada pela força mitológica e estética de Versailles, Joana Vasconcelos questiona noções de luxo e beleza, apresentando novos trabalhos especialmente desenhados para o Palácio.

Desde 2008 que o Palácio de Versalhes convida artistas contemporâneos a exporem no seu espaço. Jeff Koons foi o primeiro, seguiram-se Takashi Murakami, Xavier Veilhan, Bernar Venet e agora Joana Vasconcelos, que encara este desafio como um dos mais fascinantes da sua carreira. “O meu trabalho foi desenvolvido em torno da ideia de que o mundo é uma ópera, e Versailles encarna o ideal operático e estético que me inspira. As obras que eu proponho existem para este lugar. Vejo-as ligadas a Versailles de uma forma intemporal. Quando passeio pelas salas do Palácio e pelos seus jardins, sinto a energia de uma configuração que gravita entre a realidade e a fantasia, o dia-a-dia e a magia, o festivo e o trágico. Ainda posso ouvir o eco dos passos de Marie-Antoinette, o ambiente festivo e a música das salas senhoriais. Como seria a vida de Versalhes se este universo exuberante e grandioso fosse transferido para a nossa época?”, questiona a artista.

Joana Vasconcelos interpreta a mitologia de Versalhes e transporta-a para o mundo contemporâneo. A exposição está patente ao público de19 de junho a 30 de setembro.

The Palace of Versailles's ambitious, and at times controversial, contemporary programme continues apace with an exhibition of works by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos scheduled for spring 2012. Vasconcelos is known for her elaborate, large-scale sculptures and installations that incorporate found objects, handmade crochet and knitted fabrics. Vasconcelos’s Contamination (2011), a patchwork sprawl of brightly coloured materials, is currently on show at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (“The World Belongs To You”, until 31 December).

theartnewspaper.com

Sculpture Sails on an Invisible Sea

via www.mymodernmet.com

New York-based artist Jacob Hashimoto is known to work with bamboo and paper, taking cues from his Japanese heritage. His sculptural installations repurpose the materials traditionally exhibited in Japanese screen paintings in a new and airy way. He also adds an interactive element to his works that elevate their appeal. 

Armada is Hashimoto's installation of 700 to 800 suspended wooden sailboats that bob along an invisible ocean. Like a marionette, each sailboat hangs as an attachment to a larger entity, reacting to tugs or movement of its extended limb. Held up by nylon string attached to a mobile mechanism, up top, there is a calming floating motion generated by the mechanical movement of the structure from above. Be sure to check out the video, in the main page,via www.mymodernmet.com
 that captures the relaxing sailing motion.

Sky Mirror - Anish Kapoor

Pavilion Gardens, Brighton Festival, 2009

www.anishkapoor.com

Art by Yuko Takada

Beautiful, airy installations using small, triangular, hand-colored pieces of tracing paper.

VIA yukotakada

flower sculpture

At the annual exhibition of landscape Sofieros in Sweden  Anna Frisk created a gazebo  and a huge wedding bouquet.

Inside, in a magical cave, walls are covered with moss, ferns and white orchids.

VIA landscape74

Extraordinary, beautiful paper sculptures

Peter Gentenaar isn't any ordinary paper artist. He creates extraordinarily beautiful paper sculptures that have an ethereal quality to them. His exhibition at the abbey church of Saint-Riquier church in northern France proves this point. It's where he hung more than a 100 paper sculptures in the church's grand halls. (What a perfect backdrop.

On his website, he describes his inspiration and his unique process. "Because I started out as a printmaker and sculptor, it took time to lose the idea that paper was a helpful carrier for prints or a filler for molds. Gradually I found that the single sheet of paper, which had not dried yet, had all the possibilities I needed. A paper sheet is thin and strong and can be compared to the leaf on a tree or plant. Reinforced with very thin ribs of bamboo that look like the ribs of a leaf, the analogy between the sheet of paper and the plant form is emphasized even more. By beating my pulp very long, an extraordinary play of forces occurs during the drying processes of my paper sculpture.

"The exposition of the paper sculptures in the abbey church of Saint Riquier, close to Abbeyville, Somme, Northern France,  lasts until the 19th of september."

More pictures - gentenaar

The occasion for the exhibition of more than a 100 paper sculptures, is the 25th festival of classical music held in this church this summer.

VIA www.mymodernmet.com

The Green Carpet – In Jaujac, France

www.streetartutopia.com/

In Jaujac, France. Made to celebrate the 10th year of  arts and nature trail programs.

Art in remote settings

Tableaux by a Norwegian artist whose photographs capture mundane objects in remote settings. I especially like these lines of migrating household lamps.

viajohncoulthart

BECAUSE YOU ARE MY WORLD. Happy Valentine's day

V

- I LOVE YOU

- I LOVE YOU TOO.

- PROVE IT, SCREAM TO THE WORLD.

- "WHISPERS IN EARS" I LOVE YOU.

- WHY'D YOU WHISPER IT TO ME?

- BECAUSE YOU ARE MY WORLD.

Madrid Water Fountains Spill Light

Some gorgeous new installations have just popped up on our radar that involve jars and lights. Anonymous art collective Luzinterruptus, who's known for their interesting light installations in public spaces, collected glass containers for four months and then displayed them around Madrid's public fountains. Why? It's a statement to show that over 50% of public fountains are now dismantled, broken or just dry. As an expensive and inconvenient alternative, water must be bought in bottles. To criticize the administration for this much needed public service, they wanted to show, in a symbolic way, drinking water running through the streets.

So on one cold night in January, they created these beautiful street installations in four public areas around the city.

There's a great interview that Luzinterruptus conducted with Urban Art Core where you can learn more about this art collective. The three members of the team come from different backgrounds which seem to work well together - art, lighting and photography. Here are a few standout quotes from that interview.

"Light is the material we are most familiar with and inspires us. It provides a great visual impact and allows us to make installations –in some cases of a small size, in other larger ones- and avoid spoiling urban furniture and also leave room for other artist on the streets or the users of those public spaces, which is in short supply in big cities.

"The idea behind our work is very simple: attract attention through light in public places so that they can be understood by the people who pass by at that very moment, without the need for instructions.

"We intend to convey the message about how we worry about the fast worsening which is affecting public spaces in big cities like Madrid."

mymodernmet

Shimmering Sequins Street Art- Arte feitas com lantejoulas

Using sequins, plastic and plywood, artist Theresa Himmer creates shimmering street art that takes on the form of glaciers, lava, and waterfalls. Her art, which is as pretty as can be, is strung out over old, dilapidated buildings. Interested in the intersection between art and architecture, Himmer believes her work is best displayed in an urban environment, even preferring bare concrete walls.

Via www.mymodernmet.com

City of Lyon's annual Festival of Lights

Bourrasque, by London-based designer Paul Cocksedge, is meant to represent a large collection of papers blowing away in the wind. Made for France's City of Lyon's annual Festival of Lights, each sheet of "paper" is made from a special conductive material that lights up when a current is passed through it. All are the exact size of a standard piece of printer paper and were formed by hand to obtain their dynamic shapes. Over 200 sheets make up this installation as it stretches over 80ft in length. Mesmerizing!

Via http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/paul-cocksedge#!/photos/89233/8

This installation by Paul Cocksedge is an interesting piece submitted for London Design Festival 2010. Entitled ‘A Gust of Wind,’ Paul Cocksedge made the work to look like a stack of papers being blown into the sky by a breeze.
The sheets are made of Corian and were placed in the hallway of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Each sheet is handmade and engraved by Paul Cocksedge, and were given away to attendees at the end of the event.

Cake decoration

'Till you stop' - cake decoration deals with a cake decoration method that allows the costumer/visitor to decide how much decoration is applied onto their cake. A simple machine decorates the cake with lines (similar to a Spirograph) and continuously decorates until the costumer/visitor decides to stop the decoration process. Then in a second process sugar pearls are dropped onto the glazing. The decor is continuously changing and the costumer/visitor decides whether he prefers a simple ornament or a more complex one. When is the right time to stop?
- Once the decoration machine is stopped it can not be started again.

The project reflects, on the one hand, the industry behind decoration (industrialized image vs. the romantic imagination) and on the other hand it should trigger people to think about the amount of decoration they actually like.

via /www.mischertraxler.com/