Yuval and Merav Nathan

These Israeli directors/animators/"creators" are incredible. I first saw their work on the video for Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie and I was instantly captivated. Here is that video first:

Amit Erez - Postcard

DANCING

Dancing

Eatliv - Attractive

If you've got 20 minutes to spare, I recommend watching these videos. Also, there are quite a few more on Yuval and Merav Nathan's homepage.

Nordpark Cable Railway

Incredible railway in Austria by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Urban Knitting

Another form of street art!

"Tree Cozy" - Carol Hummel - Cleveland Heights City Hall (now dismantled)

Knitted shoes by Knitta Please.

In Stockholm.

Abandoned gas station, Syracuse, New York.

More information, photos and a video here.

A Link

Pictures of Walls.

Vladimir Kush

This phenomenal Russian artist dubs his work "metaphorical realism."

More paintings.
Homepage.

Love

My best friend Yana Matusovski has a thing for "I Love" pages and I made one a while back. The other day, I made another.

I love her.

Natural Architecture

Here's some photographs from Alessandro Rocca's book Natural Architecture.

La Tonnelle - Gilles Bruni and Marc Babarit, 1996

Organic Highway - Mikael Hansen, 1995

Clemson Clay Nest - Nils-Udo, 2005

Running in Circles - Willow and Maple Saplings - Patrick Dougherty, 1996. This one is obviously my favourite.

More.

What I've been doing

This is the first assignment for my 3D fundamentals class, which is by far my favourite this semester.
We built a shallow box out of wood and then drew a design using three letters of our name. After filling the box half full with clay we then carved out the design and cast a mold in plaster.
This is the negative of my design but I hope to cast a positive or two next week.

The one thing I wish the U of C had...

GLASS BLOWING!

This glass artist, David Chihuly, is incredible. All of these pieces are on display until May 31st at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona but the link at the bottom is to Chihuly's homepage which has oodles more.
Chiostro di Sant'Apollonia Chandelier, 1995.

Mexican Hat and Horn Tower, 2008 (detail on right)

Saffron Tower, 2008. 27 feet high!

Blue and Purple Boat, 2008.

Blue Fiddleheads, 2008.

David Chihuly.

Abu Dhabi Hyatt

The Leaning Tower of Pisa's title of World's most inclined building is being taken over by the new Hyatt hotel being built in Abu Dhabi. RMJM Architects designed the building which will open later this year.

RMJM Architects.
More info on the Abu Dhabi Hyatt.

Some Interesting Churches

The Church of Hallgrímur, Reykjavík, Iceland - Guðjón Samúelssondesign

Jubilee Church, Rome, Italy - Richard Meier

Device to Root out Evil - Dennis Oppenheim. Apparently, this has recently been moved from Vancouver to Calgary. I'm not sure where exactly this is but if any of you do, please let me know!

Chris Zajko

Local artist. Singer for Sharp Ends. Genius.

Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate - Chicago - Anish Kapoor

Ted Godwin

I had the pleasure of not only seeing Ted Godwin's exhibit at the Nickle Arts Museum late last year but I also happened to be there while he popped in for a visit. He was kind enough to sit down with some of us and answer all of our questions and offer up some helpful tid-bits that only a career of his length could provide.
He is truly an amazing man and his work leaves me speechless.
Ted was born in Calgary in 1933 and after graduating from SAIT (holla) in 1955, he began teaching at the University of Regina in the faculty of art. He later became part of what is now known as the Regina Five and his work continues to be met with critical acclaim.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to find photos of most of the pieces in the Nickle exhibit, but here is what I could find.

Said the Spider to the Fly - 1965. Oil and acrylic on canvas. This was by far my favourite piece in the exhibit. It's beauty can only really be seen first hand but I had to include it nonetheless.

Red Grew - 196. Oil on canvas

Lower Bow - 1991. Watercolour etching.

Untitled.

Exposure 2009 Calgary Banff Photography Festival

Over the next week or so I'm going to highlight one (or more) exhibits going on as part of this year's Exposure Photography Festival.
This weekend, Edward Burtynsky's exhibit, The Residual Landscape is opening at Whyte Museum in Banff.
"Edward Burtynsky is one of Canada's most respected photographers. Nature transformed through industry is a predominant theme in his work. His photographic images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence, they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear."
His work is as beautiful as it is disturbing.

For more information on the Exposure festival, check out the website here.

Edward Burtynsky's exhibit opens this Saturday and runs until April 26 at Whyte Museum, 111 Bear Street, Banff.

Steadman.

This should have been the first post I ever did...but it wasn't so here it is now.
Ralph Steadman is one of my favourite artists of all time. You probably know him as the guy who did all the drawings for Hunter S. Thompson's Rolling Stone pieces as well as many of his books. His collaborations with Hunter are incredible but my favourite Steadman work is, hands down, the illustrations he did for Alice in Wonderland. I love all things Alice and when I came across Steadman's illustrated book in Vancouver a few years ago, I had to buy it. I look through it quite often and get lost in his work every single time.
The illustrations are considerably darker than the animated film...but that kind of goes without saying when Steadman is the artist and I think his work is closer to the actual feel of the book.

some other Steadman pieces...

New. Kurt Vonnegut etching.

The quintessential Dr. Gonzo.

Another of my favourite series...Wine According to Steadman.

Steadman has a huge body of work and I couldn't even begin to cover it here...
Ralph Steadman Art Homepage.

If anyone has an extra $3,000 lying around, please buy me The Lizard Lounge silkscreen. Thanks.