Stuck in a soulless and windowless office that could use a little bit of sunshine? Well, you’re screwed. BUT, in order to trick your brain into not thinking it’s screwed, you might want to pick up one of these sets of fake window blinds. Pop it on your wall and the electroluminescent (EL) sheets attached to the blinds create the illusion of daylight. AND, you can control the amount of light produced by turning the shades… just like you would with a normal set.
If this video doesn’t get you a little teary, you aren’t human. These beagles lived their entire life in a research lab, never seeing the sun or going outside. This video shows their rescue and their first step (of their ENTIRE LIVES) on to grass.
Reminder: if you’re reading this via email, you need to click through to see the video
I just discovered this type of photography thanks to a lovely little iPhone App called Pro HDR. The whole point of HDR photography is to take what normally would be a very high contrast photo and caputre all parts in beautiful detail. Normally, when you take a photo of the coast at sunset or take a photo through a window, you get some really bright light from the sun and everything else is really dark… not the case with HDR.
Check out some examples below… I’ll start with one I took (in a less primitive fashion than the pros) on my iPhone 4:
And now the pros:
These all feel super Annie Leibowitz-ish to me…. anyone agree? I wonder if she uses this technique a lot.
Florian Nicolle (that has to be a fake name… come on… 2x L’s in her last name?) uses pen, watercolors, and Chinese ink and a little Photoshopping to create the fantastic portraits you see below.
Is this first one the dude from (500) Days of Summer and Criminal Minds?
My Modern Met has put together a profile highlighting the surreal sculptures of Tony Tasset. Tony strives to create pieces that can simultaneously appeal to intellectuals and the wider (less intelligent) public. I dig these… how frickin fun would it be to make the Blob Monster… AND GET PAID FOR IT?!
Blob Monster
Blob Monster is a sculpture Tasset created using poured colored resin, metal, wire mesh, and paint. Measuring 14’ x 13’ x 12’, the large sculpture looks anything but ominous with his sad face and dripping paint.
Eyeball
If you’re in Chicago, chances are you’ve already ran into Tony Tasset’s three-story high, hyperrealistic fiberglass eyeball. In Pritzker Park sits Eye, a colossal sphere that was commissioned by the Chicago Loop Alliance. (As part of its premiere Art Loop installation, a new, temporary work “by an important artist” is to be installed each summer.) The American multimedia artist wanted to compete with the other big sculptures in the city, like the “Bean” and create “something that people would respond to, that was iconographic.” As he says, “A lot of my artwork takes things that are already somewhat familiar and recontextualizes them. People can project their own ideas onto [the eyeball], but I guess it’s a symbol of consciousness and being part of a community.”
Capuchine Chandelier
Capuchine Chandelier is an amazing art piece made of plastic, oil paint, and electric lighting. Created in the likeness of bones and skulls, the chandelier finds light and beauty in darkness.
Paul
Paul is a large sculpture made of painted fiberglass over a steel frame. Commissioned by the Art-in-Architecture Program of the State of Illinois, Paul was Tasset’s first monumental, figurative piece. It was inspired by everything from Michelangelo to Walt Disney, as well as by the fading roadside attractions that dot rural America. As Tasset says, “Paul is my portrait of this American moment. The traditional tall tale of Paul Bunyan is an allegory of American optimism, power, and consequence. This Paul is a traditional icon projected into current time. Paul has been forced to grow up.” It is located in the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park of Illinois.
Who doesn’t love Paul Bunyan?! The Disney cartoon of Paul and his big blue friend is AWESOME
