Creative Closeup

Unauthorized Installations: The Fine Art of Urban Subversion

Enrique — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:00:34 +0000

Brad Downey spans the spectrum, with a fine arts degree and gallery exhibitions as well as unsanctioned street art projects and run-ins with authorities.

Read More at Web Urbanist…

The Beast Brothers “Quetzalcoatl” Dunny is back!

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:00:29 +0000

Those two wild and crazy Beast Brothers are at it again with their release of the “Quetzalcoatl” Dunny, which we originally saw in the 2007 Kidrobot Dunny Azteca series. This time around this feathered piece will be available as a custom run in 8″s of awesomeness. This endeavor has been one of their most elaborate and…

Read More at KidRobot…

Minimalist Black Metal Staircase Stands Out in White Room

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:00:15 +0000

In definitively Italian style, this staircase manages to be both minimalist and outrageous at the same time – a sharp linear black work contrasting with a classical white space. Designed by Francesco Librizzi Studio (images by Giovanna Silva), the metal frame is thin and modern almost to a fault – climbing or descending requires careful steps. Still,…

Read More at Doornob…

Essential Fashion Illustration

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:01:41 +0000

This book’s aim is to submerge the reader in the world of illustration. The first section ranges from how to start to draw a human figure to the techniques to stylize and synthesize it. This section provides a large amount of figures in different poses, as well as hands and feet-often the most difficult parts – in diverse postures and angles. However, in the field of fashion it is also essential to know how to draw fabric, and even more important to know how to draw the folds of clothing. The items of clothing are presented as much in technical drawing as in figures in movement, and forming light and shadow is also explained, as this gives quality to the illustration.

The second part of the book revolves around color and the different techniques with which one can work: watercolor, wax, pastel, and so on. All the drawings that appear constitute a brief exhibition of the changes that the fashion world has experienced and with this in mind a path has been laid which starts in 1900, illustrated in watercolors, and finishes in 2000, illustrated in pencil. The goal of this volume is to uncover the reader’s desire to paint and to provide him with some of the secrets that will encourage him to do so. After all, experience is the most effective way to learn, whatever the subject.

Anabela Chan at RCA Show 2013

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:00:15 +0000

Here’s the latest from NOTCOT’s London-based editor and resident zoologist, Justine Aw as she visits the London graduate showcases! Wandering through the halls of the Battersea campus during press day at Show RCA 2013, I turned the corner to find a beautiful table filled with iridescent natural history curios. I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous glass domes housing…

Architectural Pic-Pins from the Design Museum Shop

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:00:33 +0000

You can wear your architectural heart on your sleeve, or wherever else you fancy, thanks to these Architectural Pic-Pins available from the Design Museum Shop. In a clever concept that was devised by a local London school and then picked…

Read More at Retro to Go…

A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:02:30 +0000

Formerly the Dictionary of 20th Century Art, the text has been completely revised and updated for this major new edition. Over 300 entries have been added and it now contains entries on photography in modern art as well as the new media such as installation and Performance which are such a crucial element of the contemporary scene. With emphasis on recent art and artists, for example Ai Weiwei, Tracey Emin, and Damien Hirst, it has an exceptionally strong coverage of art from the 1960s onwards, which makes it ideal for contemporary art enthusiasts. Further reading is provided at entry level to assist those wishing to know more about a particular subject. In addition, this edition features recommended web links for many entries, which are accessed and kept up to date via the Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art companion website.

The perfect companion for the desk, studio, bedside table, or gallery visits, A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art is an essential A-Z reference work for art students, artists, and art lovers.

The MinaLima Collection from the Printorium: 50s-style nursery rhymes prints

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:00:13 +0000

Traditional nursery rhymes are given a 1950s flavour in the MinaLima Collection from the Printorium. The work of graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, they’ve taken the best loved nursery rhymes and given them a fresh new old look….

Read More at Retro to Go…

Wooden Bike Perfection

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:00:12 +0000

Beech plywood frames, solid seats and pinstriped tires give the WOOD.b series of street bikes a somewhat vintage feel but seamless joints, steel accents and a simple minimal aesthetic give the series away as modern designs of today. It is this perfect balance that makes them timeless and almost too pretty to ride!

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:01:55 +0000

Since its original publication in 1978, Delirious New York has attained mythic status. Back in print in a newly designed edition, this influential cultural, architectural, and social history of New York is even more popular, selling out its first printing on publication. Rem Koolhaas’s celebration and analysis of New York depicts the city as a metaphor for the incredible variety of human behavior. At the end of the nineteenth century, population, information, and technology explosions made Manhattan a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan lifestyle — “the culture of congestion” — and its architecture.

“Manhattan,” he writes, “is the 20th century’s Rosetta Stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall).” Koolhaas interprets and reinterprets the dynamic relationship between architecture and culture in a number of telling episodes of New York’s history, including the imposition of the Manhattan grid, the creation of Coney Island, and the development of the skyscraper. Delirious New York is also packed with intriguing and fun facts and illustrated with witty watercolors and quirky archival drawings, photographs, postcards, and maps. The spirit of this visionary investigation of Manhattan equals the energy of the city itself.In this fanciful volume, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.), both analyzes and celebrates New York City. By suggesting the city as the site for an infinite variety of human activities and events–both real and imagined–the essence of the metropolitan lifestyle, its “culture of congestion” and its architecture are revealed in a brilliant new light. “Manhattan,” Koolhaas writes, “is the 20th century’s Rosetta stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall).” Filled with fascinating facts, as well as photographs, postcards, maps, watercolors, and drawings, the vibrancy of Koolhaas’s poignant exploration of Gotham equals the heady, frenetic energy of the city itself. Anyone who loves New York will want to own this book.

Key-Free Lock: Smartphone App Rekeys Domestic Security

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:00:41 +0000

No need to swap out your existing deadbolt with a newfangled device – this circular switch slots right over your locking mechanism, but shifts the method of unlocking to entirely new territory. Designed by Jason Johnson and Yves Behar, the Smart Lock can sense your approach automatically, saving you the trouble of taking out your virtual ‘key’,…

Read More at Doornob…

Colorful Contrast: Geometric Street Paintings in France

Enrique — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:00:11 +0000

A wide strip of bold geometric patterns in bright colors painted onto the asphalt disrupts the muted historic visuals of a small city in France.

Read More at Web Urbanist…

The Artful Teapot

Enrique — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:01:40 +0000

Based on its universal appeal and everyday use, tea has inspired the creation of exquisite objets d’art; above all, the spouted, steaming engine of hospitality: the teapot. In fact, the teapot has drawn widespread attention from the world’s leading designers and artists for centuries because it is what French sculptor Arman calls one of the key objects of our time.

This delightful book celebrates the chameleon-like form of the teapot, and how it is considered not only an icon for hospitality but also an inventive vehicle for artistic expression. The Artful Teapot features, in full, lavish color, more than 200 enchanting teapots representing its 500-year history of enjoyment and use.

Readers will find captivating examples from Yixing—the birthplace of the teapot—as well as such famous producers as Meissen, Minton, Wedgwood, and others. Here are artful teapots that balance form, surface, and function in search of beauty . . . revolutionary teapots seeking—fascinatingly but fruitlessly—to improve on this most perfect invention . . . teapots inspired by natural forms . . . teapots made from surprising materials like dollar bills, glass beads, and soda cans . . . teapots used as a format for politics or propaganda . . . teapots using animals or people as their subject . . . and last but not least, the teapot created purely for art’s sake—pots removed from function, where tea evaporates and imagination replaces the fragrant leaf as content. Plus, fascinating text written by Garth Clark, the preeminent scholar of modern ceramics, provides an appealing discussion of these objets d’art that is as provocative, playful, and profound as the teapots themselves.

• Teapots featured in this book form the basis for an exhibition that opened in November 2001 at the American Craft Museum in New York City, which is traveling until 2004, visiting six other American museums

• First comprehensive guide featuring the artistic beauty of teapots through five centuries of use

Pac Man Gadget Stickers

Enrique — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:00:13 +0000

eBay watch: Nest of 1960s Giotto Stoppino-designed Kartell tables

Enrique — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:00:12 +0000

Space age design for not a lot of cash, thanks to this nest of Giotto Stoppino-designed Kartell tables. In orange (which makes them even more appealing), this particular set of tables was designed in 1968. But you probably guessed the…

Read More at Retro to Go…

Creative Closeup

Unauthorized Installations: The Fine Art of Urban Subversion

The Beast Brothers “Quetzalcoatl” Dunny is back!

Minimalist Black Metal Staircase Stands Out in White Room

Essential Fashion Illustration

Read more about this…

Anabela Chan at RCA Show 2013

Architectural Pic-Pins from the Design Museum Shop

A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Read more about this…

The MinaLima Collection from the Printorium: 50s-style nursery rhymes prints

Wooden Bike Perfection

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan

Read more about this…

Key-Free Lock: Smartphone App Rekeys Domestic Security

Colorful Contrast: Geometric Street Paintings in France

The Artful Teapot

Read more about this…

Pac Man Gadget Stickers

eBay watch: Nest of 1960s Giotto Stoppino-designed Kartell tables