In South Korea it is no longer considered risky or extravagant to go “under the knife” and “beautify” yourself as a woman. Instead, as photographer Ji Yeo points out, “plastic surgery has become an integral part of Korea’s current culture”, and an often necessary step in the process of self improvement. In her latest photo series, Beauty Recovery Room, she captures women resting in their hotel room directly after their intensive procedures and waiting for the healing to begin. Although these images and the idea of going through such a process is perhaps shocking, all of these women had endured multiple procedures and planned for further augmentations in the future.

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South Korea ranks as the country with the highest per capita rate of cosmetic plastic surgery according to raw data compiled by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2010. What is driving these cultural shifts and this obsession with idealized beauty? It’s a trend which Ji Yeo says is rooted in a “male-dominated media that endlessly reinforces its model of the ideal woman”; one where men are judged by the size of their wallet and women by often unattainable standards of beauty.

Ji Yeo is currently attending the Rhode Island School of Design, where she is working towards her Master’s degree in Photography. Her current work focuses around ideas of beauty in contemporary culture. You can see more of her work exploring this theme, including photographs, performance and time-projects at jiyeo.com.

Via itsnicethat

If you’ve ever dreamt of having a superhero for a parent, then you will love this new series by Andry Rajoelina. The Paris-based animator has made this endearing series called Justice Families featuring your favorite comic book superheroes walking- or floating- their little sidekicks around. Rajoelina first fell in love with action heroes when his father took him to the cinema to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in 1990. He happily drew turtles with bandanas and over time, dramatically improved his illustration skills.

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Rajoelina’s childhood love for superheroes never died- he wears them on t-shirts under his work shirts and his desk is covered with action figures. We’re glad he has kept that spirit and look forward to seeing his passions and talents collide in whatever creative endeavors he chooses next! Check out more work by Andry Rajoelina on his website, deviantART, and Tumblr.

Via: io9.com

We’ve seen latte art before, but these designs by Kazuki Yamamoto are over the top- literally! The Japanese “cappuccino painter” piles up foam to make three dimensional designs that defy gravity. Based in Osaka, the 26 year old took his flat latte art (also very impressive) to the next level, even making foam sculptures from one mug climb into another.

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Yamamoto dreams of one day opening his own coffee shop in Tokyo. Until then, keep up with his latest designs by following him on Twitter where you can also see his impressive flat designs. It must be hard to drink one of Yamamoto’s masterpieces- it’s not everyday that coffee looks this good!

Via: boredpanda.com

Check out your links after the jump.

3D Printed iPhone Shoe Holster

Skeleton Biker Mask

Holding Hands Coffee Cup

32 Game Disc Trading Carousel Made Out Of LEGOS

The Unusual Personal Transportation Designs of Shane Chen

Bringing Fun into your office – LEGO Coffee Mug

Javier Arcos Pitarque Robots

London’s Iconic Skyline is Recreated Using 2,186 Sugar Cubes

Hurbz Unveils Stylish KiGA Modular Kitchen Garden Concept

Lead Image: Manel Torres’ Spray-On Fabric!

For more art make an add request for the Facebook group Artsy!

At the 101/exhibit in Miami is an exhibition featuring a dynamic painter from Angola. His name is Jorge Santos and for most of his life he has been a full time artist creating surreal scenery and groups of people not quite from this reality. Born in 1959, Santos was raised in the then Portuguese colony of Angola. After his family escaped the political turmoil that ensued after Angola became independent, he headed over to America where he settled in 1982. For the past 25 years, he has exhibited his works in galleries all over the world.

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His most recent series, simply titled ‘Paintings,’ showcases 7 works that Santos spent the past 4 years creating. His subjects and scenes evoke an enigmatic and hypnagogic atmosphere. Themes in his recent series focus around chilling expressions, water, fish, dogs and boats. His exhibit at the 101 will be running from April 13 to June 15. Check out more of his extensive work at jorgesantos.com.

via murphydesign

Like digital creatures set loose from the world of the movie Tron, two wild animals light up the night with dazzling displays of color illuminating their surfaces. Flashes of bold color flicker across their faceted shapes, sharply outlining their edges or quickly breaking into flowing organic forms like leaves in the forest. It’s not your everyday sight in Rotterdam, but these aren’t your average animals either.

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Created by Sober Industries and Studio Rewind, the large scale sculptures featured the unlikely pairing of an owl and a rhinoceros. The two were displayed during the Rotterdamse Museumnacht (Rotterdam Museum Night) and covered with mapped visuals that could be spectator controlled. That portion of the installation was created by Bruce Moerdjiman, who built cube shaped controllers that changed the color of the visuals when tilted and included buttons to skip through the projection type or create other effects like blending and scratching. See the video below for the event in action.

Via lustik

With social sites like Instagram, we are getting more of a peek into the everyday events of lives all around the world, but Russian photographer Timur Zhansultanov provided a different approach. For the past 2 years he has been snapping shots from his perspective including his arms and feet in the pictures so it really feels like you are him. He has ceased the project because it became a little annoying over time, but he captured a fantastic collection while it lasted.

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Take a ride on Zhansultanov’s skateboard, fumble over a map while he sits shot-gun, feed some pigeons, go hunting, and shoot some hoops as you get to experience his life from “his own eyes.” See more of his work on his website.

Via: freeyork.org

With a lot of talent and even more patience, UK based illustrator Jacob Everett has a unique style for creating large scale portraits. The 22 year old artist overlaps thousands of ballpoint ink ellipses, building up more or less to re-produce the contours of each subject’s face. Up close, the pictures look pixelated, but from afar they look like a photograph. He explains:

I am interested in the contrast between the minute, repetitive mark-making and the highly personal image that is created. The process is similar to mass production. I work from photographs, concentrating on one section of the face at a time. Over several shifts spent in this way, the work culminates in a finished product which is, paradoxically, an authentic and personal portrait.

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Using a ballpoint pen (biro) on paper or- more recently- a map, Everett has reproduced portraits of Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G., David Grohl, Larry David, and many other famous faces, but he also has a beautiful series of unknown faces from a homeless shelter in Bradford called A Ragged Road. See more of his work on his website, twitter and Facebook. Check out the video below to see the making of one of Everett’s portraits.

↬ illusion

With Disney’s latest Pixar movie Monsters University hitting theaters next week, 27 year old illustrator and Disney fan Rubén B. Caballero (also known as Hyung86 on deviantART) decided to re-imagine his favorite characters as college students. Aside from putting them in modern clothes, he assigned them to various clubs and sports that would go along with their character. Aladdin loves breakdancing with Esmeralda on the school dance team. Snow White and Aurora are choir girls and love to help Kenai and Pocahontas with the Animal Welfare Association on campus. Tinkerbell is a cheerleader, while Peter Pan rocks eternally youthful Bieber-like style.

See Also REAL LIFE DISNEY PRINCESSES

Based in San Sebastian, Spain, Caballero is a self-taught illustrator and has been drawing since he was very young. Why the Disney theme? He explains, “I’m in love with Disney movies. They are an important part of my childhood and I want to draw how they would be seen today.” His favorite Disney movie is The Lion King, which unfortunately has no characters for this series, but he plans on adding Disney villains to his Disney University series as the professors nobody wants to have! Check out the Beast (Adam) as captain of the football team, nerdy Belle, surfer Eric, swim team Ariel, and many more on Caballero’s deviantART page and stay tuned for the villains. You can also follow him on Twitter while his personal website is in the works. In our interview we asked Rubén B. Caballero what super power he wishes he could have and his response: “I wish I had the power to talk to animals!Surely many of the conversations would be more interesting than with humans!”

With 6,100 affiliate gyms around the world, CrossFit, started by Greg Glassman, is quickly becoming a household name in fitness. You may have seen friends on Facebook proudly flaunting their newly toned bodies and wondered what CrossFit is all about. Unlike a typical gym, a CrossFit “box” does not have any weight machines- your body is the machine. There are ropes, bars, rowing machines, Olympic weights, kettlebells, jump ropes, gymnast rings, medicine balls, plyo boxes, and gigantic tires. CrossFit encourages “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement.” Each day there is a different WOD (Workout of the Day) and participants constantly strive to beat their own records in time, reps, and/or weight. The most athletic and motivated CrossFitters go on to compete regionally for a chance to go to the international CrossFit Games. In honor of all the people pushing themselves beyond their physical limits, we searched Instagram for some awesome CrossFit pictures to show what it’s like. It took a lot of sifting through ripped up hands because these workouts are no joke, but we hope this collection will motivate you to kick your fitness up a notch.

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Thank you so much to all of our wonderful Instagrammers. If you like a picture, be sure to click on the link and let them know. Next week’s theme will be pottery, so if you’ve been at the wheel, snap a shot of your finished ceramics, upload it to Instagram, and tag it #pottery @visualnews. The best ones will be featured next Friday. We would like to wish each one of you a fantastic weekend and thank you for reading!

Above: @aspidachi Below: @redblackgym

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