for not coming up with a better book title than A Brief History Of Time. Hmph. What am I supposed to do with that?

A Brief History Of LEGO? Lame, even by my standards.

Curse you , Stephen Hawking.

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A TV tower in ikov (can’t find the upper-case HTML code for that character), Czech Republic. The above humanoid/tapewormish sculpture(s) weren’t part of the original design; they were added later by a local artist, David Čern, for reasons best known to him.

More pictures here.

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LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya is at it again:

Nathan built this anatomically correct heart for the Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego. He says, A piece like this is a great tool to help doctors talk to young patients about their own hearts. Hopefully kids will relate to a heart built from a medium that they are familiar with.

Except that I think he did not make it. This looks like a clear case of theft.

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Australian Tim Patch, who goes by the pseudonym in the title, paints using, um, a rather unusual tool. And no, it’s not a palette knife.

If you can’t figure it out from his nom d’art, his (mildly NSFW) site is here.

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A woman with the rather strange name of “Tica.” However, this isn’t a photograph; nor is it computer-aided graphics. It’s the stunning airbrush (mainly) work of a man with the rather strange name of “Dru.” More of his stuff here (safe for work—I took the liberty of cropping Tica rather than shrink her lovely visage). The menu is at the top.

The New York Times, presently being driven into the ground by Punch Sulzberger and Co., nevertheless remains an interesting read for things other than politics. Here its Interactive division highlights Al Jaffee’s iconic “fold-ins,” a feature of Mad Magazine from its beginning.

To see them in action, click on the right hand side of the page and drag it across to the left.

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Artist David Mach discovers a use for those wire things that multiply spontaneously in the closet. There’s only so many cars that need unlocking, y’know.

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An interesting animated .gif that will impress you with its artistry. Or possibly trigger an epileptic seizure. Your call.

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Just what the hell is wrong with the old-fashioned, romantic tradition of packing a pair of tin snips for your big date? Cuts through that underwire like butter.

we make money not art:

Bra Trainer is a fictional teaching aid designed by Noam Toran to instruct adolescent boys to overcome the intricacies of opening the brassiere. When initiated the machine mechanically demonstrates the basic principles of clasp disengagement. Following a short pause the machine then re-secures the bra ready for the next demonstration.

The piece is inspired from accounts of repressive post-war institutionalised sex education in the UK in which teachers were not allowed to touch any of the props (prophylactics, physical models of reproductive organs) unless using gloves or a stick.

That’s still good advice while handling many teachers.

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It sort of works, somehow. Though Robin as a Russian hooker is kind of stretching it.

Then the Dostoyevsky fans wade in:

you americans are so stupid. 85% of your nation are retards and that is your own statistic. you think all of you are so dump because of the major evil? no. you are so dump because you have no culture, only comics.

It should be noted, though, that not all Russians are enamoured with Dostoyevky. Vladimir Nabokov:

Dostoevski, who dealt with themes accepted by most readers as universal in both scope and significance, is considered one of the world’s great authors. Yet you have described him as “a cheap sensationalist, clumsy and vulgar.” Why?

Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevski as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous, farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway.

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Those looking to have something different around have long looked far afield for their art. For quite a long time people have been getting African Paintings to add a bit of spice to their surroundings. And no I am not talking about the trendy ones who have it around as long as its “in” to look like they are with it. I also found you less like a trendy if you have actually been somewhere that the art comes from. Then you don’t sound like an advert when you are talking about it.

Remarkable cake art from Russia. Apparently it’s all edible, with no plastic or other components. It’s the work of a bakery called Zhanna, from St. Petersburg, but I couldn’t find any more information about it.

Many more examples here.

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The occasional Lego sculptures that I post are interesting mainly in the sense of: “Yowza, that’s a lot of Lego blocks.”

But Nathan Sawaya, formerly a corporate lawyer in New York, brings a definite artistic touch to his craft. These would be impressive enough in a more conventional medium —in the field of constructing things with small plastic doohickeys, he’d be giving Michaelangelo a run for his money. I’m tempted to order up a copy of The Pieta to prove it (he does custom projects) but I don’t think I could swing the five figure prices he charges for larger pieces.

Interview with him here. There’s a photo gallery but no direct link, so scroll down to the fourth paragraph and click on the link there to see it.

Or you could go directly to his website here.

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This isn’t a game so much as an interactive art thingy. Move your cursor over the picture (at the site, not here). When it changes to a small pointing finger, you can click on that object. When three arrows appear beside it, click anywhere and you’ll go to the next room. It’s all very linear: There’s only one way through the “maze” and the interactivity puzzles aren’t very difficult.

That said, it’s beautifully done. It seems to have been shot at an abandoned industrial building, with the graffiti and other objects added digitally (some of it is animated), and it successfully conveys a sinister, menacing atmosphere.

Not to worry, though—this isn’t one of those “screamers.” There’s one room (the 26th) that might make you jump (well, it startled me). If you’re not sure about what you’re getting into, it’s discussed in this thread.

Warning: Music and sound effects.

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Arnd Drossel is enclosed in a steel-wire sphere as he walks down a country path between the German towns of Dorsten and Raesfeld on April 11. The artist walked for 300 kilometers (186.41 miles) to draw attention to the many people he said are “out of balance” and in need of “social psychiatric” help.

OK, one comment. His device does seem to have its uses.

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that there’s a perfectly innocent and reasonable explanation for this:

What it might be entirely escapes me, though. Other head-scratching moments in comic book art here.

The crowd at Something Awful uncork their mad MS Paint skillz on the Kama Sutra (or some approximation thereof).

Warning: Mostly tame (and some are nearly-impossible to decipher), but NSFW. Also, if you find yourself being, um, aroused by any of these images, it is time to seek professional help. Seriously.

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lest we be overrun with fearsome creatures like this.

It’s actually an ice sculpture. Really. (Full page view here.) The source had no information as to where or when it was constructed, but this New York Times article (reg. required) possibly describes it:

“On cold days, they make sculptures that are more intricate and elegant,” Mr. Zehnder explained. “On the hotter days, they have to be more solid.” The ideal temperature is 15 to 25 degrees. In 2001, when the temperature hovered at around 15 degrees, a team from the Detroit area created a 12-foot praying mantis with legs no bigger than broomsticks. “A friend of mine, a professor at a community college, pointed out that not only was the sculpture a great piece,” Mr. Zehnder said, “but it was anatomically correct.”

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A picture (full size here) of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo. Or is it?

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It’s actually the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota, but I’ve never seen a picture of Crazy Horse. I have, however, seen a picture of Karl Malden, and it sort of looks like him. Or maybe Dustin Hoffman.

There are more pictures on the making of the monument here, including a larger version of this picture. It’s quite interesting how it was created, primarily with explosives. Why anyone would go to all that trouble to create a sculpture of—George C. Scott? David Lee Roth?—escapes me, though.

• Coincidence? I think not.

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but I’m not sure I want to find out. From a collection of truly awful album covers.

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I’ve seen this before. It’s the work of computer artist Peter Stanick. Start here and click the picture (sometimes you’re limited to a specific region of the screen) to continue.

It’s an apparently endless (although some elements repeat) stream of Pop Art iconography, New York streetscenes, fake ads, glamorous women (Warning: Some are topless or scantily-dressed, so it’s NSFW. No music or sound, though.)

Colorful, stylish, unapologetically sexist; what’s not to like?

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Striking paintings (most in watercolor, some acrylics) by Carol Carter. This one (the title of the post) can be yours for the low, low price of $3,300 (US).

And if I had a spare $3,300 (US) I’d definitely consider buying it. I love the depth and luminance of watercolors.

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if i don’t get your call then everything goes wrong
i want to tell you something you’ve known all along
don’t leave me hanging on the telephone

blondie

I’d like to see them try this with cell phones. From an art installation by Clara Oppel. Website here. It’s in German, so click on arbeiten to see this (It’s called “Phones,” natch) and others.)

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The Corner:

Displaying a sculpture to encourage discourse about the sexual power debate surrounding the possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidency is very much in line with our mission as a museum, noted Daniel Gluck, Executive Director. We are wholly dedicated to the exploration of the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality. Historically, leaders are often expected to possess an exceptional amount of virility or fertility with displays of that sexual power often tied to their success. The artists portrayal of Hillary Clinton as a president who also happens to be a sexual being conveys the message that a woman need not squelch her sexuality in order to succeed as leader of the free world.

Actually, if I saw this . . . thing coming at me, sex would be about the last thing on my mind.

The sculptor, one Daniel Edwards, is also responsible for the Britney Spears sculpture (possibly NSFW) of a few months ago.

Some opine that it (Hillary, not Britney) looks more like Steve Buscemi. Others say Jimmy Carter. With all due respect, these people are idiots. The inspiration for “Hillary” was clearly . . .

FARK was recently running a contest to duplicate famous album covers using MS Paint. Even with a graphics tablet and stylus it’s a bit like using an Etch-A-Sketch. (Paint is the drawing program included with Windows. If you’ve never played around with it, you can run it by clicking Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint.)

This is not to say that you can’t create good (if somewhat lifeless) pictures with Paint. The artist who created this estimates it took about 500 hours of work, and I can fully believe it.

For that matter, you can use Etch-A-Sketch.

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A Mess of Clams
by Robert P. Tristam Coffin

The fields are high with all the Winter’s snows
But somewhere there is cawing and glad crows,
And ice upon the bare birches feels the sun
And twinkles and is starting to run
An old, old man, with no tooth in his head
Is walking fast, and Spring is in his tread
As he wades the snowdrift of his farm,
His clam-hoe and clam-basket on his arm.
Down below him, all his bay is white,
But out towards sea the dark place overnight
Has widened, and blue waves are twinkling clear
Above the first and best clams of the year.

The March sun burns upon the man’s bent bones,
His wife is lying where the slanting stones
Are hidden by the Winter. All his sons
Are begotten and have begotten new ones.
He is alone, but he can go and bring
His mess of clams home in his eightieth Spring
As he could in his twentieth one, and he
Can pick his dinner up out of the sea
Just as well as any man alive
And think of things like young men fit to wive,
His head is high and handsome as a ram’s,
And life is good and tastes of sweet young clams.

Read in tribute to Larry Coffin at his funeral last week.

Rob Gonsalves is a Canadian painter who won the Governor General’s Award in 2005 for Children’s Literature – Illustration.

They’re quite beautiful examples of surrealism. More here. The originals and prints are for sale here with prices from $100-$1650.

Or you could buy the books here.

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This is different, if a bit morbid:

Another of Garnet’s works, Experiments in Galvanism: Frog with Implanted Webserver is currently installed at Latitude 53 in Edmonton, Canada. A miniature computer is implanted into a dead frog. The animal is suspended in liquid contained in a glass cube, with a blue ethernet cable leading into its splayed abdomen. The computer stores a website that enables users to trigger physical movement in the corpse. You can view and activate the project online until March 18th 2006.

Go on, give it a try. Hours of fun for the kids!

The creator, Garnet Hertz, is a Fulbright Scholar, Research Fellow at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and a doctoral student at University of California Irvine. He was previously famous (so to speak) for using a Madagascan Hissing Cockroach to control a robot. He talks about the details here, and it’s actually quite interesting. This is assuming that you don’t mind looking at pictures of Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, which are not, to be sure, among God’s handsomer creations.

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We Make Money Not Art is a very good blog by (mainly) the indefatigable Regine. She covers a wide range of topics, with an emphasis on contemporary, technologically-based art.

As you might expect, she, and much of the art featured, tilts politically to the left. Which doesn’t bother me—if something’s interesting, I’ll link to it. Sometimes, though, the socialist weenies get a bit overweening (the italicized sentences are quotes from some documents):

Wishing to reintroduce Chechnya to an international audience while reacting to the proliferation of international biennales, the Emergency Biennale has been conceived in a geopolitical context which has become so complex that it seemed urgent and necessary to mobilize the artists. The show is stopping from February 24 to March 12 in Riga, Latvia (after Paris, Brussels, Bolzano, and Milano). A part of the concept involved a call to the artists to create works in a double exemplary likely to fit in a suitcase for Grozny (cared by a local partner), the other one for a touring exhibition around the world. (via e-flux.)

Among the works selected is the Human Rights Memory Stick by Jota Castro: Originally, the idea of this USB memory stick was to allow an easy, discrete and rapid diffusion of confidential and censured information on Chechnya.

(However, before sending this work to Chechnya, we discovered that there was only information on Jota Castro : press releases and articles on his shows, images of his artworks as well as pictures of himself (portraits). We chose not to send it.)

The line ”. . . urgent and necessary to mobilize the artists” was funny enough; what really made this special was Jota Castro’s touching solicitude for the people of Chechnya.

Castro (no relation to Fidel, as far as I can find) was in his former life a diplomat to the UN and European Union. Somehow this does not surprise me.

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