patrick

(Source)

While on a trip to visit the Ijen and Bromo Tengger Semeru volcanoes in East Java last month, Chicago-based photographer Reuben Wu captured the unusual sight of molten sulphur that flows from fumaroles at the base of the Blue Fire Crater at Ijen. The area is usually swarming with tourists, but Wu stayed after sunset until the moon rose to capture these otherworldly images.

The journey into the Ijen Caldera is not for the faint hearted. A two-hour trek up the side of the rocky volcano is followed by another 45-minute hike down to the bank of the crater. The blue fire found at the base is the result of ignited sulphuric gas that burns up to 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) and can flare up to 5 meters (16 feet) into the air. It is the largest “blue flame” area on Earth.

Additional photos from Wu’s trek through Indonesia can be seen here. (via Colossal Submissions)

London-based artist Elliot Walker uses molten glass to create a stunning variety sculptures including these arrangements of eating utensils, vessels, and cross sections of food. The stark outer surfaces of the surrounding objects contrasts with the vibrant interiors of the edible pieces, not unlike the effect of a cut geode. Walker currently has work at the Peter Layton Glass Blowing Studio as part of their current exhibition titled Essence that runs through the end of the week. You can see more photos of his work on Facebook.

[Images: I've been enjoying a new Instagram feed called The Jefferson Grid, which describes itself as "everything that fits in a square mile." These images are just screen grabs from the feed, which is well worth scrolling back through in its entirety (and which will hopefully stick around for many more square-mile images to come)].

Heavily tinted blue paintings form space stations, spacesuits, and rockets just after blast. Michael Kagan paints these large-scale works to celebrate the man-made object—machinery that both protects and holds the possibility of instantly killing those that operate the equipment from the inside. To paint the large works, Kagan utilizes an impasto technique with thick strokes that are deliberate and unique, showing an aggression in his application of oil paint on linen.

The New York-based artist focuses on iconic images in his practice, switching back and forth between abstract and representational styles. “The painting is finished when it can fall apart and come back together depending on how it is read and the closeness to the work,” said Kagan about his work. “Each painting is an image, a snapshot, a flash moment, a quick read that is locked into memory by the iconic silhouettes.”

Kagan exhibited this series of space-based paintings last year at Joshua Liner Gallery in an exhibition titled Thunder in the Distance. He was also recently commissioned by The Smithsonian to create three large paintings inspired by their air and space archives. You can see more of his work on his Instagram here. (via Fubiz)

Formation flight Sunday. Lancers

via http://deadfix.com/

Dietrich Wegner / Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

The fun thing about Dismaland is that in addition to pieces by Banksy, you get to immerse yourself in the works of 58 additional artists, and films by 22 directors and animators. It’s impossible to grasp the scope of every last sculpture, painting, and installation, but included here is a small selection of pieces the crowds are buzzing about inside the three large indoor gallery spaces at Dismaland. You can see our additional coverage of the event here, and Evan over at Juxtapoz managed to get an exclusive interview with Banksy before the event.

Lastly, here are links to the 24 short films included in the hour-long Cinema program I helped with.

F*ck That: A Guided Meditation by Jason Headley; Bottle by Kristen Lepore; New York Park by Black Sheep Films; Symmetry by the Mercadantes; Magic Hats by Jake Sumner; Golden Age of Insect Aviation: The Great Grasshoppers by Wayne Unten; Walking on By by Mr. Freeman; Merry-go-round by Vladimír Turner; The Gap by Daniel Sax; 5 mètres 80 by Nicolas Deveaux; I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up! by Dave Fothergill [with audio added]; Danielle by Anthony Cerniello; Anamorphose Temporelle by Adrien M. & Claire B.; Stainless / Shinjuku (excerpt) by Adam Magyar; Collapsing Cooling Towers by Ecotricity; Liberty by Vincent Ullmann [edited with audio added]; The Employment by opusBou; Yawns by the Mercadantes; Rush Hour by Black Sheep Films; Pug Particles by Ramil Valiev; Shell’s priceless Grand Prix moment by Greenpeace Living With Jigsaw by Chris Capell; Teddy Has An Operation by Ze Frank; and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared #1 by Becky and Joe.

Janus, 2015 (Courtesy of Maskull Lasserre)

Damien Hirst

Jimmy Cauty’s ADP installation / Photograph by Christopher Jobson for Colossal / Click for detail

Embroidered cars by Severija Inčirauskaite-Kriaunevičiene / Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Anatomical ceramics by Ronit Baranga

Tattooed Porcelain Figures by Jessica Harrison / Top photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Paco Pomet / Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

(Merci à Ariane pour la suggestion)

Formation flight Sunday. Duck, Goose, Widgeon, and Mallard

Cover and interior poster for David Cronenberg’s The Brood, The Criterion Collection. I had a lot of fun with this one, especially in the initial sketch phase. Thanks again to Eric Skillman for the amazing assignment.

Available for pre-order here.

This made me laugh.

(via Jean)

For Scott Raabe, his craft lies is in the very fine details—the intersection between pipes and other cuts of metal one might typically glance over without a second thought. It’s in these fine crevices that Raabe welds layered patterns, using his seven years of expertise to create interlocking designs that seem to glow a metallic rainbow sheen after being welded. For the layperson, typical welding this is not.

Raabe started out as a small parts and custom welder for a production company after graduating from Texas State Technical College. In addition to creating unique patterns during his day job as a pipe fitter and welder, he also creates more elaborate commissions including large roses and butterflies on his site Clean Cut Metal Works. You can see more of Raabe’s work on his Instagram. (via Twisted Sifter)

Model train enthusiast James Risner decided to turn several toy locomotive sets into a contemporary kinetic art installation of sorts by creating an infinite loop. The seven linked trains can travel forward or backward at surprisingly quick speed, creating a hypnotic spiral of of motion. I wonder if this could be scaled to a Metropolis II level? (via Laughing Squid)

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

WESTON-SUPER-MARE — Inside the walls of a derelict seaside swimming resort in Weston-super-Mare, UK, mysterious construction over the last month—including a dingy looking Disney-like castle and a gargantuan rainbow-colored pinwheel tangled in plastic—suggested something big was afoot. Suspicion and anticipation surrounding the unusual activity attributed to fabled artist and provocateur Banksy has reached a Willy Wonka-esque fervor. Well, if Banksy’s your bag, continue fervoring. If not, there’s more than a few reasons to continue reading.

The spectacle has since been revealed to be a pop-up art exhibition in the form of an apocalyptic theme park titled Dismaland (“The UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”) that will be open to the public for five weeks.

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal / CLICK FOR DETAIL

Dismaland legend

Dismaland brochure / Park aerial view courtesy Upfest / Photo of construction

The event has all the hallmark details of a traditional Banksy event from its initial shroud of secrecy to artistic themes of apocalypse, anti-consumerism, and pointed social critiques on celebrity culture, immigration, and law enforcement. However, there’s one major deviation: the bulk of the artwork packed into three main interior galleries was created by dozens of other artists.

So just what’s hidden inside the walls of this derelict seaside resort? A demented assortment of bizarre and beautiful artworks from no less than 58 global artists including Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Jimmy Cauty, Bill Barminski, Caitlin Cherry, Polly Morgan, Josh Keyes, Mike Ross, David Shrigley, Bäst, and Espo. Banksy is also showing 10 artworks of his own.

Dismaland features a cavalcade of artists featured here on Colossal over the last few years including pieces by Escif, Maskull Lasserre, Kate McDowell, Paco Pomet, Dietrich Wegner, Michael Beitz, Brock Davis, Ronit Baranga, and others.

Here’s some text from the event’s official brochure:

Are you looking for an alternative to the soulless sugar-coated banality of the average family day out? Or just somewhere cheaper. Then this is the place for you—a chaotic new world where you can escape from mindless escapism. Instead of a burger stall, we have a museum. In place of a gift shop we have a library, well, we have a gift shop as well.

Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus—a bemusement park. A theme park who’s big theme is: theme parks should have bigger themes…

This event contains adult themes, distressing imagery, extended use of strobe lighting, smoke effects and swearing. The following items are strictly prohibited: knives, spraycans, illegal drugs, and lawyers from the Walt Disney corporation.

In addition to art you’ll also find functional a terrifying carousel, a mini golf park, a ferris wheel, and some ludicrously impossible fair games (like ‘topple the anvil with a ping pong ball’ by David Shrigley), roving occupy protests, and a Star Wars stormtrooper who sulks around the exhibition in a state of complete misery. The park is staffed by morose Dismaland employees who are uninterested in being helpful or remotely informative. Entrance to the event requires an uncomfortably awkward NSA-esque security screening, and of course you get to exit through the gift shop.

Just a quick fun note, I had the honor of helping curate a small part of Dismaland: a program of 24 short films shown on a massive outdoor cinema that will play on a loop day and night. Films include shorts by Santiago Grasso & Patricio Plaza, Kirsten Lepore, The Mercadantes, Ze Frank, Adrien M. & Claire B., Black Sheep Films, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Photo by Christopher Jobson for Colossal

Dismaland is open to the public from August 22 through September 27th, 2015 and information about pre-booked and at-the-gate tickets is available here. There’s also a series of events including a show by Pussy Riot and Massive Attack on September 25th.

I think it goes without saying, but if you have the means, get to the UK.

Update: This post has been updated to include additional imagery, clarification, and other small corrections.

Update 2: We understand that there is difficulty with ticketing at the moment, but unfortunately this publication is not associated with the event directly. Please keep an eye on the official Dismaland website for updates.

Update 3: Added a video by Alex Jefferis.

Alec Earnest recently made an interesting documentary about a house in Los Angeles whose owner died, leaving behind a personal map collection so massive that, upon being acquisitioned by the city's public library, "it doubled the LAPL’s collection in a single day."

When LAPL map librarian Glen Creason, interviewed for the film, first entered the house, his jaw dropped; "everywhere I looked in the house, there's maps," he explains in the film, including an entire floor that was "absolutely wall to wall with street guides."

[Image: From Living History: The John Feathers Map Collection by Alec Earnest].

As the Los Angeles Times described Feathers's house upon its discovery back in 2012, it held "tens of thousands of maps. Fold-out street maps were stuffed in file cabinets, crammed into cardboard boxes, lined up on closet shelves and jammed into old dairy crates. Wall-size roll-up maps once familiar to schoolchildren were stacked in corners. Old globes were lined in rows atop bookshelves also filled with maps and atlases."

It went on and on and on: "A giant plastic topographical map of the United States covered a bathroom wall and bookcases displaying Thomas Bros. map books and other street guides lined a small den."

Urban atlases, motoring charts, pre-Thomas Guide local street maps—Feathers collected seemingly any cartographic ephemera he could get his hands on.

[Image: From Living History: The John Feathers Map Collection by Alec Earnest].

Earnest's short film has more information about Feathers himself, and can seen in full either above or over on YouTube.

Although the story of the collection would lend itself well to longer journalistic exploration—and map librarian Glen Creason has actually written up some thoughts for Los Angeles Magazine—it feels like an amazing jumping off point for a piece of fiction, either cinematic or literary.

Perhaps some sort of Chinatown or True Detective-like property speculation noir, where parcels of land and off-books deals are being tracked by a lone collector through generations of local maps, marking boundaries, street names, omissions; or perhaps something more like "X Marks the Spot," where an old Spanish-affiliated property from the pre-Los Angeles era is rumored to have once had vast brick vaults stocked high with gold, buried beneath the main ranch house, a property long since absorbed into the supergrid of Greater Los Angeles... but the vaults are still down there—along with the gold—if only you can dig up the right map to go find it.

[Image: From Living History: The John Feathers Map Collection by Alec Earnest].

In fact, there could be a whole genre based purely on the unexpected narrative side-effects of people attempting—and failing—to map Los Angeles.

It’s daunting to witness the labor poured into a 365-day creative project, be it taking a daily photo, doing a quick sketch, or even writing a few lines. Edinburgh-based artist Charles Young (previously) gets particularly high marks for completing his daily paper model project that he started a year ago today as a way to explore design, architecture, and model building.

Every single one of his 365 models were designed, cut, and assembled daily using 220gsm watercolour paper and PVA glue, with many of the structures incorporating moving components that Young photographed to create quick animations. The pieces are frequently infused with bits of whimsy and ingenuity, probably the result of any undertaking requiring so many different random ideas. Although he’s now stopped working, Young hopes to eventually display the cityscape somewhere in its entirety. You can find more of his paper architecture on Etsy.

via http://blog.yimmyayo.com/page/3

Frank Furlong was a young illustrator in Detroit during the mid-20th century when that city, fueled on high-octane auto industry dollars, was as much an epicenter of advertising art as New York. Previously Frank described his departure from Detroit and what came next. Today, the conclusion of the story... ~ Leif Peng


Frank writes...

"Word got around and an old rep from Detroit called from L.A. wanting my reel as old clients from Detroit had moved on to various cities and expressed an interest in what I was doing. So work started coming from L.A. and I started flying back and forth, still getting work in Dallas. I landed a 20 minute film for the Southern Baptists of "David and Goliath." This was major work in that market and gave me a chance to use Jack Unruh as a stylist. Turned out the Baptists didn't want me playing fast and loose with their idea of the showdown. No suspense, no drama. It was pretty... but dull. Fortunately I still have one of Jack's BGs... magnificent. It was about this time that Peggy Lee was singing "Is that all there is?" - and I felt the same. So we moved on again."



"Feel free to envy me in that for a couple years Tex Avery and I were the animation department for a commercial production house here in L.A."



"Tex's hands were pretty much crippled by arthritis so he was more a teacher than anything else. At meetings with clients he came up with gloriously funny bits but unfortunately most all of them wanted harder sell so I wound up directing the commercials, with Tex as an adviser. Thank God."



"I fear most of the animation I see where people are trying to emulate Tex really misses the point. He wasn't just speed, he was timing and humor. I remember one such attempt with the resultant comment from Tex that he didn't mind people stealing his stuff, he just wished they'd get it right."



"Tex never understood his place on the Pantheon and was stumped when fans from all over the world showed up wanting to meet him. One of my favorite memories in this end of the biz was directing a spot that called for a female shopper walking away from the camera at it's end. I was not an animator (I kinda backed into it from designing characters and BGs) but, with Tex at hand, I knew what I wanted and was unable to get it from a couple really good people so I tried my hand. When I showed Tex the pencil test his reaction was "Furlong, that's the worst animation I've ever seen. I love it!"



"To Tex it was the gag uber alles. Different from Disney he couldn't have been."


"I worked animation for almost 40 years and I've got to admit it was the most fulfilling work of my time in commercial art, but I never again found the atmosphere I enjoyed with other artists that makes Detroit's glory days unforgettable. Before I wrap up I want to make sure I didn't leave the wrong impression, by maybe concentrating on the fun and love of my time. It was work. And it was hard work. It was frustrating and fulfilling. I feel privileged to have been part of it."

To see Frank's recent work, please visit frankfurlong.com

“Elle met le mauvais pâté sur la table, il menace de la «saigner»”

- La Dépêche (à cause de Eloi)

A handy guide to depravity
2 color risograph printed saddle stitch
44 pages
4.75″ x 6″

Joni Niemelä captures the moments within nature often looked over, the extreme details seen best through macro photography and an imaginative eye. One of Niemelä’s photographic obsessions is the carnivorous plant Drosera, more commonly known as the “Sundew,” a nickname which refers to droplets that collect on the plant similar to morning dew.

Sundews belong to the largest genera of carnivorous plants, including more than 194 species that lure, capture, and digest insects by using glands that cover their leaves. Through Niemelä’s macro photography he is able to zoom in on each dew-like drop, adding a mystical feel to the hungry plant.

Niemelä explains, “Sundews have always fascinated me, and I have been photographing these alien-like plants for several years now. My first first photo series ‘Drosera’ was mostly bright and vibrant, so I wanted to have some contrast to that in my second series of Sundews. I think the colors and the mood of ‘Otherworldly Blues’ reflect aptly the true nature of these carnivorous plants.”

You can see more of the Finish artist’s carnivorous plant and nature photography on his Instagram and Facebook page.

via http://www.sflorg.com/aviation_gallery/military/military_35

Glass artist Ben Young (previously here and here) just shared a glimpse of his latest sculptural works made from layers of cut laminate window panes. The bodies of water depicted in Young’s work are usually cut into cross-sections akin to textbook illustrations, creating translucent geometric islands that can appear both monolithic or chamsic.

“I hope viewers might imagine the work as something ‘living’ that creates the illusion of space, movement, depth and sense of spatial being,” Young says. “I like to play with the irony between the glass being a solid material and how I can form such natural and organic shapes.” The self-taught artist, furniture maker, and surfer has explored the properties of cut glass for over a decade at his Sydney studio. Here’s a bit more about his processes via Kirra Galleries:

Each of Young’s sculptural works are hand drawn, hand cut and handcrafted from clear sheet float glass made for windows, then laminated layer upon layer to create the final form. He constructs models, draws templates, makes custom jigs and then cuts the layers with a glazier’s hand-tool. The complexity comes from the planning phase, where he says “I do a lot of thinking before I even start to draw or cut.” He then sketches the concept by hand and creates a plan using traditional technical drawing techniques: “I work with 2D shapes and have to figure out how to translate that into a 3D finished piece. Sometimes my starting point changes dramatically as I have to find a way to layer the glass to create certain shapes.” The texture and colour of the glass varies in every piece according to its thickness and arrangement.

Young opens a new exhibition of work along with artist Peter Nilsson titled Float at Kirra Galleries this evening in Melbourne.

While we were busy enjoying the spectacular images of Pluto, ESA's Rosetta camera released this image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Read the rest

bleutempete:

Thanks, Google.

Oh wow, this is a treat. The same people behind this experimental drumming video in 2013, Touché Videoproduktion Creative, just released a similar music video featuring a song written and performed by Joachim Müllner. The piece was recorded in 15 different locations and then stitched together only with video editing. All the sounds you hear were recorded on location. Stick with it even after the 1:00 mark, it gets more and more amazing. (via Vimeo Staff Picks)