Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wonderful Pixellated Sculptures Art by Shawn Smith
Every now and then you come across an artist whose work just blows you away. One such is Shawn Smith who, as you can see, kindly gave me permission to feature him and his work in this article - all images and quotes are courtesy of his website. He is a genuinely talented guy, and I love what he does, as I'm certain you will.
Fascinated by the fuzzy intersection between the digital world and reality. Shawn Smith typically makes rather whimsical sculptures from tiny cubes of wood that are tactical, three-dimensional versions of pixelated images - 're-things' is what Smith calls his sculpture.
"I see (the resurgence of an interest in drawing) not as a full rejection, but as the opposite starting point from digital media," Smith says. "Drawing has 'thingness' to it that's very important. There's a directness and immediacy to its physicality. I can put my hands on it."
"My work investigates the slippery intersection between the digital world and reality. Specifically, I am interested in how we experience nature through technology. When we see images of nature on TV or on a computer screen, we feel that we are seeing nature but we are really only seeing patterns of pixilated light."
"For the past few years, I have been creating a series of 'Re-things'. These whimsical sculptures represent pixilated animals and objects of nature. I find images of my subjects online and then create three-dimensional sculptural representations of these two-dimensional images. I build my 'Re-things' pixel by pixel to understand how each pixel plays a crucial role in the identity of an object. Through the process of pixilation, color is distilled, some bits of information are lost, and the form is abstracted. Making the intangible tangible, I view my building process as an experiment in alchemy, using man-made composite and recycled materials to represent natural forms."
"In my building process, I start with a full sheet of material like plywood or MDF and cut it into 1/2" strips of varying lengths--typically 1/2" to 2' long. I then hand-dye each strip of wood individually with dyes mixed from ink and acrylic paint. I mix each color by hand to create a huge palette of colors in order to give the sculpture more depth and visual interest before assembling the object."
Photo: Shawn Smith
"My conceptual and material practice explores identity, color, labor, technology, and science. As an object maker, I am interested in relating these concepts back to the symbiotic connection between the hand and the 'thing'. This relationship is a basic principle in the development of the modern human--biologically, technologically, culturally, and scientifically. I am fascinated by the importance of the 'thing' in our history and how this relationship is changing with technology, as we become more removed from first hand experience by observing the world through a screen."
Photo: Shawn Smith
"In 2006, I was commissioned to create a monumental sculpture by SKS Investments/ X-4 Dolphin LLC in San Francisco's Mission Bay district. I designed a pixilated stainless steel fountain that appears to be frozen in mid-air. The pixilated fountain is made of varying lengths of 2" square tubing that are lined up vertically and overlapped to create pixels. The tubing remains open at the top and bottom so that from above or below the sculpture, viewers are able to see through the tubing, giving the fountain a feeling of transparency like water. The sculpture has a mirror finish to reflect the colors of its environment. As people enter the building, they pass underneath the sculpture, giving them the sense that water is pouring over them."
Photo: Shawn Smith
Shawn Smith was born in 1972 in Dallas, TX where he attended Arts Magnet High School and Brookhaven College before graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, MO with a BFA in printmaking in 1995. Smith received his MFA in sculpture from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2005. He has received artist-in-residencies from the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA and the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. In 1996, Smith was a recipient of the Clare Hart DeGolyer grant from the Dallas Museum of Art. In 2006, he was commissioned to create a monumental public sculpture in San Francisco, CA. Smith's work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in France. Smith currently resides in Austin, Texas.
To me, there is no doubt that Shawn Smith is a major talent. If you visit his website, then looking at his biography, awards and shows staged as well as those upcoming, you will appreciate how many thousands of other people feel the same way.
Photo: Shawn Smith
Photo: Shawn Smith
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wonderful Black & White Photography Art
We were taking shots in the southwest of Serengeti, Tanzania. This location is known as Hidden Valley and was full of animals from the great migration.
This pregnant zebra came out of the dust for a second to take a look at me. She was the perfect poser! Head straight, ears up, legs in line, tail accentuating her curving body while the herd in the background created the perfect stage of dust!
—Caption by Giedo van der Zwan
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Automat, New York City
Patrons line up "like payday depositors" in a bank, waiting to drop a few nickels in a slot for favorites like baked beans and Salisbury steak, freshly made each day and kept in "post-officelike boxes." This New York City Automat, described in the March 1942 National Geographic, was part of an East Coast chain that sold 72,000 pieces of pie a day.
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École des Beaux-Arts, Paris
At the École des Beaux-Arts
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Atom Bomb Test, Bikini Atoll
The second atomic bomb tested in Operation Crossroads
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Boy and Turkey, Guatemala
A boy playing in a marketplace with a strutting old gobbler entertains Chichicastenango visitors by doing the son, a dance popular throughout Guatemala.
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Attack Bomber Assembly, California
Nose assemblies for Douglas A-20 attack bombers
Antarctica Lab
Dr. Edward Atkinson in his Antarctica lab
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Festival, Thailand
Locals do everything they can to bring in good luck and get rid of bad luck. For ten days straight fireworks are thrown at the processions, and many men and women pierce their cheeks with huge objects like meter-long poles, guns, and lamps.
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Divers, Louisiana
Swimming and diving are on the curriculum of Newcomb College. The college-for-women branch of Tulane University bears the name of H. Sophie Newcomb, the only daughter of Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb, whose gifts to the institution amounted to three million dollars.
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Light and Shadow, Agra, India
The fall of light, Agra
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Maynard Owen Williams Self-Portrait
Reflection of photographer Maynard Owen Williams in a storefront window
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Bus Terminal, New York
This Month in Photo of the Day: Images from the National Geographic Archive
Travelers rest on benches in a Greyhound bus terminal.
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Japanese Destroyer, Pacific Ocean
Final moments of a Japanese destroyer
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Crowded Street, Kathmandu
Kathmandu has become such a chaotic place. The streets are crowded and everyone is doing their own thing. This image depicts the activities on the street, which juxtaposes with the stillness of the mother and child on the street.
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Persian Scholars, Iran
With the exception of their veils, these girls of Barfurush, near Meshed-i-Sar, look, dress, and act like American girls in an Italian district—an interesting sidelight on the New Persia.
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Gingerbread Fair, Paris
This Month in Photo of the Day: Images from the National Geographic Archive
At the Gingerbread fair, Place de la Nation
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Horse Rider With Boleadoras
"When Luis Marden dropped in by air from Säo Paulo, he demanded gauchos…"
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High Heels on Cobblestones, Louisiana
Because the region around New Orleans is composed of alluvial soil, there is no paving material close at hand. More than a hundred years ago the city offered a bounty to ships which would bring to the port rock ballast instead of sand. The first cobblestone pavement was laid on Gravier and Magazine Streets in 1817.
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Sampling Arctic Ocean Water
Fridtjof Nansen takes a reading of deep Arctic Ocean water temperature as part of the expedition's scientific work. Astronomical, meteorological, and oceanographic data were consistently collected.
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Tokyo Street
This is a gentleman rounding a corner in southern Tokyo along the railway.
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Children Playing in Rain, Bangladesh
This Month in Photo of the Day: Nature and Environment
Children playing in seasonal rains are a great sight of monsoon and six seasons here in Bangladesh. The effect of climate change is making this rare as less or more rain is causing great disturbances around the country. Heavy rain causes floods and landslides, and makes millions homeless and takes the lives of many others. The climate should behave like normal for our future children to play like this in monsoon rains, and people must take responsibility to reduce pollution and save our world.
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Lowland Gorillas, Bronx Zoo
Animal Photos
This photo of two lowland gorillas was taken at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. This is part of a series of photos I call Bronx Zoo Diaries.
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Hidden Face
I found this woman waiting for her husband after finishing her work. Her eyes are very interesting for me.
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Humpback Whales, Tahiti
When you swim with humpback whales it's not their size that overwhelms you but their beauty. You want to stay in that moment forever. These three humpbacks came over to me to check me out. They put on a beautiful dancing display that makes your heart stop and you wish for the moment to never end. When they were done ten minutes later they took off but left me with amazing memories. Tahiti, French Polynesia.
This photo and caption were submitted to the 2008 International Photography Contest. See photo galleries, play jigsaw puzzles, and download wallpaper of images from more than 105,000 submissions.
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Lightning Model
Westinghouse engineers use this miniature system for tests. Upper wires detour the three-million-volt harmlessly to the ground. Lower wires, which carry the power load, are thereby protected against lightning, which might shut off the current or damage equipment. Even the cows are man-made.
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