Eleven hours saw a part of the vast expanse of ultra-light mocha finished. Down to 3 skeins left, which won’t be enough to finish, but it will get me most of the way. Current Hours: 959. Skeins used: 139. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
Sunflower. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
“Where trees don’t grow” Wall for Artscape 2016 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
From Spring Remake 2016 in Snösätra, Stockholm.
Stockholm 2015.
Wall from “Spring remake 2015” in Rågsved, outside Stockholm, Sweden.
Linus Lundin – who works under the pseudonym Yash – has done most of his work in the Swedish capital, where he has lived for the last five years after moving from the small town of Gnesta.
His colourful murals are marked by their emotive faces and depictions of animals interacting with humans. Each one takes around five days to complete – not including the extensive planning and sketching that is required beforehand.
“It’s important to get the expressions right in my paintings,” he explained.
“I get my inspiration from my own feelings and the feelings of those around me. I ponder about and depict security, the search for something, and anxiety quite a lot. I also think a lot about the relationship between humans and animals.”
Incredibly, Lundin has no formal education in art beyond high school level. Instead, he developed his style by putting in hours and hours of hard practice.
“I just went out and painted, but there’s a lot of time and work behind everything,” he noted.
“I’ve painted murals for over ten years now, but they didn’t always look like they do now. Finding my aesthetic has been a long process. I was lucky enough to have a wall in the small town I grew up in where I could develop my work legally.”
The goal is to fund the publishing of two large-scale, hardcover, coffee table books. This is my third Kickstarter campaign, and like last year I will produce a book featuring wounded veterans of the Gulf Wars, Invictus and a second book featuring male figure studies using fitness models from around the world, Adonis Blue.
Invictus
Over the past year I have photographed fifteen severely wounded veterans from the Gulf Wars, all of them amputees who lost a limb or multiple limbs from IED attacks while deployed. Of these fifteen veterans, ten served in either the United States Army or Marines. Five served in either the British Army or The Royal Marines. The format and size of Invictus will be the same as last year’s Always Loyal: hardcover photo book with dust jacket, 96 pages or more and measures 13.5 X 10.4 inches. Like last year I will include individual bios for each veteran. All the images are already photographed and only need to be organized and published. When the book releases, I anticipate a full retail price of $79.
Started on the light mocha section of the background, and naturally, I don’t have near enough skeins of ultra-light mocha to finish. So, I’ll work on it until I run out, then do something else, I guess, until I can replenish my supply. Just checked, and found one more skein, so that makes 6 and a quarter skeins to burn right through. Current Hours: 948. Skeins used: 135.
Butch Johnson, owner of Champion Tattoo Company, works on a former US Marine at his art studio in Washington, DC, on April 18, 2016. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski).
More than 20 percent of all Americans have at least one tattoo, and for millennials that number jumps to almost 40 percent. What could be more intimately a part of you than a work of body art permanently inked into your skin? You probably assume that the tattoo on your body belongs to you. But, in actuality, somebody else might own your tattoo. Recent lawsuits and events have shown that tattoo artists and companies can have intellectual property rights in tattoos worn by others, including both copyright and trademark rights.
Tattoo-related lawsuits are not uncommon. Just this year, a group of tattoo artists for several high-profile athletes, including Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of the popular NBA 2K video game franchise because tattoos they created appear in NBA 2K16. The case is still pending in a New York federal court.
[…]
And the issue isn’t limited to celebrities and athletes. For example, Sam Penix, a coffee shop owner living in New York, was threatened with a trademark infringement lawsuit in 2013 based on the “I [coffee cup] NY” tattoo he has across his fist. Penix’s shop logo featured his tattooed fist grabbing a coffee portafilter between the words “Everyman Espresso.” The New York State Department of Economic Development, which owns the “I ♥ NY” trademark, sent Penix a cease-and-desist letter because it believed the logo infringed its trademark. To avoid being sued, Penix agreed to several terms, including some restrictions on how his fist could (and could not) be photographed.
[…]
Until courts and legislators create innovative legal solutions, both tattoo artists and people with tattoos should consider copyright agreements that specifically outline who owns a resulting tattoo. People with trademark tattoos should be aware that displaying their tattoos visibly in commerce could lead to liability. Otherwise, tattooed skin may end up with several owners with competing interests – and even if you live within that skin, you may not own the art that adorns it.
I’ve been thinking about getting more ink. If I do, it will be the same as my existing ink – my own original art work.
The full article is at Raw Story.
Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine.
Watching Kumo take to the streets is like the live-action version of a CGI flick: A giant alien spider lands in a historic city, its eight legs weaving around buildings as it spews venom into the crowds. Dreamt up by street theater company La Machine, Kumo has since toured Yokohama, Beijing, Reims, and Calais. Earlier this month, it was finally left to roam the French city of Nantes, where La Machine is based, and where the spider was “born” in 2009.
Kumo’s technical data sheet is staggering: At rest, it is 19′ high, but can attain a height of 43′ once it’s up and walking. When it rolls up into a ball for a nap, it measures 20′ in diameter. When it sprawls its legs out, that “legspan” grows to 65′. It can spit out venom (in reality, a fine water mist) and breathe out clouds of fog, all while regarding the crowd suspiciously with its moving eyes. A team of 35 to 40 people worked on its construction for nearly a year—first drafting it, then bringing it to life the 38-ton structure of wood and steel.
Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine.
“We wanted to use its eight legs to turn it into a dancer,” says François Delarozière, the founder and artistic director of La Machine. “This is why we made a base on wheels, so it could move quickly and have the ability to communicate, and be expressive, through movement.” During a performance, 16 people are required to activate the hydraulic and mechanical framework that helps Kumo walk through narrow city streets, wriggling around trees and lampposts. Most are seated aboard the giant, controlling the motion of its legs, eyes, head, and abdomen, and setting off the fog and water effects. Down on the ground, a conductor walks alongside Kumo and directs the whole theatrical team.
Original drawings for the giant spider, courtesy of La Machine.
The Creators Project has the full story. After its show in Nantes this summer, Kumo is scheduled to take a rest. But next stop: Ottawa in 2017. To learn more about La Machine, click here.
Since I’ve been posting work on the tree quilt, I decided to show a small bit of a different part of the process. When I first started, I was trying to figure out how I wanted to lay the tree out, so I decided to spend a day outside with my camera and sketch book, staring at trees. The pursuit of shape resulted in a great many photos and even more sketches, many of which were incorporated into the tree quilt. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
For a short while, anyway. One and a half hours saw the rest of the cocoa done. As this is another seriously high pain day, I’m calling it good. Click for full size. Current Hours: 940. Skeins used: 133.
Click for full size. Current hours: 939. Skeins used: 132. I have 3.5 skeins of this particular colour left. So I’ll have enough. Been a long bloody day, as I started at 4 a.m.
Cycle is a new animation from art director Kouhei Nakama that uses a wide range of physics-based particle animations to explore the human form. Music by Kai Engel. Via Vimeo Staff Picks. Full of ooohs and aaaahs, this.
Click images for full size.
Over 150 years ago a group of anonymous Japanese artists created a 34-ft long scroll titled He-Gassen (屁合戦), literally: “Fart Battle.”
The scroll, which was created during the Edo Period (probably around 1846) in Japan, consists of roughly 15 different scenes depicting people directing their farts at other people or objects. There are people farting at each other. There are people farting through objects. There are people combating farts with fans. There are bags of farts being released. Trees and cats get blown away by farts. And the scroll culminates with a divine gust of flatulence knocking over a ceremony and causing complete and utter chaos.
The scroll in its entirety was digitized by Waseda University and can be seen in hi-res format by accessing their database.
Via Spoon & Tamago.
In an effort to dismantle the film industry’s historically stereotypical portrayal of Native actors in buckskin, feathers and painted faces, Los Angeles-based media professional and photographer Pamela J. Peters (Navajo) has created a series of photographs entitled Real NDNZ Re-Take Hollywood, in which contemporary Native American actors recreate classic Hollywood portraits of movie stars such as James Dean and Audrey Hepburn.
[…]
The seven Natives involved in the project include actors from the Dakota, Cherokee, Crow, Blackfeet, Shoshone, and Seminole nations. They are Noah Watts (Crow /Blackfeet), Shayna Jackson (Dakota / Cree), Deja Jones (Shoshone), Kholan Studie (Cherokee), Krista Hazelwood (Seminole), JaNae Collins (Dakota) and Brian Vallie (Crow).
“All participants have a passion to work in the film industry, but they also have ties to their tribal communities and enjoy sharing their respective backgrounds with each other,” says Peters.
“I would like people to think critically about my photos, and hear the young performers’ stories about how they navigate an extremely competitive field of entertainment. Furthermore, I want society to know that we are many nations, with many stories, and that we can make a conscious choice to reshape perceptions of modern Indians today.”
The showcase will take place at These Days LA at 118 Winston Street, Los Angeles, 90013 from Aug 4th to 7th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Information about the show can be found online. Her exhibit will showcase 24 images and a short video of her project. On Saturday, Aug 6th live art and drumming will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
More information about Pamela J. Peters can be found on her website: www.PamelaJPeters.com.
Via ICTMN.