Casting Trump As A Marvel Villain.

trump-modok-spider-gwen-188535

Donald Trump is the latest villain in the pages of Marvel Comics. The presumptive nominee for the Republic Party in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election appears this week in Spider-Gwen Annual #1, as a new take on the classic villain MODOK – a villain, it should be noted, known for his gigantic cranium and tiny hands.

In this alternate Earth, where Gwen Stacy has become Spider-Woman after receiving the spider-bite that got Peter Parker in the regular Marvel Universe, Donald Trump becomes M.O.D.A.A.K., the Mental Organism Designed As America’s King. In the original conception of the character, he was Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, for those keeping tabs.

In the story, Trump-MODAAK yells at some vaguely brown-skinned people to get “back on your feet, foreign filth!” to which they reply that they’re from Waco, Texas. The Captain America of that world smashes him in the face with her shield, while the aged Steve Rogers of that world narrates, “It’s a weird new world out there, Cap… Full of enemies that look and think and act too much like the demons in my mirror. The monsters men like me have never been able to defeat alone. This nations’ anger and greed and fear are still very real.”

trump-modok2

Full story and some pages at Comicbook.com. Women superheroes? An all too realistic villain? Sign me up.

Cool Stuff Friday

An enchanted forest! Oh, what a wondrous thing it would be to walk this forest. I love things that can make me feel like a small child, completely lost in wonder, and I had that moment a time or two just watching the video.

Stock up on breadcrumbs and magic beans: inspired by folklore and fairy tales, Foresta Lumina is an illuminated, spellbinding night trail created by new media and entertainment studio Moment Factory. Transforming Parc de la Gorge in Coaticook Canyon, Canada, into a multi-sensory installation, the dark forest becomes the canvas for an immersive public exhibition. Step into this mesmerizing environment in our new documentary, above, and join us on our private tour of the magical woodland—we just hope you’re well enough versed in The Brothers Grimm to find your way out.

Open through October 11th, the semi-permanent installation is a supernatural symbiosis of varying arts media, set along the route of one stunning pathway. As visitors enter Foresta Lumina, they’re brought on a mile-plus-long journey wherein light art, video mapping, architectural installation, and more fuse within one seamless environment. Split into seven sections, each folk tale and character arc is represented by a unique multimedia effect.

Forest1

Forest2

Full Story at The Creators Project.

Pulse Miami Beach: Open Call for Artists.

Pulse

PULSE PLAY curators Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Jampol. Photo by Ventiko.

It can be tough for any artist get their work to a fair, but at PULSE Miami Beach, one initiative is trying to change that. PLAY is the contemporary art fair’s dedicated platform for video and new media work, and for the first time, the 2016 edition will open submissions to the public, allowing artists to bypass the traditional necessity of gallery representation—and the hassle, networking, and expense that can entail—and directly submit their work to the cutting-edge platform.

Works included in PULSE PLAY are curated by new minds each year, and this year, PULSE director Helen Toomer selected Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Jampol. The duo are known for their 2012 founding of Gateway Project Spaces, a Newark, NJ arts hub with 50,000 square feet of studio spaces, 7,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, and a multidisciplinary residency program. The space morphed out of the non-profit Project for Empty Space, which is now included in the Newark complex. As a curatorial team, Wahi and Jampol tell The Creators Project, they aim to “poke and prod” the audience, showcasing socially-engaged work by artists whose narratives might otherwise slip under the radar.

“We aren’t concerned with whether an artist is the ‘biggest name’ in a gallery’s roster, or if he/she/they has a big social media following. Our big motivator is conceptually strong, aesthetically solid, and technically sound video and new media work,” they explain.

The Creators Project has the full story. This is a great opportunity, artists, jump on it if you can.

Playing with a Portuguese Man o’ War.

Ansarov_01

Ansarov_05

An ex-military photographer, Aaron Ansarov retired from the Navy in 2007, transforming his skills to create commercial work for magazines and focus on his own practice. Fascinated with marine life since his days growing up in Central Florida, his series “Zooids,” focuses on detailed images of Portuguese Man o’ War. Ansarov photographs the creatures on a homemade light table while alive, then immediately releases them back into the wild where they were found.

Once shot and the Man o’ War are returned, each image receives minimal manipulation, as Ansarov makes only slight adjustments to the photograph’s exposure, contrast, and vibrancy to highlight the vivid details of each venomous siphonophore. The completed works are otherworldly, appearing like alien illustrations rather than portraits, with deep blues, purples, and pinks unfurling in every direction.

As if that wasn’t impressive enought, Ansarov does some amazing work with humans, too, which you can see after the jump, because naked people. NSFW.

[Read more…]

Midnighter and Apollo Reuniting this Fall.

The cover of Midnighter & Apollo No. 1, which will go on sale in October. Credit CD Comics

The cover of Midnighter & Apollo No. 1, which will go on sale in October. Credit CD Comics

Gay Pride Month ends today, but DC Comics is giving fans something to look forward to this fall. In October the company will publish Midnighter & Apollo, the first part of a six-issue mini-series that reunites the two heroes, who are gay and have an on-again off-again relationship.

“They have a firmer idea of who they are, and they’ve become stronger and more confident together,” said Steve Orlando, who will write the comic, which will have interior art by Fernando Blanco and covers by the artist known as ACO.

The characters, who made their debut in 1998, were gay analogues of Batman (Midnighter) and Superman (Apollo). They dated, eventually married, adopted a child and, thanks to comics, had their history rebooted. Midnighter most recently headlined his own series, which ended in March. The comic, written by Mr. Orlando, was lauded for its portrayal, which balanced the hero’s volatile global adventures — and a friendly flirtation with Dick Grayson, the former Robin — with a domestic life that included using dating apps and being sexually active.

I’ve never been much of a DC fan, but when they do something like this, I’m happy to get onboard. Way to go, DC! Full story here.

A Fallen Angel and Artistic Irritation.

First up, a stunning Fallen Angel sculpture, from Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, who always produce phenomenal work, even when it does enter disturbing territory.

AF

AF1

AF2

I love this piece, the one disturbing aspect for me are the chicken wings. In my head, chicken wings belong on a chicken, not a person, angel or no. The rest of it is so beautifully done, and the angel being netted for public consumption is terribly poignant. I put this down as another win for Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Visit their gallery.

For Angel, however, they left the controversy for the piece itself, and worked with mainly fiberglass, silica gel, and stainless steel to create the startlingly realistic body.

Via The Creators Project.

Moving on to the irritation: Christo. I’m not sure what it is exactly, that leaves me cold and highly irritated with most everything Christo has ever done, but his latest is no exception. It’s been making art headlines all over, all with the same stupid fucking theme: Walking on Water, Oooh! Aaargh. No. It’s walking on fucking piers, not walking on water. It’s a big, expensive, temporary bridge. Perhaps this is the core of what bugs me about Christo’s stuff – it’s all a cheat.

Pier1

Pier

Not impressed. Via The Creators Project (and every other art site).

Bodily Fluids Have Never Looked This Good.

Images courtesy of the artist.

Images courtesy of the artist.

An ecstatic mix of purples, greens, reds, and yellows flow in and out of one another in FLUID, a new series from Maggie West. Colored lights illuminate her subjects, globs of bodily fluid produced by modern-day renaissance man Christopher Zeischegg, with whom West recently entered a relationship. Better known by his former porn name, Danny Wylde, Zeischegg’s also an accomplished author and one-half of the metalcore duo Chiildren. Mixed in with the images of his blood, spit, and semen are snapshots of West’s own bodily fluids, recreating a chemistry on glass plates that’s usually only limited to the bedroom. Now, the full series appears exclusively on The Creators Project.

Bod1

“These body fluids are an essential part of both our biological makeup and the procreation process. They simultaneously have the power to transmit deadly diseases and create new life,” West tells The Creators Project. Her repertoire is a devoted study of sexuality in all its facets, from the female and male forms to a book that captures intimate kisses between couples. Unlike other examples of bodily fluid-turned-art, like Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ, Milo Moiré’s vaginal egg excretions, and Sarah Levy’s menstrual Donald Trump portrait, West’s photography doesn’t feel transgressive. “Through this series, I wanted to find an abstract way to examine the beauty of each substance,” she says.

Bod2

See more of Maggie West’s work on her website, and learn more about Christopher Zeischegg here.

The full story and images at The Creators Project.

Skin Deep.

Laurence Sessou, in Women with Tattoos. All photographs: Eleni Stefanou

Laurence Sessou, in Women with Tattoos. All photographs: Eleni Stefanou

Eleni Stefanou’s photographs of women with tattoos disrupt our ideas of gender and beauty – and challenge ideas about the types of bodies that may be displayed.

Full article here.