It has been a while since I have posted any art, so here we go. This is a time lapse video of the various incarnations of a cooperative mural by several extremely talented artists. They build on each other’s creations and constantly re-design and evolve the piece until it changes form completely and they start over. It covers a whole week in under 6 minutes. Very cool.

[Link]

Artist: Takagi Masakatsu
Song: Girls
[Buy CDs/DVDs|itunes][Artist’s Site]

Found via “Film. Music. Philosophy.”, Takagi Masakatsu has instantly become one of my top favorite multimedia artists. He paints with video, over it, through it, around and into it. Watching his incredible moving paintings is like seeing into a world of true forms. In his world, everything is literally burning with life and color and emotional essence; the sky, the wind, everything. It’s all more real than one could imagine.

The miraculous movement and flow of his works is wrapped up in what he calls the missing color of sound; the expressive ambient musical compositions he writes for each piece. The song in this post is “girls” from his album “Coieda”.

Despite the Macsturbatory propaganda, the Apple Pro video piece on him is of a very good quality, and shows some excellent samples of his work. In this PopJam interview he talks a bit about his art, and there are several other nice clips, though at a much lower resolution. His own site has many many large stills from the works as well.

Simply put, this stuff is effing gorgeous. Links: [1][2][3][4][5]

Here are some mighty impressive watermelon carvings from Takashi Itoh. The multiple colors in a watermelon give the dedicated and insanely meticulous artist a bounty of possibilities.

It has been an exceptionally mild season so far in the Washington DC area; normally we jump from bitter winter to suffocating summer with only a week or two of spring between. This year however, it only snowed once or twice and the spring has been glorious and long.

That’s apparently about to end though, and golden summer swoop in on glistening wings of humidity, so it’s probably an appropriate time to showcase some people’s favorite viney, edible and nutritious summer friend.

There’s something for everyone in the Citrullus lanatus, whether you like them gargantuan, pyramidal, or cubist.

You should probably watch this introduction to watermelon eating if you are a beginner, and even the skilled melon masticator may learn a trick or two.

[Link][2][3][4][5]

Here is some interesting architecture from Kengo Kuma & Associates. It’s a combination of natural elements with geometric repetition and optical illusion. I think if you were there, the shadows and reflections would sort of make it look like two different worlds were connecting. I bet it makes interesting sounds in a strong breeze too.

Still working on part 2 of that hiphop thing. Extra busy with job stuff currently, but that should be slowing down soonish. I’ll have some submissions and new bands coming up after the break as well…

[Link][2]

I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of months, waiting for the owner of the site to respond to my emails. Maybe his address is no longer valid, or my emails are getting filtered, but no response so far. I wanted to mirror his site on mine, and do English translations of his comments on each picture, but I haven’t heard from him to get permission, and I think this stuff is way too good not to be seen so I’ll just give you the link.

This is the largest collection of “urban ruins” pictures I have ever seen anywhere, and they just happen to be from Japan which pleases me to no end. They range vastly, from abandoned amusement parks, to refineries, to apartment blocks, to hospitals, schools, bowling alleys, and on and on and on. Not only are there tons of pictures, but they are all soulfully taken, with love for the environments and plenty of feeling. These kinds of things really give me that craving for exploration and discovery. I want to go to all of these places, and soak in their history. I want to understand the lives they lived, and the lives that were lived in them.

There are some gorgeous pictures in here, he even went to Gunkanjima, which was the subject of one of my first posts!
Click (tsugi he) to go forward and (modoru) to go back.

[Link]

“…Arakawa, who now bases himself in New York, advocates ‘architecture that defies death.’ How? By incorporating inconveniences and obstacles in his designs in order to bring people’s sensory perception back to life..”

I found out about this design team of Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins from an article on The Japan Times Online, and I think they are brilliant. I love eccentric architecture, and as far as that goes, this team is a total winner: They make living spaces with hilly floors and obstacles, and put light switches near the floor and clothes storage on the ceiling. Their designs are colorful, thoughtful, innovative, and playful.

Another great example of their work is an “experience park” at the site of Reversible Destiny, in Yoro Park, Gifu Japan, which you really have to see to understand. Check out the great website and be sure to look at the “directions for use”, and the maps sections for explanations and quicktime vr panoramas from various vantage points. I definitely need to spend a day there.

[Link][2][3]

More interesting art, incidentally from Japan. Here we have some crazy metallic fluid which looks positively villainous when exposed to magnetic fields. I want to say something like, “Putting the goth back in metal,” but that doesn’t really make any sense. Make sure to check out the videos. They are more than half of the fun.

[Link]

Here is some lovely art in what one would normally find a very unlikely medium: the manhole cover.

[Link][2]