Geek Art Gallery: June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Short Film: BrickTube - Aliens

"BrickTube - Aliens" by created by Alex Kobbs from Machinima

"Can a lone Marine survive against the Alien Queen? He'll need the Power Loader if he's going to survive this monstrosity!"

Short Film: Two Scoops

"Two Scoops" by Robert Rodriguez

This silly action-adventure is a deliberate mish-mash of elements suggested by Rodriguez's fans. While the resulting plot line is watchable, it feels like a short version of Spy Kids or Sky High.

"Two Scoops' is a cinematic adventure, created by Robert Rodriguez with the help of his fans. In the film, you will find a scene featuring 'the agent,' a secret weapon, and the monster. Each of these elements was either created or inspired by a fan of Robert Rodriguez. Throughout the film, you will also find missing person posters. Each of these 'missing people' are fans of Robert Rodriguez, who submitted their photos in order to appear in the film."

Mash-Up: My Neighbor Jake

Mashup of Adventure Time and My Neighbor Totoro

"My Neighbor Jake" by Utah-based artist and illustrator JJ Harrison
An Adventure Time / My Neighbor Totoro Mash-Up

Part of a group art exhibition at the Mondo Gallery in Austin, Texas.

Posters: Space-themed Collages

Space-themed Collages by Polish artist Kacper Liec

"Rebel Heart" by Chloe Johnson

Prints are available for purchase from Victory Deluxe. US$9.99

11" x 17" Fine art print on 80 matte paper.

Sculpture: Ichthyosaur Skeleton

Glass Ichthyosaur by Amanda Heath
Copper and glass sculpture of fossilised ichthyosaur mounted on scorched green oak block.
Via: Scientific America

Classic Statuary Candle by Swiss sculptor Urs Fischer
On exhibit at the MOCA April 21 - August 19, 2013

This massive wax sculpture ("Untitled") was is a wax representation of Giambologna's classic statue Rape of the Sabine Women (1579). The twist is that the work contains a wick that slowly melts the statue to introduce an air of the ephemeral to the monolithic piece. As a result of the melting, it becomes quite eerie about half way through the process.

"Cloud Ceiling" by Calgary-based artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett

Cloud made with bulbs at Progress Bar in Chicago

This installation, constructed from reflective mylar and some fifteen thousand light bulbs is equipped with motion sensors that cause the bulbs to shine down on bar patrons as they move through the room. It's as if each customer has their own little rain cloud of light moving with them, lighting their way. Very cool, but I bet that the bartender will be nursing fantasies about riddling the whole thing with bullets by the week's end.

Game of Thrones House Designs by Musenyo

Prints and t-shirts available for purchase from Society6.

Ban Pavilion by Orproject

"Ban is a pavilion which has been constructed for the Beijing Design Week 2012. The Chinese title refers to flower petals, and similar to the way that the shape of a flower is created by its bent petals, Ban is constructed from bent polymer sheets which form a self-supporting structure and create shapes and volume from a multitude of leaves.

Based on Orproject’s research into anisotropic sheet morphologies, the geometries have here been used in a structural orthogonal orientation and form a system of columns, arches and vaults, all based on single-curved elements. The resulting field of lines takes the viewers eye across the structure and into the sky, and like a giant flower Ban is hovering in the air above Beijing’s ancient Hutong roofs."

"Masterplan" by Chad Wright

Photographed by Lynn Kloythanomsup of Architectural Black.

Masterplan is a installation by designer and artist Chad Wright inspired by his own experiences growing up in a sprawling suburb of Southern California. The piece is meant to juxtapose the playful childhood experience of building sand castles on the beach with his brother against the grim, modern-day reality of our current real estate collapse.

Postcard Collection by Dan Kuhlken and Nathan Goldman of DKNG Studios

Available for purchase from DKNG. US$10

I don't know what it is that makes me descibe these as "hipster." Maybe it's the fact that they all look like they've been through an Instagram filter. In any case, they're still beautiful. Check out the DKNG store. They've got plenty of tempting impulse purchases.

Merchandise: Nerdy Bow Ties

As if the act of wearing a bow tie weren't nerdy enough, the Speicher Tie Company has upped the ante with a line of uber-nerdy bow ties in patterns that feature Graphing Paper, TARDIS, and Trombone patterns. Price: £16.67

Adventure Time: Heroes by MomerathAyD

News: New Symbol for Disability Unveiled in New York City

The first 3D Printed Fashion Show in history was held in Malaysia recently. The fashion was intriguing, but I don't expect you'll be seeing it available at the mall anytime soon.

LEGO Unveils 3,000 Brick Sydney Opera House

Olympus Overdrive is a webcomic in which the gods of Greek mythology compete to replace Zeus as the ruler of Olympus. Each deity is rebooted into the modern world and bound to a mortal companion, and together they must try to defeat the other teams. The winner immortal gets Zeus's Thunderbolt, while the winner mortal gets anything they desire.

Rifftrax hilariously carries on the tradition of MST3k. And though the premise is much the same as before, the Rifftrax folks have added something new: MP3 Commentaries. Instead of confining themselves to public domain and titles whose rights are easy to procure, they do commentaries on Hollywood blockbusters in audio form only. The MST3K spin-off movie riffing series just completed a "best of five years" compilation video.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Short Film: Carrot Crave

"Carrot Crave" by Vernon Manlapaz

Too late for Easter, but worth a look anyway, Carrot Crave is a short farce about a rabbit trying to harvest a giant carrot. Watch more about the making of this film.

Short Film: A Short Epic

"A Short Epic" by Lee Daniels

The story of a Knight battles increasingly deadly foes with a punchline for a conclusion.

Posters: All Streets

"All Streets" by Ben Fry, 2008.
Prints available for purchase from Fathom.info. US$30

"All Streets consists of 240 million individual road segments. No other features — no outlines, cities, or types of terrain — are marked, yet canyons and mountains emerge as the roads course around them, and sparser webs of road mark less populated areas. More details can be found here, with additional discussion of the previous version here."

Incredible Origami Animals by Nguyễn Hùng Cường

Hanoi-based paper artist Nguyễn Cường lives creates his original origami pieces from a handmade Vietnamese paper known as Dó. In an interview with All Things Paper, he says that he first got into paper art at the early age of five but that he hasn't embraced origami as his full-time career, despite the fact that his work has been featured in numerous books and magazine feature on the art.

Lecture: Chris Glass on Design

"Chris Glass - Designer for Wire & Twine" from CreativeMornings

Chris Glass, a designer at Wire & Twine, got personal and shared what makes him tick and why design is ‘awesome’ at a CreativeMornings event hosted by 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati.

Photography: Cars We Love

"Cars We Love" by Turkish photographer Cihan Ünalan

"Night Images" by Tatiana Plahkova

"Iron Man: Industrial Revolution" by Juan Doe

I'm seriously digging these stylized Iron Man posters. I feel like this series wants to be made into an anime series, ala Blade.

The Fifth Element Poster Series by Anthony Genuardi

Posters available on his Etsy. US$25

A Song of Ice and Skyrim by Fireofashk

Super Heroes Poster Series by Anthony Genuardi

Prints available from Etsy. US$25

Star Wars: A New Hope Movie Poster by Krisztian Robert

Behind the quest to build a full-scale Millennium Falcon: Since 2005, Chris Lee’s Full Scale Falcon project has been one of those Internet curiosities that seems so epically ambitious that you can’t quite believe it’s actually real. Well, it is. All 114 feet of it, currently waiting to be assembled in a field just outside of Nashville, Tenn.

A Brain Is For Eating is a playfully twisted zombie children’s book written by husband and wife team Dan and Amelia Jacobs “that teaches the little walking undead how to find and enjoy their next meal.” It offers 40 pages of brain-consuming fun and beautiful illustrations by artist Scott Brundage.

Chris Pace creates 8-bit portraits of people on New York City's subways.

Don't go to art school. Why it's a bad idea and what you can do with the money instead.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Short Film: Icarus 1

"Icarus 1" by director Anthony Ladesich

In Icarus 1, a boy strives to escape a life amid a crumbling family by building his own space ship. This piece is a shoestring budget version of Radio Flyer, which happens to have been one of my favorite childhood movies. There's not a lot of story to this one, but it's very well shot.

Short Film:

"Mirage" by Iker Maidagan and Dana Terrace

A young Inuit boy and his dog go fishing and stumble on an unexpected bit of magic.

Webisode: Codefellas

"Codefellas EP1: When Topple met Winters" by Wired

WIRED has just launched a hilarious new animated series called Codefellas. Codefellas is a series of phone conversations between a young new NSA analyst and her agency mentor, the eccentric Agent Topple, who is voiced by John Hodgman. It's a bit like a supercut of all the CIA jokes from American Dad. I'm looking forward to it.

Sculpture: Anthony Howe

"About Face" by Washington-based Kinetic sculptor Anthony Howe

About Face is an impressionist sculpture composed of one hundred individually balanced and weighted copper panels that move in the wind, some swinging freely while other are articulated by spinning stainless steel cups. It's among the most striking of Howe's work, by not the most intricate. Howe specializes in complex kinetic metal sculptures that are as intriguing as they are shiny, and recently, his work has been popping up around the web. Check out some of it below.

“I attempt, with an economy of means, to construct objects whose visual references range from lo-tech sci-fi paraphernalia to microbiological or astronomical models. Utilizing primarily stainless steel armatures that are driven either by hammered curvilinear shapes or flat fiberglass covered discs, I hope the pieces assume a spare, linear elegance when conditions are still, mutating to raucous animation when the wind picks up.”

Rouleaux Papercut dioramas by Anastassia Elias

The intricate cut-outs of Anastassia Elias are created from the most mundane of products - toilet paper rolls - and while we’re not a fan of them stacking up on the bathroom shelf, for her, I might make an exception.

"Ordinary Behavior" by illustrator Kevin LCK

Kevin LCK may be an illustrator, but occasionally, he works in three dimensions. Like his illustrative work, the sculptures are in spare black and white and made using paper. His new series consists of a number of electronic appliances, such as a computer, microwave oven, and a television set. Inside each appliance is a carefully crafted home setting. Explaining the thought behind the series Kevin says

"‘Ordinary Behavior’ is a project about the unhealthy relationship between human and technology in an everyday context. [...] I seeked [sic] to detach the audience from the real world temporarily, provide them with a space to rethink and reconsider the way we behave and think about the relationship between ourselves, objects and environment with technology in a more conscious way."

"Avengers Assemble"
Splatter Paintings by British Columbia-based graphic artist Melissa Smith
Merchandise available for purchase from Redbubble and Society6.

Melissa Smith re-imagines some of the most popular comic book heroes and villains in Pollock-like splatter textures.

Splatter Paintings by Hua Tunan

Tunan is a rising artist in China. He creates spectacular paintings by combining traditional elements of Chinese art and culture with a more modern context and aesthetic.

The Houses of Westeros Poster by Darrin Crescenzi

A Top Nike Designer Rebrands Game Of Thrones: George R.R. Martin paints pictures with words, but what happens when a Nike designer translates these words into actual pictures? Wonderfulness.

Game of Thrones Posters by Phillipean illustrator Beijing Betia

Video: Paper City

"Paper City: Animation" by Maciek Janicki

"Captured by an unseen helicopter, the narrative unfolds through winding roads, erupting forests, and emerging mountains. Paper City grows in one fluid take, with skyscrapers rising from the page—only to crumble, wrinkle, and gently crease back into the ground."

Short Film: Dr. Easy

"Dr. Easy" written and directed by Jason Groves, Richard Kenworthy and Christopher Harding

Based on the novel 'The Red Men' by Matthew De Abaitua

In this adaptation of the 2007 science fiction Matthew De Abaitua novel The Red Men, a robot is sent into a tense situation when police surround a man holed up with a shotgun. Dr. Easy is intended to be a prologue for a full-length adaptation of The Red Men, which I would personally welcome given the quality of the piece.

Street Art: Urban Pixel Art

Urban Pixel Art by Sebastián Duccoli

Les Machines de l’île on the former shipyards in Nantes, France is an unprecedented artistic project. Born from the imaginations of François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice, it is a blend of the steampunk-esque worlds of Jules Verne, the mechanics of Leonardo da Vinci, and the industrial history of real-word Nantes. Read an interview with François Delarozière at The Telegraph.

3D Paper Cutting by Helen Musselwhite

Mario Kart Wedding Cake by Cindy Coelho of The Wedding Cake Shoppe

"Made by Cindy Coelho of The Wedding Cake Shoppe in Toronto for my September wedding. Almost an exact replica of the sketch I made, inspired by the Mario Kart series of games by Nintendo. This cake features four stages from the original game including Mario Circuit, Ghost Valley, Bowser's Castle, and Rainbow Road, with a podium on top with many of the characters of the Mario universe. The characters are plastic toys (the ones in karts actually wind up). All layers are mint chocolate with chocolate chunks and fondant icing. Next to the cake, you'll see a series of mushroom-style cupcakes."

Crafts: TARDIS Cupboard

TARDIS Bookcase Cupboard by CaitlinsDad

Instructions available on Instructables.com.

"I am relatively new to Dr. Who, really didn’t watch it while growing up since it was on TV at odd times and I was still trying to figure out Monty Python. There are many versions of the TARDIS so some details may be mashed-up as I tried to adapt it for construction. I’m not really sure exactly which one this ended up looking the most like but feel free to comment on any authentic details you would like to expound on."

Germinate! Germinate! British photographer Chris Balcombe is a prolific collector of original Doctor Who props, some of which date back to the 1960s. Included in enviable his collection are a number of different Daleks. However the incredibly awesome “Dalek Planter” pictured above was built by Chris himself, who modeled it after the golden Daleks which battled both Christopher Eccleston’s ninth Doctor and David Tennat’s tenth Doctor. Via: Geek Native

Brian Despain is best known for brilliantly rendered oil paintings of his signature whimsical robots amidst desolate landscapes. See more of Despain's work and join the discussion at The Artchival forums. See one of Despain's previous gallery exhibits.

"Adventure Time" by Kristen King

As part of the Results of the Fall 2012 LEGO® Review, it has been announced that the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover will be an official LEGO set!

The Atlas of True Names

Dreamlike Concept Images of Cities that Float High Above the Clouds

How to 3D print your brain

“Land Ship Amagosa” by Jason Allemann is a LEGO walking machine inspired by the “Strandbeest” kinetic sculptures of Dutch artist Theo Jansen. Allemann has posted build instructions on his website.

There Are Gilded Dinosaur Skeletons at Louis Vuitton. I'm honestly not certain how I feel about this. Either Louis Vuitton just became much cooler, or suddenly, dinosaurs are lame.

Twin child selling 3D printed action figures that go beyond traditional prints from 3D scans. Normally, the heads are scanned and planted on body templates. Twin child's figures are created from full body scans. Price: €225 for a 15cm tall figure, €1290 for a 35cm tall figure

Monday, June 24, 2013

Short Film: Metamorphosis

"Metamorphosis" by Tell No One

A brief retelling of Titian's Diana and Actaeon for The National Gallery, London

Short Film: Tonight I Strike

"Tonight I Strike" directed by Dan Gaud

This contemplative short film lands here by virtue of it's robots, but at it's heart is the emotional story of a brother caring for his younger sister in a near-future setting. It stands out for its excellent acting, but it's the Jetson-like robots that you'll remember.

Video: Common Press

"Gizmodo Visits Common Press" by Gizmodo

At the Common Press at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design in Philadelphia, Matt Neff demonstrates how a letterpress works.

Video: How 3D Animation Works

"Despicable Me 2: Steve Carell Explains 3D Animation" by UniversalPicturesUK

Typography: Concrete Typeface

Concrete Typeface by David McGillivray

Inspired by the Brutalist architecture of London, David McGillivray designed a concrete modular typeface using 7 shapes for all 26 letters of the alphabet.

Paintings: Beauty

"Beauty" directed by the Brass Brothers

Melanie Norris shares her passion for finding beauty in people that others may have overlooked. ""My responsibility as an artist is to convey beauty in people. To find the wonderful side of things that may typically be ignored, or just kind of passed on the street ..." Part nine of the "Making Art" series.

Sculpture: Jim Skull Skulls

Jim F. Faure, better known as Jim Skull, creates macabre yet fascinating skull sculptures from a wide range of materials, including papier-maché, rope, string, and tea bags. He cites the cultural heritages of Africa, New Zealand, Asia, and Oceania as being his chief inspirations. Here's a short interview with Jim Skull.

James Bond: The Man With The Golden Gun Birthday Cake by Little Wish Cakes

I can’t decide whether I like the James Bond Birthday Cake or the cake stand better. Both are fantastic, though it would have been perfect if only it had been made for someone turn 007. I guess the effort would have been wasted on a toddler. The cake was an 8" cube Chocolate Mud Cake, with 4 layers of chocolate ganache in-between. The guns are toy which were painted gold.

R2-D2 Cake by For The Love of Cake

Link Round-Up: June 24, 2013

Where do you stand on the Geek v. Nerd chart?

AMMO - oddly beautiful cross section photos of ammunition by Sabine Pearlman, taken in a WWII bunker. The io9 write-up has Redditor identification of the cartridges.

All of Terry Gilliam's animation bits from Monty Python's Flying Circus: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (NSFW)

Satelliteeyes is a Mac app that automatically changes your desktop wallpaper to the satellite view of where you are, right now.

This engraved Wooden Astronaut Brooch would make the perfect gift for any space adventurers and explorers! It is based on the famous photograph of the astronaut Bruce McCandless using the Manned Manoeuvring Unit on a Challenger Mission.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Project: Stardust

"STARDUST: an experiment in generative portraiture" by Sergio Albiac

With the help of the internet, Albiac has set out on a project to capture as many faces in star clusters as he possibly can before his big flickr Stardust Portrait exhibition. If you'd like to participate, just crop down a photo and share it through Google Drive.

“Life is finite. Creativity isn’t. An artist has the potential to create infinite artworks but only some of them will see the light due to the constraint of time. What if we use technology to outsource the creation of art so more of these potential artworks are finally created? Modelling artistic decisions into software would provide a generative assistant that could even survive an artist in the creation of meaningful works of visual art. This project is a first experiment around this concept.”

Tree of Gondor Scarf by The Day was New

Tree of Gondor pattern available for download from Ravelry.

Short Film: Ovo

"OVO" directed by Mihai Wilson of WeWereMonkeys

"Stranded, starving and facing certain death, three intergalactic criminals encounter an ominous harbinger that will change the fate of the universe."

Short Film: The Adjustable Cosmos

"The Adjustable Cosmos" by Adam Duncan

Based on the short story "Space Operetta" by Australian sci-fi author Adam Browne.

After Frederick III receives commands from the Pope to lay siege to Constantinople, Frederick seeks a portent in the stars, only to find that the signs aren't favorable. His court astrologer, Regiomontanus, desperate to offer a solution, suggests traveling into space to move the stars themselves?

Video: Pacific Realm

"Pacific Realm [A Minecrafted Homage to Pacific Rim]" by SteelehouseDigital

The trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming movie, Pacific Rim, re-created in Minecraft.

Crafts: Cross Stitched Mario Maps

Cross Stitched Mario Maps by Cross-Stitch Ninja

A cross stitched map of the second world in Super Mario Bros 3. Finished size: 59 x 18 cm.

Periodic Tableware by Marshall Jamshidi

Periodic Tableware is a line of drinkware based upon the iconic look of laboratory glass. If, like me, you’ve always had a fascination with beakers, but you haven’t felt completely confident in using the container that you just placed hydrochloric acid in as a drinking glass, then this Kickstarter project is for you. The full set will set you back US$260, but you can get a single glass for just US$25. Feel like a mad scientist every time you pour yourself a drink!

Death Star Trench Run by Peter Mowry

Amazon drops pretense, builds villainous super-lair

First, news came down the line that the Rubber Ducky coming to Pittsburgh. Well, now the Andy Warhol bridge is scheduled to be "yarn bombed." Clearly, the movement to legalize Marijuana inside city limits will be progressing presently.

For the OCD art lover in us all, here’s Things Organized Neatly, a blog of items arranged just so and in some kind of order fit for polite company.

The only correct way to propose if your significant other wants to be taken away by TARDIS.

This town has a secret subculture of tiny doors. Everywhere. Maybe for sprites? Maybe for tiny robot friends?

With Man of Steel causing controversy in the nerdosphere, here’s a couple of Superman links of a more historical nature: The story of a mysterious painting of Superman and what became of it, and Superman’s S-Shield through the ages.

"Probably my most documented painting, thanks to Irene Gallo’s camerawork. This is based on Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and started at the Illustration Master Class. James Gurney stopped by and you can see me painting it, among other cool stuff from that week here."

Friday, June 28, 2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Friday, June 21, 2013

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Wednesday, June 19, 2013