Active Sculpture Posts
News: Peeing German Cop Sculpture Makes the Police Awfully... Pissed
The German police have their panties in a bunch over a highly inflammatory sculpture of a urinating policewoman by artist Marcel Walldorf. Entitled "Petra", the hyperrealistic figure depicts a female officer crouched, peeing with buttocks exposed. The most chilling detail is her riot baton casually propped on the wall next to her.
News: Artist With Death Wish (No Photoshop Used)
It is conceivable that Chinese artist Lei Wei has always dreamt of being a superhero. Or that he simply has the desire to fly. Or maybe he is constantly confronting a fear of heights. Whatever the impetus of his work may be, Wei creates illusions of a dangerous "reality".
How To: Build a six inch cube out of cardboard
Learn the basic steps to build a 6 inch cube for the Form and Space Foundation class at Otis College of Art and Design. This video is great for any beginning design and art students.
How To: Human Hair Bugs (It's Not How It Sounds)
Hold the repulsion- we're talking art, not lice. Seattle artist Adrienne Antonson makes tiny insect sculptures with recycled human hair and glue, and they're pretty spectacular.
How To: Make a dreamcatcher using only duct tape
Make a dreamcatcher from duct tape and show everybody your creativity and resourcefulness! This tutorial video from Ducttapestuff shows you how to make this object from a roll of duct tape, a hobby knife and a cutting mat. You are limited only by your imagination!
News: NYC's Secret Video Game World
While it's unlikely you'll encounter this caliber of insane pixelated madness in real-life, everyday New York City, you might be lucky enough to walk past a tangible "portal" of sorts. Below, images from Pixel Pour 2.0, an installation on Mercer Street in Soho.
News: Where Man and Machine Should Never Meet
Household appliances enslave random body parts in a series of sculptures entitled "Integration Series" by Joseph Barbaccia.
News: Apple Toys Destroyed With Bullets, Sledgehammers & Torches
We know it's fun to break stuff, but Santa sure isn't going to be as good to Michael Tompert next year. The San Francisco digital imaging and CGI artist destroyed a whole slew of brand-new Apple gadgets as a statement on "our relationship with fetish, fashion, freedom, and bondage."
News: Rainwater + Solar Power = DIY Rainbow Machine
Artist Michael Jones McKean has harnessed nature with his DIY rainbow machine, a mechanism that uses reclaimed rainwater and solar power to shoot man-made rainbows across the sky at whim. High powered jets and fountain nozzles shoot a heavy wall of rainwater into the air, creating a faux rainstorm. Sunshine does the rest.
News: Japanese Artist Mutates Underwater Creatures Into Beautiful, Glowing Specimens
UPDATE: Looks like the previously featured mysterious translucent skeletal specimens aren't the work of unknown scientists, but rather a project by Japanese scientist-turned-artist Iori Tomita. Tomita majored in fisheries as an undergraduate student, and has since used his knowledge to create a beautiful collection of mutated sea creatures, called “New World Transparent Specimens". Tomita creates his specimens by dissolving their flesh, and then injecting dye into the skeletal system.
News: Enter the Trippy Vortex of Optical Distortion
New York based studio softlab's latest installation "(n)arcissus" is an eye-bending site specific installation currently on display at the Frankfurter Kunstverein art center in Frankfurt, Germany. The piece, made with over 1,000 mylar and vinyl laser cut panels, hangs in a stairwell, measuring 9 meters tall from the lobby ceiling.
News: 1,200 Hot Wheels in Perpetual (NOISY) Motion
Chris Burden's latest piece is a portrait of L.A.'s hot mess of traffic, entitled Metropolis II. The artist has constructed a miniature highway system, complete with 1,200 custom-designed cars, 18 lanes, 13 toy trains and tracks, and a landscape of buildings made with wood block, tiles, Legos and Lincoln Logs. Burden tells the New York Times:
News: Eat Me Dresses
Love Lady Gaga's meat dress? Then check out Sung Yeonju's series entitled "Wearable Foods". The recent graduate of Korea's Hong Ik University creates garments out of a wide variety of edibles, including "Tomato #2", which was used by H&M for an ad campaign.
News: Artist Paints the World Invisible
“Western Imports”, by artist Cayetano Ferrer, uses inkjet prints to create site-specific optical illusions in public spaces.
News: Vote Now to Electrocute This Artist
Oleg Mavromati's latest project, Ally/Foe, allows online voters the chance to electrocute the Russian artist at a mere fifty cents a pop. From November 7th to November 13th, viewers of Mavromati's livestream can pay to vote “innocent” or “guilty.” 100 guilty votes result in the artist voluntarily shocking himself in front of the camera, live, with his homemade electrocution machine.
News: Madison Square Park's Eerie, Electrifying LED Ghost Land
Engineer-turned-artist Jim Campbell's recent installation "Scattered Light" converts New York City's Madison Square Park into a ghostly world of light bulb pixels. Campbell dangled 2,000 floating LED light bulbs programmed to display shadowy human silhouettes passing by.
How To: Sharpen your chisel inexpensively
In this tutorial, we learn how to sharpen your chisel inexpensively. This is an art you have to learn if you are going to have to learn to work with tools. To start, you will first need to lay down a piece of paper down on a block of wood. After this, lay a piece of grit down on top of the and grab your chisel. Spray the grit with some water and then use the bevel on the chisel to move it around. Use your body to move the chisel, not just your hands. Continue to do this around the sides until...
News: See a Woven Rug? Look Again
Dutch designers Marcia Nolte, Stijn van der Vleuten, and Bob Waardenburg are the masters of illusion behind We Make Carpets. Look, then look again. What you initially see isn't what it appears to be...
News: Bicycle-Go-Round
Artist Robert Wechsler has salvaged and reassembled 9 bicycles into a carousel arrangement. The best part about the project? Wechsler leaves his bicycle-go-round in public places for strangers to ride. Imagine stumbling across one of these in a public park! Genius.
News: The Soccer Smoothie Maker + 29 More Wonderfully Useless DIY Inventions
UK-based designer Dominic Wilcox's Speed Creating Project presents the challenge of making something creative everyday, for 30 consecutive days. Wilcox's best results are pointless in an utterly delightful way. True junk drawer resourcefulness. My 7 favorites below; click through for all 30.
How To: Recycle plastic bottles to make hanging art
In this video, we learn how to recycle plastic bottles to make hanging art. First, cut the bottom off of the bottle and then cut it in half. Then, cut the other end off of the bottle as well. After this, you can grab the bottle and start to paint your choice of color all over it. Use different colors and transition and blend with them. Lay these on one side to dry when you are finished. When you're done with these and they are completely dry, you can use them to decorate around your house. Th...
News: Lots and Lots of Panties Make For Good Mood Lighting
We've seen chandeliers made from paper, light bulbs and Chiquita banana cartons, so why not ladies' undergarments? Video artist Pipilotti Rist recently showcased her glowing underwear chandelier at New York's Luhring Augustine gallery. Rist's underwear of choice (granny panties) aren't exactly sexy, but there's something oddly interesting about the cascading, pastel skivvies.
News: Quivering, Pulsating Organs Give Life to Electronics
Just in time for Halloween, a collection of creepy, pulsating biological monstrosities designed by interactive media artist Mio I-zawa.
News: Massive Geometric Sculpture Resembles Tsunami of Black Caviar
Designed by a computer, milled by machines and assembled by a team of robots, Federico Díaz's Geometric Death Frequency 141 isn't necessarily the warmest work of art you'll see this year. But it is, nevertheless, quite a lot of fun to behold:
News: Bodies in Plain Sight
Choreographer Willi Dorner's curiously charming “human sculptures” invade New York City as part of the French Institute Alliance Française’s Crossing the Line festival. More images of Dorner's Bodies in Urban Spaces at the Wall Street Journal photography blog.
News: The Astonishing Car-Part Art of James Corbett
Car-part sculptor James Corbett can do things with an automobile that would make a Transformer blush! We call him the Rodin of the Hot Rod. The gallery below should give you an idea as to why.
News: Takashi Murakami Invades Versailles (Much to Old Art Fogie Chagrin)
As some of you may know, contemporary king of kitsch Jeff Koons exhibited at the French palace of Versailles last year. While the exhibition was embraced by many as an exciting context for contemporary art, predictably old fogies and critics of the art market balked.
News: Prosthesis From Hell
Artist Sascha Nordmeyer presents her concept Communication Prosthesis as the “ultimate communication tool,” or the solution to self-expression. Once inserted into the subject's mouth, the prosthesis forces strange (and horrific) expressions.
How To: Incorporate Magic Glos to your polymer clay projects
Magic Glos is a fun product that you can add to polymer clay or resin products to make your project glossy and shiny. You can even apply Magic Glos to paper projects, though you'll need to seal it to prevent bleeding.
News: Psychedelic Paper Bunny Hole
A mass accumulation of $5 donations allowed NYC artist collective SOFTlab to install the below piece, entitled CHROMAtex, at the Bridge Gallery. The piece is constructed with each donator's name printed as a photo paper tile, laser cut and then assembled with everyday binder clips. Elegantly constructed! Previously, Elegantly Crafted Paper Chandeliers.
How To: Melt a vinyl record in the oven and shape it into a plastic bowl
Spice up your next party with some unique party dishes, and we're not talking about food here, we're talking about the actual dishes, specifically bowls. But not just any bowls, vinyl bowls, made from authentic vinyl records. The steps are simple: melt the vinyl record in the oven, then take it out and mold it (safely) into a plastic bowl. Change the shape up each time!
HowTo: Start a Fire With Stuff From Ikea
Apparently IKEA does not sell matches or lighters, so Helmut Smits was forced to improvise. Titled FLAMMA, this conceptual art piece is outdoor survivalism for the resourceful yuppie set.
How To: Work with Polymer Clay for Beginners
Polymer clay is an exciting arts & crafts medium. Actually, "clay" is a misnomer; it contains no true clay, but rather consists of tiny particles of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) combined with plasticizer, which is what makes it malleable like clay.
News: 108 Garbage Bags Become 1 Giant Computer-Breathing Organism
Berlin based artist Nils Vöelker's plastic bag installation entitled "One Hundred and Eight" features 108 plastic bags that inflate and deflate by 216 individually controllable computer cooling fans. Völker originally intended the piece to be a giant display screen, but the end result became something much more compelling. Via Wired:
How To: Make a surreal paper mache hand
If you're looking for ideas for creepy decorations to make for your next Halloween party, or just want to have a little fun, you can use papier mache, cardbord paper, a little foil and some paint to create a surreal cartoon hand.
News: The Barrel of a Gun Has Never Tasted So Sweet
In keeping with today's theme of dark and twisted sweets (edible blood slides), check out this German gun-sucking art project. For a piece entitled Freeze: Revisited, Florian Jenett and Valentin Beinroth made handgun replicas crafted from ice, in an array of flavors, including coke, black currant, licorice, and cherry.
News: Zipper Motorboat "Unzips" the Ocean
Evocative of master Pop artist Claes Oldenburg, Japanese artist Yasuhiro Suzuki built a motorboat facsimile of a massively scaled zipper pull. From an aerial view, it's parting stream resembles a parting zipper. Absurdly fun. Previously, Soft and Squishy Sculptures.
News: Dead Flylashes
Would you glue fly legs to your eyelids? More or less stomach churning than gluing your eyelids to your...eyelids? (Shudder.)
How To: Make your own cookie cutters with Threadbanger
Had enough of cookie-cutter cookie cutters? Make your own! It's easier than you'd think. So easy, in fact, that this DIY guide from Threadbanger can present a complete overview of the process in about three minutes' time. For complete instructions, and to get started a-makin' your own cookie cutters, watch this video guide.
How To: Make a silicone mold of a toy figurine
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a silicone mold of a toy figurine. First, roll out clay and press the bottom of the figurine into the center. Next, use a plastic bottle to create the mold box. Cut the bottom off of the bottle, then press the bottle into the clay to make sure the figurine is centered. Now, press the bottle down into the clay and make the silicone mixture. When you're done mixing, pour it into the bottle. Pour in a stream to avoid any bubbles inside of it. Let this sit o...