Everything Else

News: Evan Penny's Real Life Acid Trip

When viewing Toronto based artist Evan Penny's work, Ron Mueck immediately comes to mind. The clear similarities include a representation which is completely photo-realistic, a playfulness with scale, and the mutually shared background in Hollywood SFX.

News: If the World Were Made of Pixels...

Texas based artist Shawn Smith brings the digital world to reality with his woodcut pixelated sculptures. The combination of a traditional material (wood) with a contemporary concept results in surprisingly fresh work. Plus, the craftsmanship appears to be impeccable. Check out his artist statement below.

News: Cardboard Mechanics

We love it when everyday material is used in a new and unexpected application. Cardboard is something most of us take completely for granted. We need it when we're moving, and that's about it. When Frank Gehry created the cardboard chair in 1972, he blew the minds of both the furniture and the design world. So strong. So durable. So fluid.

News: Olafur in the Sky with Diamonds

Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson totally inspires us here at Wonderhowto. His waterfall installations on the Hudson River. His incredible sun exhibit at the Tate in London. His concepts and execution are dazzling. Plus he has Taschen book that weighs a frickin ton. (Yes. The tonnage does translate to respect.)

News: This $50K Sculpture is Made of What?

53-year-old artist Scottish artist David Mach uses tens of thousands of matchsticks to create sculptures of animals, as well as religious and political icons. He first creates a plastic or fiberglass mold, and then inserts the matchsticks, one at a time. His work sells anywhere from $30,000 to $52,000... unless he sets the piece on fire, of course.

News: Fossilisation Machine Cuts 1,000 Year Process Down to 3 Months

Artist Austin Houldsworth of the UK has come up with a device that drastically speeds up the process of fossilisation. Entitled Two Million & 1AD, Houldsworth is capable of creating a fossil in a few months (which otherwise might require thousands of years). Houldsworth is currently experimenting with objects such as a pineapple and phesant, but ultimately hopes to fossilize a human. Houldsworth proposes:

News: Anal-Retentive Miniscule Pencil Tip Carvings

Dalton Ghetti has been carving teeny, tiny pencil tip sculptures for 25 years. Mr. Ghetti, who owns about as many possessions as a monk, is aware how unusual his craft is. He started carving tree bark when he was a child and experimented with everything from soap to chalk before settling on graphite. It's second nature now, and for 90 percent of his work, all he needs is a sewing needle, a razor blade and a carpenter's or No. 2 pencil.

News: Artist Converts Hummer Into Horse-Drawn Stagecoach

As a protest to American consumerism, NYC artist Jeremy Dean converted a Hummer H2 into a horse-drawn carriage "to show just how screwed and unsustainable the auto industry has become." Dean believes the gas guzzling SUV is the epitome of everything that is wrong with American consumerism. Whatever your political opinion may be, Dean's conversion is pretty striking.

News: Dominoes That Fall... and Get Right Back Up Again

Nothing better than toppling a domino chain and watching them fall. Worst part? Setting them all up again. Created by Los Angeles artist Karl Lautman, the Ouroborus Domino structure reconstructs itself after a single round of five times. Wonderfully clever and whimsical. Previously, Perform the Impossible Balancing Dominoes Trick.

News: Rotating Kitchen Makes One Huge Mess

Remember the room with a rotating view? Dutch artist Zeger Reyers brings us an equally interesting installation, created for the exhibition Eating the Universe at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany. The kitchen has been rotating since November 27th, 2009, and will continue to do so until February 28th, 2010.

News: Obsessively Crafted Sculptures Made of Salt

Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto's medium of choice is none other than your simple household table salt, fragile and completely ephemeral. Yamamoto creates beautiful installations with the medium, salt being a strong symbol in Japanese death culture (as well as several other cultures around the world:  Hinduism, Catholicism, Egyptian and Aztec mythology).

News: Smoke Bombs Make Beautiful Art

What is it about the infamous colored smoke bomb that is so deeply satisfying, so beautiful? Well, first there's an explosion (always fun), which then yields beautiful billowing clouds of saturated color. Check out artist Olaf Breuning's Smoke Bombs, 2008.

News: SPLAT! Art Made from Everyday Household Items

Tom Friedman. One of my very favorite contemporary artists. Friedman injects the wonder into the humdrum. He creates magic from the unsuspected with his incredible sculptures assembled from simple, everyday materials. His materials have included: toilet paper, drinking straws, construction paper, masking tape, toothpicks, bubblegum, spaghetti, toothpaste, soap powder, sugar cubes.

News: Building-Sized Überorgan Emits Heavenly Music and Farts

Tim Hawkinson is an artist who truly inspires. The Los Angeles based artist creates complex, whimsical sculptures with simple mechanics and basic materials. One of his most notable pieces is the art-world-renowned "Uberorgan", a giant football field sized, fully-automated bagpipe, cleverly constructed with plastic sheeting and pieces of electrical hardware.

News: Paper-made Girls

Korean artist Osang Gwon creates more than just alluring paper-made girls. Gwon has moved past traditional papercraft, taking volumes of photographs of his subjects and constructing sculptural forms from the carefully arranged 2D images. Gwon shows in galleries, and has done commissioned projects for both Fendi and Nike.

News: Room With a Rotating View

British artist Richard Wilson's "Turning The Place Over" holds affinities to Gordon Matta-Clark's site specific "building cuts" from the seventies. Wilson created a rotating cut facade, which reveals the building's interior with each turn.