The Astonishing Art of Arcimboldo

Rudolf II - Holy Roman Emperor - Wikimedia

You meet them sometimes: people who just seem to have been born out of their time, somehow not quite at home or comfortable in the time period in which they find themselves. As far as his art is concerned, this is certainly the case with Giuseppe Arcimboldo (left).

You might, unless you know his work already, think that the above was created at some point in the twentieth century.

Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit, c 1590 - Wikimedia

Yet Arcimboldo was born in 1527. His conventional works have fallen in to oblivion but what survive are his masterful and imaginative portraits which are made from objects, such as fruit, flowers, fish, books and vegetables. These everyday items are arranged so that they become recognizable as something quite different.

Lila

Hankies out. This is one of the most charming short films I have seen in a while and if this doesn’t bring a tear of joy to your eye then I am afraid nothing will! Lila is a young woman who helps people through her art, in a way you might not quite expect. At its heart I think Lila (written, animated and directed by Carlos Lascano) is a single extended visual metaphor about how individuals can help others through small acts of kindness. Hankies at the ready? Then press play…

Vhils: Graffiti Art as Architectural Archaeology

Disintegrating walls and peeling posters may not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact I would venture that to most people they are a rather dispiriting sign of urban decay.  Yet to one artist the sight of crumbling architecture and aged billboards posted one atop another atop another are a creative spur. Vhils creates art not by adding but by taking away.

Image Credit Flickr User Lord Jim

Image Credit Flickr User Salotte

Vhils, born Alexandre Fartos in 1987 in Portugal, chips, slices, cuts and hammers his remarkable art out of the sides of buildings.  It started when he was a youth in Lisbon.  Portugal’s recent history meant that billboards advertising expensive consumer goods could be pasted directly over posters of socialist ideals left over from the 1974 revolution in a layer which could, depending on the amount of posters, centimeters thick.

ROA – Mysterious Belgian Street Artist

You may not be aware of the distinctive art of ROA but the first thing you will acknowledge is that this mysterious Belgian street artist likes animals. No, let’s put it in a better way – there is an obsession here. Growing up in Ghent, Belgium in the eighties the artist had modest artistic beginnings, with art under bridges and walls.

Image Credit Flickr User sabeth718

Celebrating Edvard Munch's 150th: It's Going to be a Scream

History did not record how Edvard Munch felt about being remembered by most people for just a 'single' work.  It could be argued that he brought this on himself, having produced no less than four versions of his most famous painting, The Scream.  Yet, on the 150th anniversary of his birth, The Scream has a ubiquity only equalled by a handful of other works of art.  Munch’s birth country of Norway is currently awash with Munch mania with special retrospectives of his works, plans afoot to build a new museum in his memory and a multitude of flash mob style scream-ins. So what could you do to commemorate Edvard and his most famous creation on his 150th cake day?  Here are a few ideas.

Image Credit Flickr User sketchachick

It has to be said that you may have to be in possession of some artistic talent for your homage to be successful (or even recognizable).  The decoration of various foodstuffs seems to be popular when recreating The Scream.

Reconnected – Artist Reunites Illegally Felled Trees with their Stumps

Just over 400 years ago an infamous witch trial took place in Pendle, England. Last year, a group of artists were asked to commemorate the anniversary of the hanging of the ten innocents accused of practising witchcraft. Artist Philippe Handford, in a moment of pure inspiration as far as I am concerned, used a sad example of modern day vandalism to reconnect with the cruelty of yesteryear victimisation of the supposed supernatural.  You may need a tree stump removal expert in Austin, but these are staying in place for the foreseeable future.

Ben Wilson: The Chewing Gum Man

A couple of years ago we featured the work of Ben Wilson (left) who has scoured the streets of London for years with one thing of his mind – to transform the gum that the people leave behind in to art.  So it was great to discover this short film by Ed Elmsley and Tom Millen.

They were able to follow Wilson around and record his thoughts and feelings as he created his chewing gum art.  We get a glimpse in to the process of how Wilson ensures that his work lasts more than a few days.  It also serves as a snapshot of the UK under the present government and how, despite effectively disenfranchising a lot of people, there are still those who chose to voice their dissent in a less than usual manner.

Brett Neal Store Launched

Brett Neal, whose brand is epitomized by his highly collectable oil painted and stainless steel 'Beagle in Boots' and 'Luvbuloon' pieces, has taken steps to make his work more accessible by developing an online store; brettnealstore.com.

Brett is a British artist who has been creating a diverse body of work for over 30 years.  Notably his achievements over the years include a host of portraits of the great and good.  Overwhelmingly Brett is known for his love of perfection and simplicity.

NFN Kalyan – Nature of the Beast 5 and 6 - Kardashian and Mandela

Over the last year Kuriositas has featured Miami based artist NFN Kalyan’s ongoing project, Nature of the Beast. He has now released the 5th and 6th installments in the series – Kim and Nelson, two very disparate souls, it has to be said!

Stickwork Cathedral Wows Melbourne

Australia is not without its invasive species and a large number of them are plants.  Brought in to the country by European settlers, many of these species have come to threaten the local flora and fauna.  One such species is the willow – a beautiful riverside tree but one which has clogged up Australian waterways for decades. Now, with the help of American artist Patrick Dougherty, Melbourne Waterways has come up with a novel approach to conservation.

Computer Gremlins

You know when they have visited. Files are lost, web history gone and nothing seems to connect to anything else. The computer gremlins are everywhere and you can’t even see the pesky little blighters. Well, you can now – these two great sketches are by Flickr artist Wild Guru Larry and they pretty much epitomise to me both sides of the nature of the gremlins. One is harmful but essentially not vindictive – the other just loves to cause chaos wherever he goes. These and other great pictures and sketches can be found on Wild Guru Larry’s photostream.

Julian Opie @ Lisson Gallery

If you are in London over the next month and you are interested in the New British Sculpture movement then one place you must visit is the Lisson Gallery. From now until 25 August you can visit the largest ever exhibition of the work of Julian Opie. What’s more, all of the work exhibited here is new.

Over the last three decades Opie has become widely recognized for his contribution to contemporary art. He is preoccupied with investigating the concept of representation- how the human face and form is presented through art. It has a striking immediacy (no one can argue that it isn’t very, very contemporary) which belies its often older roots.

Hang On a Minute Lads, I've Got a Great Idea.

If you have ever seen the original version of the Italian Job, starring Michael Caine, you will be familiar with those famous words.  Uttered as the back of the mobsters’ bus is left teetering over a cliff, the movie is considered an institution in the United Kingdom. Now, in the run up to the London Olympics the situation has been reproduced. Only this time it’s on the top of an art deco building in Bexhill rather than a winding mountain road in Switzerland.

Kobra Mural in New York's Chelsea

The Brazilian artist, Eduardo Kobra, has long has a fascination for vintage images. His new work, dazzling onlookers in New York’s Chelsea has as its focal point an interpretation of the photograph VJ Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The new take on a decades old image is just a short walk from where the original kiss took place.

It is startling to say the least and is typical of Kobra’s kaleidoscopic treatment of older images. His aim is to preserve the historical aspect and to evoke a certain cultural memory which evokes certain emotions.Other parts of this significant piece of street art include interpretations of other images from the city's past.

Kobra’s fascination with art started when his mother gave him some colors and paints when he was about nine years old. It was in his late teens that street art and graffiti beckoned the burgeoning Brazilian talent. He had started work at a bank, and was studying at the same time, but he then left everything (against his family’s wishes) to take his own direction.

In his early years he would exchange paintings for food, clothes – even a place to stay. He was certainly not the first nor will he be the last artist to do that in his early days. However, with work like this, it cannot be long before Kobra is a recognizable global brand in the same way as Banksy.

I have to say I find the combination of the old and the new – the mix of the vintage, iconic photography with the undoubtedly hip hop feel to Kobra’s work nothing short of exhilarating. It makes me want to dash to an airport and grab a flight for New York. Unfortunately, one must work for a living so that will have to wait. How about London next, Kobra?

All images by Flickr Photographer Garrett Zeigler

The Art of Stanley Von Medvey

I recently came across Stanley Von Medvey’s art on Reddit and felt compelled to feature his work (with his kind permission) on Kuriositas. In as much as this site is a marriage of art and science so is Von Medvey’s art – as is the artist himself. He has, in the past, worked with NASA, flying two experiments on board the shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis and studied Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

If that isn’t enough, Von Medvey is able to produce works of the imagination such as the ones you see featured on Kuriositas. Polymath is hardly the word here. Sheldon Cooper would no doubt want to spit in his face if he were capable of the act of expectoration.

As well as working as a conceptual artist in the gaming industry, Von Medvey has recently entered the world of film making. He has directed L5, the story of a space mission returning to Earth (written by Tom Ptasinski) only to find everyone gone, which received over a million and a half downloads on its release on Vodo, where you can still download it. Watch the pilot episode below - it's awesome.


There are a number of ways you can explore the worlds of Stanley Von Medvey. You can visit his official website, his blog or his visual production studio, Hemoglobin.

The Art of Taylor Gonzales

The Kuriositas tagline is science, art and all the wonderful bits in-between.  So when we heard of an art series called Great Minds that certainly aroused our interest - and the above portrait of Stephen Hawking made us want to see more.   

Great Minds is the work of twenty year old artist, painter and freelance graphic designer Taylor Gonzales (pictured left).

Above is Gonzales' take on Albrecht Dürer, not only a painter himself but also a mathematician. The fact that Gonzales is only twenty years old may make you want to spit in his face (in the same respectful way that George Bernard Shaw wanted to dig up Shakespeare and throw stones at him, of course!) but this series, in acrylic, spray paint and pen certainly demands attention.

Working out of Cleveland, Ohio, Gonzales’ inspiration from this series roots back from childhood, people that he admired during the beginning of his adolescence. You can't consider it a bad start - when your childhood heroes include the likes of Charles Darwin (above). These are people who inspired him to become an artist and fueled his creativity with their success. Using compositional complexity and a colorful juxtaposition of shapes to create depth in the portraits, Gonzales created what he calls an ode to these great minds by painting them in his distinctive style.

It’s great to see Hawking, Darwin, Basquiat and Dürer in the same series.  We are not too sure who Salacia is (below) – as far as we know she was Neptune’s wife – the goddess of sea water! Perhaps you can tell us!  In the meantime, you can read more about Taylor Gonzales on his blog or on Twitter. He is certainly a young artist on whom Kuriositas will be keeping a close eye!

Q Confucius

This giant head and shoulders, representing the famous thinker and social philosopher of the 5th century BC is part of a new exhibition at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. Created by world renowned artist Zhang Huan, Q Confucius is part of a series of the artist’s thoughts on art and society.

The enormous sculpture has been planned by the artist and museum for over two years.  It is Huan’s response to a series of question he posed himself, such as China’s place in the modern world and the responsibilities with its emergence as a global superpower, economically, socially, militarily and scientifically. Is there room for a sense of Chinese spirituality in the twenty first century?

The museum is now in its second year and the RAM as it is known has previously hosted three major exhibitions with Q Confucius and its associated works making the fourth.  Made especially for the museum, Q Confucius almost reaches the ceiling of the spacious room in which it is housed.

It was created from carbon fiber and acrylic over a steel frame and is hyper realistic to say the very least.  You can see each and every detail of Confucius’ face and upper body down to the pores and wrinkles of age. Huan lives in both Shanghai and New York and it is expected that the latter city will be the next port of call for this immense sculpture – sometime in 2013.

Image Credit Flickr User Around the world in unknown days

All other images courtesy of Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai

The Artists

Sometimes you can get carried away when it comes to artistic rivalry.  These two artists seem more concerned with what the other is doing rather than concentrating on their own creation.  Slowly but surely their competition reaches a point of no return...

This is a very leisurely animated short by Giant Creative, directed by Sean Mullen. Perhaps they should have taken heed of the words of Benjamin Franklin - He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Field of Light Blooms in the Night

Image Credit Flickr User Rickphotos101

The Holburne Museum in Bath in the United Kingdom is giving its visitors a new winter experience – and it makes a very cool change from the usual decorative lights we see at this time of year!  

Field of Light, the artwork of acclaimed lighting artist Bruce Munro, was yesterday switched on in the grounds of the Museum.

Image Credit Flickr User Harry_S

Image Credit Flickr User Rickphotos101

Field of Light at the Holburne consists of over 5,000 bulbs of light planted in the grounds of the Museum and flowing into the Garden Cafe. Acrylic stems are topped by frosted spheres which are threaded with fibre optic cables and lit by a colour projector. The result is quite magical, as both colour and light flow through the bulbs to create a uniquely captivating experience.

Image Credit Flickr User Harry_S

Image Credit Ricksphotos101

The starting point for Bruce Munro's motivation to produce this artwork was nearly twenty years ago while he was doing his walkabout in Australia. He became fascinated by the way the barren dessert would explode into blossom after rain. Field of Light too lies dormant during the hours of day light, but when darkness falls the bulbs flower with gentle rhythms of light and patterns of color.

Image Credit Flickr User Ricksphotos101

Image Credit Flickr User Harry_S

Just another reason for visiting Bath, an ancient but still culturally vibrant city in the south west of England. I can only imagine how excited I would have been by this when I was a child by measuring how in awe of it I am as an adult.

Image Credit Flickr User Ricksphotos101

Image Credit Flickr User Ricksphotos1010

Kuriositas would like to thank Flickr photographers Harry_S (his website is Chris Harrison Photography) and Ricksphotos101 (aka Rick Breakspear) for allowing us to show you their photographs of the Field of Light. Please visit their Flickr Photostreams to enjoy more of their marvelous work.

Image Credit Flickr User Ricksphotos101

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