Artist Vincent Tomczyk creates extremely realistic looking sculptures primarily out of paper.
I am currently working on a series of paper chairs. I am interested in how personal chairs can become over time – almost taking on the characteristics of their owners. Chairs provide a sense of dignity – from hand carved stools in Africa, to thrones in Europe. Conversely, chairs are ubiquitously a part of our public and social lives, bringing humanity together in small groups or en masse.
(Via MAKE)
If you have been at the Whitworth Art Gallery over the past couple of days you may have inadvertently wandered into the building site currently masquerading as our shop.
We are conducting a minor re-fit in time for the launch of Spring Season Friday, and are knee deep in demolished units and newly arrived stock. We close Thursday evening for the final push, and re-open new and improved Friday evening.
Seasons Eatings!! As a festive treat here’s a picture of New York-based designer Kevin Champeny’s “Candelier” ; an 18″ diameter chandelier handcrafted out of more than 3,000 hand-cast acrylic gummy bear candies.
If you can afford it, you can buy the larger-sized one (31″ diameter) for $6,500.00 USD at Jellio.com.
Our Shop Elves love a bit of DIY, and hand puppets are the perfect festive rainy afternoon activity.
If you can’t make it to our Whitworth Art Gallery Shop to buy a kit you can learn how to make your own puppets from scratch here…
Artist Maria Teorien made a geometric tape painting and shows you how to create some of you own DIY art on her blog.
We’re thinking of trying this using shades from Little Greene Paint Company’s Retrospectives range for a 70s-tastic spin on the project.
Brian Griffin made this beautiful skull-shaped handbag, which sold on Etsy on July 1. It looks like he makes and lists them pretty regularly.
Hand formed leather skull clutch bag purse. The leather is formed and tempered to keep its shape. It also has fiberglass/resin enforcement where needed. Hand stitching finished off the borders where the 2 half’s meet. A magnetic clasp holds the skull together and it is lined with a dense felt…
I must point this out. This is first and foremost a work of art. It will hold small items but I do not advise packing it like a regular purse.
We Face Forward is a season of contemporary art and music from West Africa celebrated across Manchester’s galleries, museums, music venues and public spaces from 2 June to 16 September as part of London 2012 Festival.
The accompanying 128 page publication includes an introductory essay by the curators Maria Balshaw, Bryony Bond, Mary Griffiths and Natasha Howes which sets the historic context of the relationship between Manchester and West Africa and discusses the main themes which run throughout the exhibition.
Other essays by Christine Eyene, Lubaina Himid, Koyo Kouoh and Alan Rice explore the wider context for the exhibition including tracing the image of the thread, an engagement with British artists of African descent, a focus on independent contemporary art spaces in West Africa and an exploration of the history of African Atlantic residents in Cottonopolis. There are also texts on each of the 33 artists in the exhibition with full colour images of their work.
The book is available for a limited time only by mail order from the Whitworth Art Gallery Shop.
Please contact us on 0161 275 7498
The full lineup for this summer’s Cultural Olympiad includes over 12,000 events, during which time Britain’s cultural map will boast everything from a bouncy Stonehenge to a musical Thames.
To help guide us all through, The Huffington Post has put together their top 20 tips on what to see this summer wherever you are, including We Face Forward; Art From West Africa at the Manchester Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and Platt Hall.
Read more via huffingtonpost.co.uk
This may look like a particularly crazy paint job or some sort of custom acrylic installation, but these boldly colorful striped steps are actually just covered in vinyl tape by Scottish Artist Jim Lambie.
We love the contrast of plain white walls and psychedelic rainbow stripes almost enough to give it a go ourselves…
See more photos at mymodernmet.com
As part of the celebration for the 75th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge, a group of artists led by Stephanie Syjuco have set up an imaginary gift shop for the Bridge, filled with tchotchkes in the bridge’s iconic rusty orange (it’s a custom color that is generally mixed in 500-gallon batches). The tchotchkes aren’t for sale; they’re just there as an installation in celebration of that wonderful orange. Rachel Swaby covered the installation’s opening for Wired:
It’s a souvenir store with a twist. “What is the most disconcerting is that there are no images on things,” says Syjuco. Apart from that iconic orange marking each and every object, there is no branding to speak off.”
The range of products on display is also slightly absurd: Pencils, keychains, and earrings sit atop a table. An Eames chair is perched on a stand to the left. Lined up on shelves against the back wall are mugs, pillows, plate sets, and bottles of unidentified red sauce. “I tried to overdo it,” says Syjuco. “There’s wine, deodorant, car air fresheners — it gets crazy.”
