mercutiox:

سنگ نگاره های باستانی ایران

Prehistoric rock art of Iran. The ancient petroglyphs date back 4500 to 17000 years.

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fashioninhistory:

Oyster Dress (Detail)

Alexander McQueen  

Spring/Summer 2003

A number of gowns in Alexander McQueen’s “Transitions” collection of spring/summer 2003 appear to be poetic renderings of a disaster at sea. While a similar dress appeared colored like the plumage of a tropical bird, this gown of sand-colored organza recalls the mille-feuille ridging on the surface of a shell. The hem of the skirt, like the wavy lip of a giant mollusk, further emphasizes the seashell quality of the gown. But unlike Aphrodite, who was born in the foam of the sea and borne to shore on a scallop, McQueen’s beauty is a bruised pearl encased in a deconstructing oyster, the tumbled survivor of the violent action of waves.

centuriespast:

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Autograph letter, dated 17 October 1888, to Paul Gauguin

Eagerly anticipating Gauguin’s impending visit, van Gogh promised that en route from Pont-Aven to Arles his friend would see “miles and miles of countryside of different kinds with autumn splendors.” Van Gogh reported that a recent bout of eyestrain forced him to remain indoors and paint an interior “with a simplicity à la Seurat.” This painting was The Bedroom—sketched and vividly described here—in which he “had wished to express utter repose with all these very different tones.” Van Gogh expressed his desire to talk with Gauguin about this and other paintings, admitting that “I often don’t know what I’m doing, working almost like a sleepwalker.” Two months after Gauguin’s arrival, their fierce quarrels about art ended the painters’ intense friendship.

The Morgan Library

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Luke Jerram’s Tõhoku Japanese Earthquake Sculpture

This sculpture was made to contemplate the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

To create the sculpture a seismogram of the earthquake, was rotated using computer aided design and then printed in 3 dimensions using rapid prototyping technology.

The artwork measures 30cm x 20cm and represents 9 minutes of the earthquake. The sculpture will be presented at the Jerwood Space in London for a show called Terra. Exploring how data is read and can be represented and interpreted, the artwork is one of a series of data visualization sculptures Jerram has recently created. 

art-of-swords:

Dutch Small Sword

• Dated: 1650-1660
• Culture: Netherlands
• Medium: steel, wood, copper wire; chiseled hilt; engraved blade
• Measurements: Overall - l:95.30 cm (l:37 1/2 inches) Wt: .58 kg; Blade - l:78.00 cm (l:30 11/16 inches); Grip - w:11.80 cm (w:4 5/8 inches); Guard - l:8.30 cm (l:3 1/4 inches)

Source: © 2012 Cleveland Museum of Art

art-of-swords:

Dagger of the Grand Masters of the Order of Malta 

• Dated: mid-16th century
• Culture: southern Germany 

Photo copyright: © R.M.N./J.G. Berizzi

Source: © Louvre Museum

smithsonianmag:

The Unsettling Beauty of Lethal Viruses

To create a body of work he calls “Glass Microbiology,” [Luke] Jerram has enlisted the help of virologist Andrew Davidson from the University of Bristol and the expertise of professional glassblowers Kim George, Brian George and Norman Veitch. Together, the cross-disciplinary team brings hazardous pathogens, such as the H1N1 virus or HIV, to light in translucent glass forms.

The artist  insists that his sculptures be colorless, in contrast to the images scientists sometimes disseminate that are enhanced with bright hues. “Viruses have no color as they are smaller than the wavelength of light,” says Jerram, in an email. “So the artworks are created as alternative representations of viruses to the artificially colored imagery we receive through the media.” Jerram and Davidson create sketches, which they then take to the glassblowers, to see whether the intricate structures of the diseases can be replicated in glass, at approximately one million times their original size. - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.

razorshapes:

Dukno Yoon

Wings

Movement and interactive relationship with the body has been the most important element throughout my body of work. However through these works, I also started to explore the mechanical structure as a form. Mechanical structure becomes the most enjoyable form to me as it becomes complex yet remains simple and coherent. The contrast between metal structural form and natural feather, together with the repetitive and whimsical movements of fragile wings, provokes the imagination and evolves the intimate relationship between work and viewer/wearer. Although the recent series, segmented wings have been focused on the formal challenge to engineer an intricate movement that simulates bird wings, these works are intended to be a series of poems in which I develope my own formal language, interpret the nature of wings, create various structural forms with movements, and share the metaphor, imagination, humor, with viewer/wearer.

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deadpaint:

Egon Schiele, Porträt von Friederike Maria Beer

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achyjedi:

Modigliani

farewell-kingdom:

Tristin Lowe - Mocha Dick,  2009, wool felt, vinyl coated fabric, and internal fan. 

Mocha Dick is a 52-foot-long recreation of the real-life albino sperm whale that in the nineteenth century terrorized whaling vessels near Mocha Island in the South Pacific.

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