Quantcast
Channel: Art
Viewing all 2130 articles
Browse latest View live

This animation created using vinyl records is mind blowing


This activity, usually considered a distraction, can boost your memory up to 29%

0
0

Doodle

When computers entered the mainstream, some art schools abandoned drawing classes to make time for the new software they had to teach.

The arrival of state-of-the-art programs prompted backlash among those who’d argued for years that drawing is integral to literacy.

“When you draw an object, the mind becomes deeply, intensely attentive,” says the designer Milton Glaser, an author of a 2008 monograph titled Drawing Is Thinking. “And it’s that act of attention that allows you to really grasp something, to become fully conscious of it.” Anyone who has put pen or pencil to paper knows exactly what Glaser is talking about.

Two new books tout the benefits of drawing, sketching, and doodling as tools to facilitate thinking. While a spate of branded and bespoke blank sketchbooks, journals, and pads meant for drawing are also sparking something of a renewed interest in the practice. Perhaps it’s a kind of artistic rebellion over the supremacy of computers and digital media. Or, maybe the need to draw is simply hardwired into human brains. Arguably, making graphic marks predates verbal language, so whether as a simple doodle or a more deliberate free-hand drawing, the act is essential to expressing spontaneous concepts and emotions.

Drawing with pencil, pen, or brush on paper isn’t just for artists. For anyone who actively exercises the brain, doodling and drawing are ideal for making ideas tangible. What’s more, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodlers find it easier to recall dull information (even 29 percent more) than non-doodlers, because the latter are more likely to daydream.

Doodle

While drawing is definitely the artist’s stock and trade, everyone can make doodles, bypassing the kind of refinement demanded of the artist. Drawing, even in a primitive way, often triggers insights and discoveries that aren’t possible through words alone. Just think of all those napkins (or Post-Its) on which million-dollar ideas were sketched out.

“I give no points for the aesthetic quality of a doodle,” says Sunni Brown, author of the recently published The Doodle Revolution, about developing concepts through pictures, “because the perceived skill has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the learning experience for the doodler.” A picture that’s utterly hideous may still have taught the creator something significant. Learning, not aesthetic sophistication, is the goal. Brown isn’t keen on “highly skillful doodlers” because she thinks visual language should be open to those who lack the talent or ability. In her role as doodle advocate, Brown believes that to make the practice into something that requires savvy would be as dangerous as suggesting that only people who excel at writing should ever compose sentences.

Doodle

“You can use doodling as a tool ... to change your physical and neurological experience, in that moment.”
Brown’s own relationship with doodling came later in life. Growing up, her doodles showed up mostly in the margins of notebooks. But while working at a consultancy firm called The Grove, in San Francisco, she “was re-introduced to simple, applied visual language as a form of thought.”

After launching her own creative consultancy in 2008, she used the term doodling for this form of applied visual language and referred to it as an “act of cognition.” And she’s right—doodling actually changes one’s state of mind. It’s a calming activity that can help people go from a frazzled state to a more focused one. “You can use doodling as a tool ... to change your physical and neurological experience, in that moment,” she says.

Doodle

If lay people can experience nirvana from doodling, artists who make a living drawing every day must naturally be in heaven. But as the award-winning children’s book illustrator John Hendrix, who wrote the recently published Drawing is Magic, told me, a weird thing happens when artists grow older: “We stop having fun. As a kid you draw without any thought to enjoying it. Enjoying it is assumed! Then we get to art school and learn there is a right way and wrong way to make images. We must all learn how to craft light, space, composition, form, line and shape. But, then after that, we have to be trained to learn to play again.” For Hendrix, finding enjoyment is an essential first step to finding good ideas.

For most people, the big question isn’t “when did you start drawing?” but “when did you stop drawing?” Virtually everyone drew and doodled at one point in their lives. For artists and non-artists alike, drawing is about more than art—it’s about the very art of thinking.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best Google Doodles

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This looks like the sequel 'Maze Runner' fans were waiting for

Mysterious, insulting statues of 'rat bankers' appeared in the City of London

0
0

looming rat

Statues that appear to depict bankers as black rats have sprung up in the heart of the City of London. 

There wasn't any placard from an artist claiming credit, or title, just a sign saying "Please do not climb".

They're right in the middle of a cluster of bank offices and branches on Bishopsgate, outside the Deutsche Bank office and across from branches of HSBC and Lloyds – and a two minute walk from the Bank of England. 

It looks like they're made out of paper mache and black paint. 

What do they mean? Are they a comment on the run of financial crises and scandals in the City since 2008?

It turns out these are cats, not rats. The installation is Laura Ford's Days of Judgment.

There are two of them on a low platform:

two rats on platform

This one is distressed. Maybe because it's wearing a jumper and is feeling underdressed in the City.

distressed rat

The other one is wearing a jacket and has its hands behind its back. An allusion to handcuffs?:

jacket rat

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The 'Uber of helicopters' can get you from Manhattan to JFK for much less than you think

We figured out what those mysterious black animal statues that appeared in the City of London are

0
0

looming rat

Statues that appear to depict bankers as black rats in the City of London are actually statues of cats.

The installation is Laura Ford's Days of Judgment and it's part of the City of London's Sculpture in the City event.

The Guardian said the statues, with their "heads down and locked in introspective grief, recall the agony of Masaccio’s Adam and Eve expelled from paradise." They were exhibited in Brighton last month.

Damien Hirst and Ai Wei Wei also have artworks on display as part of the exhibition.

There wasn't a placard from the artist claiming credit, or title, when we first saw them yesterday. Just a sign saying "Please do not climb."

They're right in the middle of a cluster of bank offices and branches on Bishopsgate, outside the Deutsche Bank office and across from branches of HSBC and Lloyds – and a two minute walk from the Bank of England.

It's not uncommon for Londoners to create insulting art or vandalism about bankers and "City boys." So some people — Business Insider included — thought the statues might be some sort of protest, likening bankers to rodents. Not so! (We've contacted the artist for comment, too.)

Here's another look at them.

There are two of them on a low platform:

two rats on platform

This one is distressed. Maybe because it's wearing a jumper and is feeling underdressed in the City.

distressed rat

The other one is wearing a jacket and has its hands behind its back. An allusion to handcuffs?:

jacket rat

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The 'Uber of helicopters' can get you from Manhattan to JFK for much less than you think

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is sponsoring a massive fair to get more tech billionaires interested in collecting art

0
0

paul allen

With pieces by artists as legendary as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Auguste Renoir, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is consistently ranked among the top art collectors in the US.

He recently shared with Bloomberg that he's a regular attendee of the Venice Biennale, a massive art festival held in Italy every two years. 

Now Allen, whose net worth is estimated to be around $17.5 billion, wants to bring that same arts enthusiasm to his hometown of Seattle.

His investment company, Vulcan, is co-sponsoring the Seattle Art Fair, whch begins Thursday at CenturyLink Field. The stadium is home to the Seattle Seahawks, which Allen also owns. 

"To live with these pieces of art is truly amazing," Allen said to Bloomberg."I feel that you should share some of the works to give the public a chance to see them."

Nearly 60 galleries both local and international haven planned exhibitions the fair. According to Bloomberg, many of the major galleries — like New York's Gagosian Gallery and Pace Gallery — are looking to bring on Seattle-based tech billionaires as clients. 

Microsoft and Amazon have made their home in Seattle for decades, and more and more tech companies continue to open offices there. 

A similar phenomenon has happened in San Francisco, with local galleries recruiting tech leaders to join the board for events like the FOG Design + Art Fair. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, One Kings Lane CEO Ali Pincus, Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman are among those who have served on FOG's committee.

paul gauguin maternity

Allen, for one, has said that art collecting has been "a very, very good investment for me." In 2014, he sold a Mark Rothko painting for $56.2 million at auction. He had reportedly purchased it for $34.2 million in 2007. 

In October, 40 of Allen's landscapes will travel to the Portland Art Museum and then on to the Seattle Art Museum. 

SEE ALSO: There's a cool new thing tech billionaires are spending millions on instead of Ferraris and private islands

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch this guy create beautiful art out of gummy bears and Hot Wheel cars

You wouldn't believe what they did with 2 iPhones in this cool installation

This robotic arm draws almost as well as a human artist — because it sort of is one

0
0

sougwen 2015_drawingOperations_06Robots are already adept at scrubbing floors, making coffee, flipping pancakes, and doing other human-like tasks.

Most of those jobs entail machines taking simple orders from people. Now an artist wants to see what it's like to share a creative process with a robot.

Sougwen Chung, an artist-in-residence at MIT's Media Lab, has created a robotic arm that draws simultaneously with her by mimicking her gestures.

A simple web camera combined with computer vision allow the robot  D.O.U.G._1, or Drawing Operations Unit (Generation One)  to track Chung’s movements and copy her lines. The result: A composition born from human-machine interaction.

To Chung, drawing with the robotic arm is an empathetic experience because it lets her engage in "the process of slowing down, paying attention, and communicating entirely through gesture," she said in an interview. 

sougwen 2015_drawingOperations_01 But this collaboration between human and robot goes beyond making good art.

"It's interesting to see how his behavior could be quite silly and playful if there was an error. Even the sudden movement could inspire another way for him to draw. The more imperfect the line work is, the more it seems like it's expressing his style of drawing," Chung said in a video 

The ultimate aim is to find out whether over time D.O.U.G. can reveal what it remembers, learn to improvise, and maybe create unique art on its own. 

D.O.U.G. is Chung's only non-human collaborator in art — for now.

Check out Chung and her art companion online in action on July 29th at 6 PM ET, as part of a project commissioned by multimedia publishing platform NewHive.

SEE ALSO: A Man Who Lost Both Arms 40 Years Ago Is Making History As The First Person With Two Mind-Controlled Robotic Arms

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You get a really long-winded answer when you ask Siri to tell you a story

This guy created the frog meme that's all over the internet — here’s why he’s ‘kinda pissed off'

0
0

Pepe the Frog

You might think that for someone whose creation turned into one of the most popular memes online, the most frustrating part would be the complete lack of payment that comes with that type of fame.

But for the artist who created the famous Pepe the Frog meme, it's more complicated than that. 

You may not know Pepe the Frog by name, but you've definitely seen him before. The viral meme is practically everywhere, from the @f--kjerry Instagram account to a subreddit devoted entirely to the cartoon amphibian.

Matt Furie created Pepe in 2005 and first posted him to MySpace, according to Vice's Sean Collins. He also included Pepe in a comic called Boy's Club.

Pepe became popular on 4chan first, according to Vice. Now, he can be seen on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and elsewhere. Furie has completely lost control of Pepe — and he's definitely not profiting from all of the reinterpretations of his character.

Peperiel #pepe #pepethefrog #peperiel

A photo posted by pepe (@onlypepe) on May 8, 2015 at 6:18am PDT on

Surprisingly, though, in his interview with Vice, Furie said the lack of royalty payments for the frog he created isn't what bothers him about Pepe's fame.

Instead, Furie's not a fan of two things: the outfit his frog's been given and another meme, Feels Guy, that people often stick Pepe with.

"He's got, randomly, a blue shirt and brown lips, and that's his accepted outfit now," Furie lamented to Vice. In the original cartoon, Pepe was drawn in black and white. 

Pepe Clean #pepe #pepethefrog #mrclean #pepeclean

A photo posted by pepe (@onlypepe) on Jun 16, 2015 at 5:09pm PDT on

Furie's also irked that his frog is often paired with an unrelated character named "Feels Guy."

Feels Guy is usually used to express feelings of melancholy, according to KnowYourMeme.com, and his unofficial tagline is "I Know That Feel Bro." He often appears next to Pepe in memes.

Furie doesn't know why people have turned Pepe and Feels Guy into best buds, but thinks it might have to do with some of his comics. Furie liked to draw Pepe peeing with his pants pulled down to his ankles. He'd explain to the other characters that doing so "feels good, man."

"Why are they linked together? Is it because he's called the Feels Guy and the frog is the Feels Good Frog?" Furie asked Vice. "The kids know what it is, but I don't."

 

 

 

Apart from those two gripes, Furie doesn't mind that Pepe has developed a following that's beyond his control.

"I think it's cool," Furie told Vice. "In fact, I'm getting kind of inspired by all the weird interpretations of it."

 

SEE ALSO: Scalia is getting roasted on social media with hilarious memes after his dissent on the gay marriage ruling

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Overly-Attached Girlfriend Explains What It's Like Being A Wildly Popular Internet Meme


The 10 best examples of video game music being completely amazing

0
0

KK Slider Animal Crossing

Last week Tech Insider spoke with video game music aficionado Emily Reese. She loves video games, loves music, and loves to talk about the new and unlikely creativity that emerges when the two art forms meet. That intersection is the subject of her show "Top Score," a Minnesota Public Radio program that focuses on video game music. Really!

We asked Reese to send over a list of her favorite game soundtracks, and the results are absolutely overflowing with good ideas.

"There are so many more but I feel like this is getting out of control!" she wrote, "TOO MANY AMAZING SOUNDTRACKS!!!"

Collected here is a selection from that list. These scores broke technical or creative boundaries, and added depth to games – some of which weren't so great otherwise. Nearly all the soundtracks are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, or Bandcamp. Because each one was crafted for a particular mood and activity, we've included some suggestions as to how you might bring them into your own life.

If after reading this you want to learn more about the craft of video game scoring, you can visit the "Top Score" show page here.

The 1986 "Metroid" soundtrack was a brooding rebellion against arcade-pop.

When "Metroid" came out, game design was something very different than it was today, and soundtrack designers had to be hardware technicians as much as musicians. Composer Hirokazu Tanaka studied electrical engineering in college before joining Nintendo.

In a 2002 interview with "Gamasutra," he described writing individual 1s and 0s onto a chip. The soundtracks of that era had to take up about as much memory space as these few paragraphs of text. Where other composers used that technology to generate catchy tunes for the arcade, Tanaka had other interests:

I had a concept that the music for Metroid should be created not as game music, but as music the players feel as if they were encountering a living creature. I wanted to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects ...the melody inMetroids only used at the ending after you killed the Mother Brain. That's because I wanted only a winner to have a catharsis at the maximum level. For the reason, I decided that melodies would be eliminated during the gameplay. By melody here I mean something that someone can sing or hum.

In other words, Tanaka crafted a reponsive, mood-setting soundtrack that behaved more like a movie score. That legacy persists in many of today's best games.

Listen to the soundtrack in the video below:Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ti1V0YMULGs?rel=0
Width: 800px
Height: 600px

Also good for: laser tag; retro bowling.



"Super Mario Land" had a trippy, glitchy soundtrack to match its oddball gameplay.

"Super Mario Land" was an early GameBoy release that broke the mold of the Mario franchise. Notable for its distinct style and artwork – as well as the strategic innovations necessary to scale NES gameplay to the (then) new, handheld world – it featured another Tanaka sound creation. Its melody is warm and inviting, looping without feeling repetitive. And the glitchy, syncopated beat has a deliberately incomplete feeling that propels you forward through the game looking for resolution. These elements combine to produce the sort of music you might actually want to listen to on a tiny, lo-fi paleo-mobile device.Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/6GWxoOc3TFI?rel=0
Width: 800px
Height: 450px

Also good for: a cheerful Saturday morning stroll; a video of your dog playing on a beach.



"Kirby's Dreamland" played a fun, relentlessly upbeat march.

"Kirby" is, in many ways, "Mario"-lite. Both are "platforming" games that have players move from left to right across a screen, jumping and dodging to avoid obstacles. But where "Mario" follows a mustachioed plummer through increasingly difficult stages into some hardcore gaming, "Kirby" features an adorable puffy bubble's much less frustrating quest. The series keeps things cute, friendly, and simple enough not to get frustrating.

Masahiro Sakurai, who went on to create "Super Smash Bros," created "Kirby's Dreamland" in 1992 for the GameBoy console. The first game in the series, it featured a peppy, fun soundtrack by Jun Ishikawa to match its cheerful disposition.

Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/-EAw3CGscwg?rel=0
Width: 800px
Height: 600px

Also good for: skipping across a field with your toddler; celebrating your promotion within a candy company.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: We're already sold on AMC's insane-looking kung fu western 'Into the Badlands'

A professor created a single tree that can produce 40 types of fruit

0
0

tree of 40 fruit

Syracuse University professor Sam Van Aken spent nine years growing a single tree.

"The idea is that I could collapse a whole orchard and put it into one tree," he told Business Insider.

Each of the colors in the photo above represents a variety of flowering tree. Collectively, as one plant, they produce 40 different edible stone fruits (ones with pits, like peaches and plums). The tree above is just an artist's rendering, but the trees do exist.

tree of 40 fruitTo create his unique tree, Van Aken, a sculptor at SU's College of Visual and Performing Arts, uses a process called "grafting," which is used frequently by orchards and gardeners.

When two plants are grafted together they are cut so their "veins" flow into each other, letting them share a vascular system. These veins, known as the phloem and zylem, transport water, sugar, and minerals between the plant's roots and leaves.

Grafing a plant with a weak root system onto a plant with a strong one can enable the weak plant to grow better. Grafting has been around for centuries. It's actually the reason we still have wine — a disease threatened to kill all the French wines, until a resistant plant was found to serve as a host for grapes of all different varietals.

Though it's used frequently, 40 is an extreme number of plants to graft together. To do so takes years and years.

He'll let a tree grow for about three years, until it shows four or five branches. Then, he'll slice each branch and attach buds from four or five other types of tree on each one, grafting their vascular systems together. At that point, the count stands at about 20 or 25 plants attached to one very strong trunk.

"What you're essentially doing is injuring the tree and then attempting to trick it into believing that the part you placed in it is actually itself," Van Aken explained.

After that, those 20-to-25 varieties grow together for about two years and start to show new branches, to which Van Aken will attach more buds. Any that don't graft properly, he prunes away until about 40 varieties remain within a single tree.

"They all maintain their own genetic variety," Van Aken said. "You can see all the different types of flowers and fruit."

tree of 40 fruit"But the science is almost like a byproduct," he also noted. "It's really, for me, a metaphor."

The amount of labor involved makes the tree fairly impractical for the world of agriculture. But as a work of art, Van Aken sees considerable value. "It definitely won't cure world hunger. But I hope that it could inspire that type of thinking," he said.

Van Aken also created a timeline of sorts to keep track of when the various types of tree will flower. Thus, he can control the color by timing the grafting appropriately.

tree of 40 fruitSyracuse University actually picked the tree as a commemoration of September 11. As such, the institution plans to plant one on the quad.

The number 40 represents "somewhere between finite and infinite," according to Van Aken. Western religion, especially The Bible, popularized 40 as an uncountable number. Think 40 days and 40 nights of rain circa Noah's Ark. Thus, the tree's combined variety represent growth, hope, and renewal, as Van Aken explained — important topics to keep in mind in a post-9/11 era.

While the project seems abstract to some, Van Aken hopes people will see the value. "That day [9/11] was so vivid and tragic for me. I don't think you can make a piece that can adequately represent that tragedy," Van Aken noted. "It's too horrific."

Right now, 14 of Van Aken's stunning trees (not counting the two in his backyard) exist around the country. But come fall, he starts plans for an entire grove in Portland, Maine.

Below, an architect created a rendering of how that might look. In a word — gorgeous.

tree of 40 fruit

SEE ALSO: Tiny Flying Robots Are Being Built To Pollinate Crops Instead of Real Bees

Join the conversation about this story »

An internet sleuth may have uncovered a mural painted by Chris Pratt in the nineties

0
0

Many know by now that actor Chris Pratt was first discovered while waiting tables in Maui, but new evidence may have surfaced of yet another restaurant-related anecdote from the movie star's past. 

Yesterday, an Imgur user went to dinner at the quaint Omega Pizza & Pasta in Granite Falls, Washington. He noticed a large mural on the wall, with a bold artist signature in the lower right corner that read "Chris Pratt".

Chris Pratt

Upon closer inspection, the diner saw that a framed cut out from a magazine was placed purposefully above the signature.

The Imgur user, who goes by "slartibartfas,"reports that the article is from a 2003 issue of Teen People, though The Observer reports it's an excerpt from Teen Vogue. It's unclear which magazine published the article based on the image alone.

Chris Pratt 2003

In 2003, Pratt was a budding actor with a few roles under his belt.

Most famously, he was a regular on a WB (now CW) network drama called "Everwood," which ran for 4 years. 

Barely legible in the blurred Imgur photo, Pratt's intro reads: “On Everwood, Chris Pratt plays lovable jock Bright Abbott, but in real life the 24-year-old is a sensitive guy who can’t live without a paintbrush."

Under the header "Every Painting Is Different," Pratt discusses the mural in question.

"I've done murals in my high school gymnasium weight room," he says, "and a Greek scene on the wall of my friend's restaurant."

chris pratt

Though most details line up, it would have been relatively easy to write "Chris Pratt" in red paint and call Pratt the artist. But then we found even more evidence! Omega is located in Pratt's hometown, and Pratt himself tweeted out a recommendation of the restaurant to pro-football player Jimmy Graham when he was drafted to the Seattle Seahawks in March of this year. 

According to the Imgur user who posted the photos, the owner of the restaurant told them that "her son and Pratt were best friends in high school, and how [Pratt] used to be the dishwasher at the restaurant." A local paper, the HeraldNet, noted in a 2014 article that Pratt and his wife, actress Anna Farris, stopped "at Omega Pizza & Pasta in Granite Falls, where the owners are longtime family friends."

As several users aptly commented on the Imgur gallery, it's only a matter of time before Omega is flooded with superfans wanting to see the art for themselves. In the meantime, we'll have to live vicariously through those lucky enough to reside in Granite Falls, Washington. 

You can view the full Imgur photo gallery here.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Pixar's next movie shows what would have happened if dinosaurs never went extinct and it looks gorgeous

Designers turned a Washington, DC, museum into a giant ball pit — and it looks like the most surreal beach you've ever seen

0
0

Since July, people have been swimming in a pool of nearly 1 million translucent plastic balls in the middle of the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

The museum collaborated with Brooklyn-based design studio Snarkitecture to build its largest-ever public installation.

Ever since it opened its doors in July, the Beach has been drawing hordes of people to dive into this one-of-a-kind interactive architectural marvel. 

Hundreds of photos have already flooded Twitter on #TheBeachDC:

 

Below are some of the highlights from a video explaining how the Beach came into being. The video is part of the Creators Project, a series of videos showing the creative process behind works of art.  

Snarkitecture designers imagined turning the museum's atrium into a ball pit. 

The BEACH construction. Photo by Museum Staff.JPG

The Beach came into being after nearly 160 funders donated more than $12,000 in a crowdsourcing campaign on Indiegogo.

The idea was to make one big statement within a space and let it speak for itself. The result: a no-frills massive ball pit bathed in white.

The structure was so massive that the head carpenter said he was "apprehensive" in the beginning: 1,500 boxes full of balls were waiting to be emptied.Photo by Noah Kalina (5)They finally put together a 5,000-square-foot "shoreline" dotted with beach chairs and umbrellas — all facing an empty floor that would be filled with balls. 

The Snarkitecture team wanted to use a material that you wouldn't expect in an architectural context. Plastic balls turned out to be a perfect fit — and really pulled in the crowds.

Watch the video in which Snarkitecture founders Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen explain how they turned the museum's Great Hall into a monochromatic beach experience. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jennifer Lawrence is all over the place in this awesome trailer for 'Joy'

Watch former 'Lion King' animator make a touching tribute to Cecil the lion

16 of the world's most incredible supersize statues

0
0

Laykyun Setkyar statue

Sculpture has the power to leave spectators in a state of sheer amazement. But standing in the presence of a "supersize" statue can actually take your breath away. 

Taking up to 20 years to build and millions of dollars to create, these 16 enormous creations do just that. They'll stand for centuries as icons of history and culture for visitors to enjoy. From the world's largest reclining Buddha to a 105 foot tall sculpture of Mao Zedong, keep scrolling for a trip around the world in massive statues.  

 

SEE ALSO: Glorious award-winning National Geographic photos will make you want to travel the world

DON'T FORGET Follow Business Insider's Life on Facebook

The Christ the Redeemer statue, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, scales more than 2,000 feet above the city to offer visitors stunning views. The 100 foot tall statue’s awe-inspiring scale and design resulted in its recognition as one of the seven new wonders of the world.

Source: Daily Mail



At 380 feet tall, Myanmar’s Laykyun Sekkya Buddha, built on top of Po Kaung Hills, is the second tallest statue in the world. At its foot is the "Monywa Buddha"— the largest reclining Buddha in the world.

Source: Matador Network



This statue, perched in China's Hunan Province, depicts Chairman Mao Zedong at the age of 32. The work is said to have cost as much as $35 million to build.

Source: Reuters, Matador Network



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: The hardest part about being a supermodel

Here's how to light up your living room with glowing marine plankton

0
0

AP_651515538966

Microbes make our lives better in countless ways. They are the reason yogurt and cheese taste delicious. These tiny beings also fight deadly diseases — in fact, they made penicillin, the "wonder drug" that has saved millions of lives, possible. They even feed on waste and turn it into fertilizer. 

Now, microorganisms could light up our living rooms.

A company called BioPop is using dinoflagellates — marine plankton that rely on sunlight and, when stirred, emit blue-green light called bioluminescence— to light up soft-glow lamps.

BioPop focuses on creating "living art," or decorative art that uses living organisms. In the process, it could encourage researchers to look at microbes as an eco-friendly source of light.

In the wild, that light is the result of a sort of fight-for-life that plays itself out in the water. When danger lurks, these tiny creatures become excited and flash bioluminescence as a signal to expose their enemies to bigger predators.

The dinoflagellates save up enough sunlight during the day to turn it into chemical energy through photosynthesis — so that they can glow when the night falls.

Biolamp_6N0A2441

Here's what this will look like in your home: A reservoir on the roof could store the dinoflagellates during the day so that they can photosynthesize. At night, they flow from the roof — while being shaken in the process — through a tube to light up the lamp.  

The Biolamp, which is still a prototype, is not yet ready for commercial release. However, it could go in a gallery or a museum, BioPop tells Tech Insider. 

The company did something similar when it launched DinoPet, a mini-aquarium in the shape of a dinosaur filled with plankton that glow when shaken. BioPop now sells these "pets" for $60.

It's not that simple to get the critters to glow. After all, dinoflagellates are living beings that follow a strict wake-sleep schedule — commonly known as the circadian rhythm.

BioPop, for instance, raises its dinoflagellates in raised in San Diego, California. They wake up at 5 am and go to bed around 6 pm PST. So when you get your DinoPet, you need to give the plankton some time to get into a new routine. Moreover, they should get at least 12 hours of light in order to keep glowing for that many hours afterwards.

It's easy to find DIY tips to care for light-emitting creatures at home. A number of online vendors, including Empco, Sunny Side Seafarms, and Carolina Biological, sell bioluminescent algae and fungi kits. 

And eventually, you could brighten your home with BioPop's bioluminescent lamps —  without worrying too much about the electricity bill.  

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This classic '90s video game is the reason games like 'Halo' and 'Call of Duty' exist today


An artist has completely re-envisioned the most mundane piece of furniture

0
0

This beautiful reinvention of the standard side cabinet is a moving, flexible art piece. Artist Sebastian Errazuriz created the Wave Cabinet as a way to invite people to "look at one of the simplest forms of furniture design and to forget that we’re talking about furniture."

Sebastian Errazuriz is represented by Cristina Grajales Gallery and Salon94 Gallery in New York. You check out more of his work on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on his website.

Produced by Rob Ludacer

Follow TI Video: On Facebook

 

Join the conversation about this story »

These artists totaled some cars in order to make an enormous salamander

These pictures show all the crazy places the Berlin Wall ended up around the world

0
0

Berlin will at the Hilton

More than 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which once separated East Berlin from West Berlin, hundreds of the wall's portions stand scattered in countries throughout the world. 

In fact, more pieces of it actually reside in other countries than in Berlin — or Germany — itself, according to The Guardian.

We've put together a collection of images that show where pieces of the wall stand today and how they look in different countries, from a segment gifted to Nelson Mandela in South Africa to a massive display in Los Angeles.

SEE ALSO: These photos show iconic US landmarks as they were being constructed

FOLLOW US! Business Insider Travel is on Twitter

The East Side Gallery is approximately a one-mile portion of the Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany. The gallery is filled with symbolic artwork, like this one of a car breaking through the wall.

Source: Visit Berlin



Over the years, segments of the Berlin Wall have been gifted and sold to countries around the world. Here, portions of the Wall are up for sale at a storage yard in Teltow, Germany.

Source: Reuters



Three segments of the Berlin Wall were gifted to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City by the Federal Republic of Germany. The illustration displays a boy and a girl meeting over the wall.

Source: International Business Times

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Secrets of the Statue of Liberty

People are mistaking this photoshopped image of Emma Watson as Belle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for the real thing

0
0

Fans at Disney's biannual D23 event were in for a treat Saturday when Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures president, Sean Bailey, presented a long list of Disney's upcoming live action films. 

Among the announcements was a first look at 2017's adaptation of the beloved classic "Beauty and the Beast," which will star Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") as Prince Adam / the Beast.

According to MTV, a glimpse of Emma Watson as Belle was shown to fans in attendance. 

Since then, an image of Watson in Belle's iconic golden gown has appeared online.

You may have seen the image that's making the rounds:

emma watson belle

It started picking up after the image was tweeted out by Twitter user Mariah Moon (@thesimpleparent) with the D23 event hashtag #D23Expo:

There's just one problem.

No image of Watson was ever released by the studio.

Though Moon noted the image tweeted was believed to be a fan compilation, that didn't stop many from believing it was an official image released by the studio.

 

 

The image even showed up on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages for "The Ellen Show."

Can’t wait to bring another wonderful Disney character to life. All I’m asking for is an audition.

A photo posted by Ellen (@theellenshow) on

However, the image circulating online was made six months ago by artist Prateek Mathur.

Here's one of the full images made by Mathur.

prateek mathur beauty and the beast

Mathur, whose work can be found on his website here, has worked on visual effects on films including "Men in Black 3" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the latter is a film in which Watson starred.

In an email to Tech Insider, Mathur says he started work on his own concept art of the actress in Belle's iconic yellow gown around February 12 after learning Watson was officially cast in the role of Belle in Disney's live-action adaptation.  

"I am a huge fan of Disney, so when I [learned] about the live action movie, I [went] straight into Photoshop and designed this concept art," Mathur tells Tech Insider.

The finished image of Watson as Belle is a composite of several different images of the actress blended together with the Disney dress. Mathur says the concept fan art took about 5-7 hours in a row to complete.

Mathur uploaded a behind-the-scenes video to Vimeo showing how he created the fan poster for the 2016 movie.

Here's how it came together.

The look for Emma's face came from one photo:

emma watson photoshop

Touchups were made to her hair and face.

emma watson photoshop 2

A golden dress reminiscent of Belle's iconic gown was added.

emma watson belle

In fact, the actual character was used to create the fan art as well.

belle beauty and the beast

Next, this image of Watson was used for her neck and shoulders.

emma watson belle .belle photoshop 3

Her arms were then taken from this photo of Watson posing for her role in the "Harry Potter" movies and were mirrored to get them just right.

emma watson harry potter photoshopbelle emma watson photoshop emma watson photoshop 4

emma watson photoshop 5

The Beast's iconic rose was then added.belle photoshop emma watson 6

A custom background was made in which to place Watson.

belle background photoshopphotoshop belle background

Revisions were made to Watson's hair and dress ...

belle photoshop emma watsonemma watson belle dress photoshopemma watson belle dress photoshop 2And the vision was complete.

belle fan poster emma watson

Mathur says he has received a lot of fan feedback after making the image, and that he's planning to work on a new version of Watson as the Disney princess.

"It was beyond my expectation," said Mathur of the response to the image. "There was several mistakes which real fans of 'Beauty and the Beast' shared with me and I really appreciate their feedback. Moreover, I am looking to develop a new piece of artwork based on that feedback."

You can watch the making of his "Beauty and the Beast" fan poster below:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How designers around the world photoshopped this model when they were told to make her beautiful

The 6 most popular art shows on Instagram

0
0

MomaRainRoom

The advent of Instagram has been both a blessing and a curse for the art world—and probably for society as a whole.

While it's now easy to keep up with the global art scene from the comfort of your own home, you run the risk of feeling some major FOMO (for the blissfully uninitiated, that would be "fear of missing out") at witnessing an impeccably filtered view of what's going down in Miami, Venice, or Basel while you're parked on your couch.

What's more, some galleries and institutions have grown hungry for the free publicity that a highly Instagrammable show can provide, meaning your average art fair these days has no less than three needlessly reflective objects just begging to be immortalized with an #artselfie. After all, we seem to say to ourselves, "If you didn't Instagram it, were you really there?"

No matter what your feelings on Instagram are, the social media tool is clearly here to stay—and has been for a couple of years.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and examine some of the works and exhibitions that helped make it a fixture in your art viewing routine. Wannabe viral artists, take note.

1. Random International's Rain Room at MoMA

Arguably the artwork that started it all, Rain Room hijacked social media feeds everywhere for a solid eight weeks. Everyone and their mother had a picture inside the immersive installation, and many waited in line for hours to get one. You've likely heard of the "song of the summer," but this was the undeniable exhibition of the summer. If you didn't catch it, it's slated to go on display at LACMA this November thanks to Restoration Hardware (who first acquired the piece and loaned it to MoMA in 2013), and in Singapore in 2017, thanks to collector Budi Tek.

#Bestday even in the 100+ degree heat @krstnrho #moma #momarainroom #rainroom #nyc

A photo posted by Melissa Bellish (@mbellishlife) on Jul 19, 2013 at 12:18pm PDT on

2. Yayoi Kusama's "I Who Have Arrived in Heaven" at David Zwirner

Kusama's psychedelic installation at Zwirner also saw lines around the block during its six week run, but unlike Rain Room, it was also met with a measure of critical acclaim. There were two Instagram-ready installations, but while plenty of pictures were taken in the room housing Love Is Calling (2013)—an installation of glowing, polka-dotted tentacles, which sprouted from the floor and ceiling—the clear favorite was Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013), or, more simply, the "Infinity" room, where a combination of water, tiny lights, and mirrors creates the effect of a never ending galaxy. To make things even more exciting, the room could only accommodate about three visitors at a time, which made for super long lines, further accentuating the show's exclusivity (and thus, 'grammability). It's safe to say Kusama, at the age of 84, cemented the art selfie as an official "thing." The installation has since been exhibited at the Garage Museum and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

3. Kara Walker's "Sugar Sphinx" at the Domino Sugar Factory

While the aforementioned shows may have been a nuisance in that it really offered only one angle from which to take a selfie (thus resulting in essentially the same picture popping up on your feed again and again), Kara Walker's "Sugar Sphinx" was problematic for an entirely different reason. The massive sugar sculpture, which was sponsored by Creative Time and erected in the (since demolished) former Domino Sugar Factory, inspired numerous visitors to upload some startling pictures of themselves engaging with the sculpture in lewd ways—pretending to lick the sculpture's vagina and backside or touch its nipples. Given that the installation was meant as a critique of slavery and the historical perceptions of black women, there was a fervent—and necessary—backlash. Though the snafu happened just over a year ago, we like to believe people have learned to think before they post.

4. "Jeff Koons: A Retrospective" at the Whitney Museum

A great many forces came together to make this show a social media sensation: first, the shininess of Koons's famed gazing balls and balloon animals makes them obvious candidates. Then, there was the sheer amount of hype surrounding the retrospective itself, derived both from the fact that Koons is one of the most polarizing artists working today, and due to it being the Whitney's last show in the Marcel Breuer Building. The seemingly endless week of "VIP" and "VVIP" previews leading up to the public opening also tickled the desires of insiders to show people that they, in fact, were among the first to see the monumental Play-Doh.

Perrito. #jeffkoons #guggenheim #Bilbao

A photo posted by Rafael Muñoz/La vida al bies (@rafaelmunozrodriguez) on Aug 17, 2015 at 2:53am PDT on

5. Richard Prince "New Portraits" at Frieze and Gagosian Gallery

How's this for meta: Richard Prince's controversial "New Portraits" series (you know, the ones culled from the Instagram feeds of unsuspecting models, students, and other pretty young women) has actually been Instagrammed a lot, both during its time at Gagosian and its run at Frieze New York. We get it. A picture of something shareable is also, in and of itself, shareable. It just kind of makes our heads spin.

6. DeWain Valentine at David Zwirner Gallery

Whether or not the craze has gotten a little out of control at this point isn't really up for debate. So, David Zwirner has taken things into its own hands and hired actual docents to make sure no one broke anything on their quest for the perfect picture during their recent DeWain Valentine show. Yes, docents—at a gallery. "People want to get as close as possible, so we're part informational, part security," docent Daniel Pillis told artnet News. To be fair, despite the fact that Valentine's flat, circular glass sculptures were created in the 1960s and '70s, they quench the thirst that today's gallery-going population has for beautiful, reflective objects to take selfies with.

Cast Polyester Resin Circles - #DeWainValentine #davidzwirner

A photo posted by terrenceliew (@terrenceliew) on Aug 10, 2015 at 7:00am PDT on

SEE ALSO: These are the only 15 skyscrapers to ever be called 'The World's Tallest'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's a time-lapse of the Perseids — the most stunning meteor shower of the year

Viewing all 2130 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images