Through the eye of a needle

Getting perspective: One of Wigan’s sculptures next to a fly

Willard Wigan is a microsculptor, meaning his sculptures are so small they can only be seen through a microscope. To get a sense of what this actually means, look at a needle. It’s hard enough for most people to thread one, let alone use it as the site for art. To get faithful representations of his subjects (which, in the past, have included Bart and Homer Simpson, Marilyn Monroe, and Henry XIII flanked by all his wives, each of whom have enough room to do jumping jacks) to fit in the eye of a needle, Wigan usually works at night when there are fewer distractions so he can enter a state in which he can lower his heart rate enough to work between pulses.

Florentijn Hofman’s giant rubber ducky

I previously blogged about Florentijn Hofman’s latest project involving giant sized creatures. Here’s an oddly captivating video recording of the inflation of his oversized aquatic sculpture or Ernie’s favorite bathtub buddy.

Daisuke Hiraiwa, “Skin of Spaces 02″

Daisuke Hiraiwa created this recent installation composed of 1400 disposable plastic knives, all perforated by hand! [Via]

David de Rothschild’s Adventure Ecology hosts SMART Art competition

What’s David de Rothschild doing when he’s not building plastic boats, or tracking down the lifecycles of everyday products? Well, in one case, he’s judging artwork. de Rothschild’s Adventure Ecology, its Sculpt the Future Foundation, and the Lincart Gallery in San Francisco are hosting the SMART Art — Trash into Treasure exhibit through June 27th.

Learn more about the exhibits at SMART Art…

2001‘s monolith in VHS format–literally

Cue Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra”: Using Styrofoam, Plexiglas, and latex paint, the artist David Herbert created this monolithic tribute to the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. It appeared (or is appearing?) at the Saatchi Gallery in London. If I were rich and had a gigantic apartment, I would totally buy this. [via Looker.]

Decoding the Grid Index

Unless you’re a mathematician or designer who lays down a complex map and then designs over it, Grid Index, “the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems” complete with a CD of “editable vector graphic data files” might not make a whole lot of sense. Looking at page after page of geometric patterns, it’s difficult (for me, at least) to visualize what the final result might be. But not for author Carsten Nicolai whose most recent sculpture, poly stella, was unveiled in Tokyo last month.

Roxy Paine on the Roof

Whether you like Roxy Paine’s work or not, you probably want to touch it. You can’t help it. Since 1990, Paine has created irresistibly tactile sculptures, installations, and even the occasional painting (like the one with the paint literally dripping off the canvas) that almost always reference some aspect of the natural world. His latest [...]

Cops, Park City

One way to understand the festival is to try to see it through the eyes of the local police. Park Record, the local newspaper, provides just such an alternative view in their police blotter [www.parkrecord.com].

A few of the week’s highlights include… More after the jump.