Nice. So’s Mr. Nitowski.
Category: Art
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Tufte on the iPhone
Edward Tufte is a guru who specialises in the presentation of information in a graphical form. Here he is talking about the good and bad design points of the iPhone interface.(hat tip to Geoff Arnold) -
Ice Ice Baby
And, following a link from the last post, I found this excellent marriage between music and image that made me smile… -
The Infinite O.Z.
Interesting "infinite" zoom picture inspired by an American TV series, which may, or may not, be worth a look as well… -
The Temples of Damanhur
Old cynic that I am, I can’t help feeling, as I explore the Temples of Humankind, that it’s all a bit twee and very kitsch. Yes, it’s an amazing accomplishment, but it doesn’t make my heart sing. I note that even in the Hall of the Earth – the temple dedicated to the Male Principle – the main figure is depicted without genitals. That just about sums it up for me – no balls.
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Someday My Prints Will Come…
BibliOdyssey points out that the British Museum has made a large proportion of its collection of prints available online:The size of the database is enormous. There are more than 13,000 satirical prints for instance. A free text search on ‘London’ produces a similar number. There are over one thousand prints by Albrecht Dürer. ‘Ornament’ returns more than three thousand images. Although the image sizes vary, most are at least close to screen size and there is no watermarking.A wonderful resource. -
The End of an Era
Damn! Misteraitch has announced that he is closing down Giornale Nuovo. That is a shame. If nothing else, it alerted me to the existence of Pulcinellopedia Piccola, which remains a book that I seek. And of course, GN provided many more riches than that alone… -
Medieval Art
Continuing on with the slightly prurient theme of the last post, I also stumbled upon a posting on Nigel Warburton’s art and allusion blog with the irresistable title of Genitalia in Marginalia. It turns out that that is what the art historian Michael Camille wanted to call his book Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art. Warburton’s post has prompted me to order the book.I see that Amazon lists a book of Camille’s that is due to be published next March: The Gargoyles of Notre Dame. I’m assuming that this will be a posthumous publication, since Camille died of a brain tumour in 2002 at the age of 44. It’s interesting that the gargoyle that graces the book’s cover is the same one as in this photograph of Camille. I also like the way in which Camille turns the image into a mirror – is the gargoyle the reflection of Camille, or is it vice versa? -
Another National Treasure
Today’s Guardian has an excellent article about another National Treasure: the illustrator Quentin Blake. Worth reading, although I think I could have done without the "don’t think of a hippopotamus" trick at the end of the first paragraph. Apart from that one rather false note, it paints a clear portrait in words of the great man. -
Steve Ditko
Jonathon Ross has an article in today’s Guardian talking about his passion for the work of comic-book artist Steve Ditko. It’s also by way of an introduction to a programme that Ross has made on Ditko that will be broadcast on BBC Four this coming Sunday.I remember the name Steve Ditko from my youth. I bought comics starting in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and, like Ross, adored the style of Ditko’s art. It’s funny, but I don’t recall specifically buying any Spider-Man comics (the work for which Ditko is most famous). I may well have grown out of comics by that time. I think I must have been avidly consuming comics such as Strange Tales and Amazing Adventures. -
Craftmanship
Here’s an example of model-making using paper, snap-fasteners and chopsticks that leaves me shaking my head in wonder at the sheer skill and artistry involved.(hat tip to Paper Forest) -
Theo Jansen
I’ve mentioned Theo Jansen before, in fact, a couple of times. I’ll just mention him again because apparently he has a book coming out next month. Although, somehow a book does not capture the strangeness of seeing his creations creeping carefully along the seashore. -
Clashing Carpets
Martin and I have a weak spot for watching Escape to the Country – a TV programme in which home-seekers are shown a selection of country properties in their budget that purport to measure up to their requirements. Part of the fascination is the chance to look at other people’s taste (and I use the word advisedly) in interior furnishings. The highpoints come when a particularly violent scheme elicits whimpers of horror from us. Such schemes usually centre around a carpet whose design burns into the retina.Now Dan, over at fulminate//Architectures of Control, draws our attention to carpets that are deliberately designed to be unsettling. Fascinating stuff. -
Talking of Birds…
Here’s a snippet from Dawn Chorus by Marcus Coates… -
Art As A Spandrel
I love it. things such as this: the Rite Of Spring done as a stop animation with retired people wearing opposite sexual prostheses (men with merkins, women with penises). It’s things like this that make me go: fuck the selfish gene, folks just want to have fun…(hat tip to David Byrne) -
Favourite Fonts
Just thought I’d let you know that the Typographica blog has named their favourite fonts of 2006. I find it slightly amazing that apparently there were over 1,800 new typefaces released in 2006 alone. Faced with such overwhelming choice, I tend to fall back on dull old Helvetica… -
The Light Fantastic
While I think these artistic lights by Frank Buchwald look wonderful, I have the feeling that I would never be able to afford so much as a single brass screw. The fact that no prices are mentioned anywhere on the web site instantly kicks in the "if you have to ask, you can’t afford it" feeling. Bugger. -
The Female Face
This is very clever, but I kept wanting to stop the film and know more about the instant.(hat tip to Normblog for the link) -
Edward Tufte
I spent a number of years trying to present information in graphical form. I tried to emulate the master, but naturally failed miserably. Here’s a biographical sketch of the master. Look at his works to discover how presentation of information in a graphical form should be done. Renounce PowerPoint. -
Kinetic Horse Sculpture
I’ve mentioned Theo Jansen’s windpowered sculptures a couple of times. Here’s a paper sculpture that’s taken its inspiration from Jansen’s work.(hat tip to Shelley Noble, over at Paper Forest for the link)
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