art & design

PANTONE TARTS GRIOTTES FOOD

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Art director Emilie of food and design blog “Griottes” has a love for color.

Check out her work for “Fricote” – a French culinary hipster guide to urban and street food. She created tarts in different Pantone shades, using the delicious color palette of fruits, vegetables, candies and chocolate. The tarts are designed to look exactly like the famous Pantone swatches, complete with white (sugar icing) bottom and their respective color code.

Find the recipes for all tarts in the latest issue of the super stylish Fricote magazine.

BOKJA BEIRUT HOME INTERIORS

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Lebanese designers Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri established their company Bokja back in the year 2000, combining design classics such as the Eames Lounge Chair or Arne Jacobsen’s Egg with middle eastern vintage fabrics and tapestries.  The beautiful and colorful designs are the perfect way to get in the mood for spring – also check out their blog featuring unusual art projects and current exhibitions in Beirut.

FACE OF THE CITY DAN BERGERON STREET ART

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Dan Bergeron, aka fauxreel, is an artist based in Toronto who has been creating for the better part of a decade photo based street interventions. Within his project “face of the city” he used the distressed surfaces of walls in modern cities to create stunning portraits.

The artist says, “as the walls and surfaces of the city define its physical character and spatial identity, the faces of its inhabitants provide the city with its personality, disposition and magnetism. The fusion of these two entities will simultaneously expose the frailty of urban architecture and to a certain extent human existence, while conversely exploring the idea that beauty truly lies in the scars, wrinkles and blemishes of places we live and people we meet.”

Website

L.E.T. LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES STREET ART

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L.E.T. is a franco german street art artist with homebase in Düsseldorf. Since 1992 he is specialised in stencils and paste ups and was one of the first street art artists in Germany. L.E.T. stands for Les Enfants Terribles, what was a synonym for misfits and eccentrics in the art scene.

You can find more about L.E.T. on Facebook, Flickr or the galleries´ websites 30works and Pretty Portal.

Until March 4th you can visit the exhibition “dirty works @ 30works – Volume III” in Cologne with works from L.E.T., EMESS, VAN RAY and others.

THE PAST IN COLOR REDISCOVERING HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHY

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Modern technology never ceases to amaze. Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway is another remarkable example that it only takes a powerful idea, some Photoshop skills and a little patience – between 40 minutes and 2 hours to be precise – to let us rediscover history, or at least question our very own perception of it.

Sanna picked out some of the worlds most iconic black-and-white photos and has carefully colorized them – putting some of the most defining moments of the twentieth century into a strangely current and sometimes disturbing context. It also gives a powerful insight into the pioneer days of reportage photography with the rare chance to relive the moments those men and women were drawn to back then – and which they wanted to capture and share. From nuclear testing on the idyllic Bikini Atoll, the unmasked brutalities of the Vietnam War or the true limitations of the “American Dream” in 1937. Her project has also included famous faces like Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Anne Frank or Charlie Chaplin.

Check out more of her amazing portfolio here. The Mail Online has some more historic background information about selected images.

THE POTHOLE GARDENER GUERILLA GARDENING

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With Siberian temperatures outside, I cannot help thinking about the nasty potholes that will undoubtedly surface all over the city come spring. If you are like myself fortunate enough to live in Munich, these will be fixed and smoothed out in no time – they even sweep the gravel off the pavements in April with Bavarian efficiency. Apparently this is not the case in London, even less so in the East End. That’s how Steve Wheen came up with the charming idea of turning potholes into bonsai gardens, perfectly equipped with matching miniature accessories. Check out the video and try not to be distracted by the rather unfortunate title “Holes of Happiness”…

http://www.youtube.com/yK0N9aaXRGY

CURRENT STATE SNOWBOARDING BOOK

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CURRENT STATE is more than just a book. Professional snowboarder, David Benedek, has worked 2,5 years on this project. He created two interconnected full-size books which everyone who loves snowboarding should add to their library. He compiled images and stories of the past three decades and interviewed the most influential characters. All the content is packed in a highly creative artwork. As he writes on his website, the book is the attempt to create an overall – if blurry – image of snowboardings current state.

CURRENT STATE is only available in the online shop of the website. The price of 89,00 EUR is rather good if you watch the pictures below or the making of. 2/3 of all copies are reserved for people who are on the waiting list – some of them for more than two years. So be fast and get one of the very limited books.

More information:
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DAMIEN HIRST GAGOSIAN GALLERY AROUND THE WORLD

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Artist Damien Hirst undeniably has a great love for painting colourful spots. From the teeny tiny variety up to ginormous super dots, his obsession has spun for over two decades and was reason enough for the Gagosian Gallery to dedicate not one but all of their eleven galleries to feature “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011” by Damien Hirst.

To reward all the hardcore Hirst fans out there, the Gallery and the artist came up with a truly arty challenge: They will give a personally dedicated, signed and numbered Hirst print to everyone who manages to visit ALL eleven galleries during the exhibition period from January 12 until February 18 2012.  The Gagosian Gallery locations are New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong – over 32.000 distance kilometers in total. Remarkably enough, over 700 people have registered for the competition and even more remarkable, the first person to complete the challenge only took 8 days for it. Check out the Gagosian Gallery on Facebook  for more winner stories. Another successful contestant  shares the story of his trip around the world for the love of art here.

Very unlikely however that they really took his time to revel in the artwork:  Included in the exhibition are more than 300 paintings, from the first spot on board that Hirst created in 1986; to the smallest spot painting comprising half a spot and measuring 1 x 1/2 inch (1996); to a monumental work comprising only four spots, each 60 inches in diameter; and up to the most recent spot painting completed in 2011 containing 25,781 spots that are each 1 millimeter in diameter, with no single color ever repeated.

STECKWERK | MODULAR | INTERIOR DESIGN

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Steckwerk is a start-up company based in Karlsruhe, Germany and founded by Lukas Hechinger. The 26 years old student of engineering had the idea to create furniture that could be easily build up without using any screw or glue. In the father´s joinery he learned as a kid the first steps of craftsmanship and completed his skills within his studies. The Steckwerk idea is patent pending.

The product range includes tables and shelves. The technique of just sticking together the products offers a huge variety of designs. However the specs of the room are the Steckwerk shelves will fit in every corner. And the best thing: if you need a change in your room, more space or if you move out, the screw- and glueless design let you easily disassemble your piece of furniture. Pack the wooden parts and stick it together wherever and however you want. Besides that the high quality raw materials are produced in Germany the versatility makes the Steckwerk products to longlasting and sustainable design pieces.

Watch out for new stuff. Lukas is already working on new designs.
Prices and more information about Steckwerk:
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How to video

AFFORDABLE ART | OUTLINE EDITIONS | NORMA BAR

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Graphic designer Norma Bar is a true master of deceit. His unusual, colorful prints cleverly manipulate the eye and will certainly make you take a double look. Although undeniably decorative, his work carries a deeper message. Growing up in Israel during the first Gulf War, political caricature became one of his great influences. He has since been features in publications such as The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, Wallpaper and more. Check out Outline Editions for more of his work and a great selection of affordable and quirky prints to pimp up your pad!

PR CAMPAIGN | STREETART | BANKSY

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Banksy No ball games
Genius PR Campaign by Australian Art Series Hotel Group which gives a new twist to  “let’s raffle off something arty and it will get us some PR”.  They announced that they were going to put up an original Banksy  “No Ball Games” worth around 12.000 €  in one of their hotels. They then challenged their hotel guests to spot it- and steal it!

The lucky thief got to keep the painting. Check out the sucessful heist on their website

LOVEME | HANDCRAFTED | LIMITED EDITION

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Real craftmanshipLoveme is all about items to love, not just to own. Everyday from December the 1st Love Me Company is releasing a special handcrafted item. Each is released in a tiny limited edition and each has its own unique and style and quality.
 Character, patina and the perfect level of imperfection are for Loveme the things to cherish the most. Still 10 more days to go and definitely worth checking out every single one.

http://lovemeskateboards.com

 

 

GNTM | TRANSCRIPT | BOOK

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GNTM Buch Germanys Next Top Model

Within a university project Gregor Weichbrodt und Grischa Stanjek, students of communication design at HTW Berlin, had the idea to create a book that is a transcript of the final show of Germany´s Next Top Model. They said the show is built up like a classic drama and was perfect for our project. The result after days of watching the show and typing all words in a transcript is better and more fun than all shows of GNTM.

Read the Book “Das ist der Tag, von dem ihr noch euern Enkelkindern erzählen werdet” here (for Fullscreen click on the book):

WIN 2×2 Tickets for STROKE.ARTFAIR

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As announced yesterday STROKE.ARTFAIR will take place by the end of this month in Munich. We are happy that we can make two people and two of their friends even happier by putting their names on the guest list.
stroke guest list
If you want to be a lucky one drop us a line till Monday, May 23rd: info(at)behindtrees.com. The winners will be selected by lottery and get free entry for one day at STROKE.ARTFAIR from May 26th to 29th!

Good luck!

STROKE.ARTFAIR – MUNICH/BERLIN

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Just a short event announcement:
STROKE.ARTFAIR is heading Munich this month. From 26th till 29th of May the urban art fair will take place at ZENITH.

The organizer about STROKE.ARTFAIR: “In 2011, the STROKE.ARTFAIR stands once more for an unconventional and hedonistic approach to art. Whether with an education in art history, with the serious intentions of an art collector, with passion for colours and shapes or wether out of pure curiousity – STROKE stands for uncompromising equality and openness. More than 40 galeries and art projects form the core of the fair, that has evolved into a unique and internationally renowned art event through new internal programmes such as STROKE.DIGITAL, STROKE.MUSIC, STROKE.FEATURE, URBAN-SHOCK STUDIO, numerous live paintings and parties.”

some impressions from earlier exhibitions:



STROKE.ARTFAIR on Facebook!
Tickets available here!

STROKE.ARTFAIR Berlin starts on September 29th till October 2nd.

Bild des Monats – Januar

Lorenz

Bilder sagen mehr als tausend Worte.

Hinter diesem abgedroschenem Spruch verbirgt sich mehr als man vermutet.
Wir sind täglich dank Internet, Zeitungen, Plakatwerbungen und unzählbaren Magazinen einer Flut von Bildern ausgesetzt, die meist einen Text grafisch unterstützen sollen. Aber kann ein Bild wirklich mehr erzählen als Wörter?
Ein Bild, insbesondere ein Foto, ist immer nur eine Momentaufnahme einer Situation. Ein gutes Bild kann in diesem einen Moment eine ganze Geschichte erzählen, die sich über Tage, Wochen und sogar Monate zugetragen hat.
Hier also der Versuch jeden Monat ein Bild ohne Text zu posten, das seine ganz eigene Geschichte erzählt.

Hier also nun die Geschichte des Januars…
Wallpaper Januar Snowboard

Hier noch als Wallpaper zum Download.

Die Welt im Spielzeugformat

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Menschen so groß wie Streichhölzer, Bäume wie in einer Spielzeugeisenbahn: Willkommen in der Tilt Shift Welt.
Ein sogenanntes Tilt Shift Objektiv, ein sehr teures Spezialobjektiv, machts möglich. Ursprünglich bekannt aus der Architekturfotografie, um stürzende Linien bei Gebäuden schon bei der Aufnahme auszugleichen. Der coole Nebeneffekt: Benutzt man das Tilt Shift Verfahren bei Landschaften und Menschen ist das Ergebnis eine Spielzeuglandschaft.

Tilt Shift Oldtimer

by baldheretic (flickr)

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The Great Firewall

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Ai Weiwei und das Regime

ai weiwei turm documenta

Template von Ai Weiwei ©Thomas Kolesnyk

Wenn wir an Ai Weiwei denken, sehen wir den 12-Meter hohen Turm “Template” aus chinesischen Holztüren und -fenstern vor uns bzw. das was nach dem Unwetter von ihm übrig blieb, gezeigt auf der Documenta12 in Kassel. Oder 5000 Rücksäcke am Haus der Kunst in München, die er im Rahmen seiner Ausstellung “so sorry” vor rund einem Jahr installiert hatte.
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