Life-Size Cardboard Sculptures of Chinese Villagers Tap Into Artist Warren King’s Ancestral Heritage

Warren King began sculpting with cardboard as an attempt to add fantasy to the lives of his children, creatively crafting masks and helmets out of the recyclable material. This slowly evolved into a more time-consuming arts practice as King began focusing less time on costumes, and more time making large sculptures of his own. After a visit to his grandparents’ village in Shaoxing, China, the New York City-based artist felt compelled to more deeply connect with his cultural past. This sparked Grandfather’s Friend, and Arrival Times, a series of life-size cardboard recreations of his ancestors. 

“During my first visit to China about 7 years ago, I visited the village and spoke with residents who actually remembered my grandparents from over 50 years ago,” said King. “It was a pivotal experience for me, one that inspired me to become an artist. Through my work, I am attempting to understand the fragile connections to people and culture, and examine whether those connections, once broken, can be restored.”

King’s cardboard sculptures will be shown in the exhibition Art of Asia at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center from February 2 to March 28, 2018. You can see more of his work on his Instagram and Flickr.

Nature-Based Textiles by Vanessa Barragão Highlight Ecosystems Above and Below the Sea

Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragão produces carpets and tapestries from a variety of different techniques, creating multi-faceted landscapes with the use of latch hooking, crochet, weaving, basketry, and felt. Her environmental works present imitation coral, fungi, and algae as three-dimensional elements in plush contexts such as the circular work viewed above which she calls Earth Rug. The piece was developed for this year’s Milan Design Week and spans nearly 15 feet in diameter.

You can shop Barragão’s smaller coral-decorated textiles on her Etsy Shop, and view more of her larger works on her Instagram and Behance. (via Lustik)

New Hand-Painted Persian Carpets With Vibrantly Hued Details by Jason Seife

With a steady hand and several fine-point brushes, Miami-based artist Jason Seife (previously) produces paintings that mimic the ornate patterns found in Persian carpets. Seife presents the same geometric symmetry seen in historic designs, yet takes his own liberties with the colors of ink and acrylic paint chosen for each work. The vibrant hues selected are not ones traditionally found in Persian textiles, but are his way to imbue his own state of mind into each piece.

Seife is currently represented by Robert Fontaine Gallery. You can see more of his carpet-based paintings on Instagram. (via Booooooom)

Step Inside a Swirling Mirror Room of Interactive Ocean Vortices by teamLab

For their latest dizzying interactive installation, Japanese collective teamLab (previously) brought the ocean indoors, creating a projected environment that reacts to the movements of visitors, all encased within the infinite space of a mirror room. Titled “Moving Creates Vortices and Vortices Create Movement” the work is inspired in part by the life cycle of the ocean, particularly the movement of plankton as represented by the reactive particle effects that spin like whirlpools as you pass through the exhibition space. The speed and direction of people’s movements are all factored into the projections and in the absence of motion the room gradually reverts to darkness.

The Vortices installation just opened at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia where it will remain on view through April 15, 2018. You can learn more on teamLab’s website. (via Designboom)

All images © teamLab.

A Floating Coffee Cup Pours a Rainbow of Liquid Pencils

Texas-based artist and maker Bobby Duke runs a popular YouTube channel where he posts a variety of art and craft videos on stone carving, sculpting, and painting projects. His latest piece was the creation of a fun floating cup that appears to pour a splash of liquid pencils. Duke is auctioning the final piece on Ebay with part of the proceeds going to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Hundreds of Swinging Pendulums Subtly Choreograph Visitors’ Movements at the Paris Autumn Festival

Hundreds of pendulums swing through Paris’ Grande halle de la Villette for choreographer and artist William Forsythe‘s installation Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No. 2. The hanging plumbobs sway together in a series of timed sequences, which force visitors into choreographed movements as they avoid the ceiling-mounted works.

“The spectators are free to attempt a navigation of this statistically unpredictable environment, but are requested to avoid coming in contact with any of the swinging pendulums,” says an artist statement regarding Forsythe’s choreographic object. “This task, which automatically intimates and alerts the spectators innate predictive faculties, produces a lively choreography of manifold and intricate avoidance strategies.”

The work has previously been installed at the Circus Street Market as part of the Brighton Festival, the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, the Arsenale of the Venice Biennale, and will be displayed at la Grande halle de La Villette for le Festival d’Automne à Paris through December 31, 2017. You can see footage from an iteration of the installation at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany in the video above. (via The Kid Should See This)

Image via @audre.l

Image via @tam_qubiqstudio

Image via @_cedric_v

Image via @ziyue_j

Image via @studiomm_paris

A Remarkable Timelapse of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

Last Friday SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket that illuminated the sky above Southern California in a spectacularly unusual way, leaving many unsuspecting people to wonder if they were witnessing a comet, an attack, or the end of days. SpaceX founder Elon Musk acknowledged the bizzare atmospheric effect but didn’t help clarify things much.

Photographer Jesse Watson was in nearby Yuma, Arizona to film a timelapse of the launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Having never filmed a rocket before he wasn’t sure quite what to expect, but this 40 seconds of footage was well worth the effort. PetaPixel has some additional details about how Watson managed to get the shot.

New Sculptures by Ben Young Transform Hand-Cut Glass into Aquatic Landscapes

Ben Young (previously here) continues to use exquisite manual techniques to transform sheets of glass into luminous sculptures that give a glimpse into a moment in time or space. The artist envisions, hand-cuts, and carefully constructs layers of glass to evoke water, often offset with organically-shaped concrete topography, as well as metal details like a diver, lighthouse, or sailboat. Young, who is based in New Zealand, describes his latest body of work on his website:

Sentiments of the Sublime explores the nostalgic many and collective perspectives of the relationship between man and nature. In creating work, by hand, that makes reference to the myriad of perspectives and experiences of others, Young’s work is both deeply personal to the viewer and at the same time exploring subject matter that is universal, connecting Young, his work and his viewers in a moment of awe and nostalgia.

Young recently had his first solo show at REDSEA Gallery in Singapore, and currently has a piece, At The Helm, on view at Black Door Gallery in Aukland. Young also offers prints of his sculptures and shares updates on his work via Behance, Facebook, and Instagram.