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Artists often come up with concepts and ideas that require help to reach the light of day, and whenever an artist teams up with a scientist the unlikely duo is most likely on the verge of making an incredible discovery. Case and point-the collaboration between Dutch artist Jalila Essaidi and Utah State researcher Randy Lewis has resulted in a bulletproof, skin-like material that has been fabricated from silk threads produced by a genetically modified silk worm. And the ultimate point of this exercise in left brain/right brain cooperation? To someday create a synthetic human skin and artificial tendons and ligaments. Read more on this fascinating development over at PhysOrg.
Normally riding a motorcycle makes people look pretty cool. However this hog is tricked out to resemble what appears to be a Predator Alien hybrid (the PredAlien). See link for more photos.
Artist Roongrojna Sangwongprisarn made this incredible Alien motorcycle out of spare parts and scrap in a Bangkok garage. And it actually goes!
This may look like a crazy event frozen in time, or a scene from a disaster flick, but it’s actually an art installation created for the VIA Advertising Agency by artist Wary Meyers. Called “The Basement Stacks”, its name is derived from the fact that the building now utilized by VIA used to be home to the Portland Public Library. Books have never seemed so dangerous!
Link Image via Wary Meyers
Remember the Alphabet of Superheroes by artist Fabian Gonzalez I posted a few weeks ago? Well, he’s at it again, this time with the Alphabet of Video Game Characters. He says it’s the last in the Alphabet series, so if you’re a fan, you’d better snatch it up while you can. Mario is classic, of course, but I love Q*Bert and Inky, myself.
Link via Geekologie
Graphic designer Viktor Hertz has created a cool series of logos redesigned to better explain what you’re really going to find within the brand. Cat videos? Yeah, you know that’s what you’re really doing on YouTube.
P.S., Viktor also has movie posters as depicted in pictogram that are really cool. There Will be Blood is my favorite.
Cuban-American artist Elsa Mora created this lovely miniature dollhouse featuring artist Frida Kahlo. You can see pictures of the details, as well as a similar work called Frida Kahlo’s Studio and other dollhouse projects in her dollhouse gallery. Link -via Everlasting Blort
In an essay at The Telegraph, photography critic and picture editor Lucy Davis muses about the palettes used by well-known artists.
Some artists mix every gradation of colour they will need for a painting before they start, others as they need them. “My freshly arranged palette, brilliant with contrasting colors, is enough to fire my enthusiasm,” noted Delacroix in his Journal in 1850. The French artist was meticulous in his arrangement of colours, and when unwell, would take his palette to bed and spend the entire day just mixing new shades.
The actual palettes of Renoir, Seurat, Degas, Delacroix (above), Moreau, Gauguin, and Van Gogh are illustrated, accompanied by commentary on how the physical layout of colors on the board may influence the figurative “palette” of color choices used by the artist for his work.
Link.
Photo: Michelle Pred (planting her work into IKEA’s inventory.)
As crowds rushed to find deals at the Emeryville, CA IKEA store, one of them had a plan other than shopping. Michelle Pred was actually placing her artwork, complete with working IKEA barcodes, into the inventory, an act she calls “shopdropping.” Unlike shoplifting, she isn’t breaking any laws, and IKEA pocketed the money. It’s all a statement by the artist.
In Pred’s case, the statement is “You Are What You Buy,” which also happens to be the title of the prints she shopdropped, a commentary on excessive consumerism on a day where excessive consumerism practically is celebrated. She says that as a conceptual artist, she valued the opportunity to make a statement about society over the chance to make money. The shopdrop itself, in fact, is part of the piece.
Pred gained national attention in 2002 when she made art out of knives and nail-cutters snagged by security at local airports. In 2006 she attempted to demystify the cannabis plant by growing one in a San Francisco gallery.
The signed, limited edition prints were marked and sold for $8.00 each. The same prints can be bought in Pred’s studio for $200. Story at Link.
Artist’s website
Photo: Katie Paterson
This is popping up everywhere, and it’s pretty neat. Katie Paterson is an artist who recorded natural sounds from Iceland’s glaciers, then collected natural ice melt from the glaciers. She then pressed three records made of the refrozen ice with the audio transferred. It took each record two hours of continuous play to melt, but you can hear a sample of what it sounded like here. via todayandtomorrow
If you took a look at the larger version of this sculpture (left), you’d immediately conclude that it was made out of Styrofoam. As impressive as that would be, the real mind-blower here is that it’s actually marble.
All of Fabio Viale’s creations from marble have a deceptive quality to them, prompting the beholder to utter “No way,” with each new sculpture. From paper airplanes, to actual working boats, to classic renderings of the human form, they all inspire.
For instance, these seemingly impossible tires linked together? Black marble.
(L) Neil Gaiman by Leigh Gallagher (R) Jules Verne by Ted McKeever
Steven Gettis of Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s Clobberin’ Time!!! website has been collecting artists’ interpretation of their favorite literary figure/author/character since 1998. So far he’s got over 300 drawings done (wow!). I particularly like the drawings of Neil Gaiman and Jules Verne above.
Not to be missed: Link
A deviant artist nicknamed ULiveandYouBurn turned roadside traffic safety barrels into monsters and alligators, but is it art or vandalism?
Sometimes there’s a fine line between art and vandalism. Blurring that line is Raleigh, North Carolina-based ULiveandYouBurn (nickname used to protect his identity). Part Urban Explorer, part fine-art photographer and social critic, ULiveandYouBurn is constantly pushing the boundaries of acceptable art.
As an Urban Explorer, he’s traveled into many closed-off areas including construction sites, abandoned buildings, and mine shafts, and he’s climbed his share of dizzying construction cranes.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by StigNordas.
Heather Jansch creates absolutely amazing (and surprisingly lifelike) sculptures of horses using driftwood.
Equally amazing is the story of how she found her own style in the art world:
I went on to the now famous Goldsmiths College in London where sadly, at the time, figurative work was unfashionable. There was a life room, and models too, but no tutors ventured near. They liked and encouraged (typically) 6ft square green canvases with triangles and circles in bold clashing colours and sculptures using planks and blocks of polystyrene.
At the end of the first year I was asked to leave the course. I was told that I did not have the stuff that painters were made from and, if lucky, I might scrape a place somewhere to do graphics. My confidence was shattered. I was not interested in graphics. I liked the country, painting and constructing things from what lay around.
But that was then, and I went on to achieve my dream by virtue of fate, the generosity of others, luck and determination. I went my own way, not always wisely and not always to accolade from the establishment.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sagest.
Mel Milton’s workspace, more at Melmade The Blog
It’s always fascinating to get an inside glimpse into how art is made. Parka Blogs has a neat post about the creative workspaces and home offices of artists. This one above is the workspace of Disney Interactive animator Mel Milton. I spotted an empty table space to the right that will probably be occupied with toys soon!
Fast food grease as art? Yep. Watch as artist Phil Hansen creates a huge replica of the Mona Lisa using nothing but grease squeezed from hamburger patties – and it only took him 10 double burgers to do it.
He didn’t just do this for fun, though… it’s actually an Arby’s ad.
Previously on Neatorama: Bruce Lee Speed Painting | Phil Hansen’s Influence: a Body Paint Art
What happens when you give an artist a canvas the size of a football field and two BMW Z4′s? You don’t have to wonder: South African artist Robin Rhode had the pleasure of using the cars as paintbrushes. His creative results are reminiscent of spirographs we all played with as kids:
Imagine a canvas nearly as large as a football field. On it bold, swirling shapes in primary colors like red, yellow and blue. As the eye uncovers the rhythm of the lines, curves, circles and color splotches, something else is revealed: these forms must have been created by tire treads! A work of art like no other, created by an artist like no other – the new BMW Z4 Roadster.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Frau.
You can get a better look of the cases by visiting the artist’s website. The site’s in French, so if you speak the language you’re in luck. But if you’re like me and speak only two languages – English and bad English – there are plenty of pretty-shiny designs and pictures to look at.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
Artist Brian Despain is a fantastic painter with a unique subject – robots. In this video, Roq La Rue Gallery’s Kristen Anderson and Kenny Montana interview Despain about his art, his inspiration and why he’s so passionate about robots.
– via boingboing
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.
Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride is quite possibly one of the best attractions Disney’s Imagineers have created during the theme park’s history. From the tombstones surrounding the mansion’s decaying exterior to its cobwebbed interior, the whole ride creates a pitch-perfect atmosphere of gothic glee.
This year the attraction celebrates its 40th anniversary. To commemorate the milestone, one of Disney’s favorite artists, Shag, has been commissioned to create original artwork inspired by the ever popular attraction.
>“Represented in the artwork are some of the attraction’s most beloved scenes, including the Stretching Portraits, the Ballroom, the Séance Room, the Attic, Graveyard, among others. This unique collection is a must have for any Shag and Haunted Mansion enthusiast.”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.
By day Barry Snyder is an Erie, Colorado handyman. But in his spare time he is a unique artist who has garnered media attention from across the country. For over 30 years Barry has collected Price Look Up stickers to use as color chips in his own form of mosaic art. On average his creations take 6 months to complete and are comprised of up to 4,000 stickers.
Check out this short video from Food Network’s Unwrapped that profiles Barry Snyder and gives viewers a look into his world of sticker art.
Link – via whitespace
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.
