UrbanicaBlog
by Israel Baumgartner
As a lover of modern art, Mondrian-inspiredcreative projects, and unusual cookbooks, I was instantly enamored with Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art(public library) by Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef at the Blue Bottle café at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s, which she roams for inspiration, then translates the artwork into edible masterpieces. From Matisse parfait to Mondrian cake to Frida wedding cookies to Fuller hot chocolate, the recipes hit the spot for art-lovers and foodies alike, adding an extra layer of whimsical delight to the art of dessert.
Via http://www.nobrow.net/8140
Swan Lake is a beautiful concertina book detailing a night at the Ballet. Illustrated by Californian artist Ping Zhu, we see the pristine theatre, audience and performance on one side and the back-stage bustle and nerves on the other. Based on a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, the images are not only inspired by the dramatic story but also the atmosphere of a working dance venue.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were both born on June 13, 1935, he in Bulgaria, she in Morocco. They met in Paris in 1958 when Christo was commissioned to paint a portrait of Jeanne-Claude’s mother. Since that time they have collaborated on an impressive oeuvre of artistic work.Individual aspects of the Christos’ art may be linked to any number of artistic precursors, yet in its totality their work is truly unique. Their oeuvre has been approached critically via its resonance with Constructivism, Nouveau Rèalisme, happenings, conceptual art, land art, and the tradition of draped figures in art, especially those of Giotto and Rodin. Yet any single point of entry must be left behind if one is to fully appreciate the Christos’ unparalleled achievements.Of the many perspectives from which one can investigate the Christos’ art it is the use of fabric as an agent for transformation and revelation that is perhaps most crucial. The wrapping or surrounding of familiar objects, the curtaining off of familiar views, the intervention of fabric where one least expects it undermines our comfortable residence with the accustomed and creates a sense of dislocation. This substitution of a more ambivalent than unfamiliar presence for the predictable is one of the key elements of their work. The installations took years of planning. The considerable activity which precede the installation of a piece is as much a part of a particular work as the actual installation. It took twenty-four years before the Reichstag could be wrapped, seven years to organize The Umbrellas, ten years to plan The Pont Neuf Wrapped, and three years for the Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay.
Wrapped Reichstag
Surrounded Islands
The Umbrellas, Japan–USA, 1984–91.
Wrapped Coast
Pont Neuf- Paris (http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/)
After music and film it is about time to trade other products in the digital realm. Their shared conceptual-aesthetic approach led Lucas Maassen and Raw Color to research how a physical product can function in a digital environment. How one could acquire it via digital structures. And which opportunities it could offer the consumer. For the project D/struct they collected 60 plastic commodities. Using 3D scanning and printing techniques, they exhaustively detached the object’s design from the material it was made of.
Resultingly, they came to a new product. Maassen and Raw Color put the intriguing little bags up for offer on www.d-struct.nl. Containing the pulverized matter of the selected product. Goodbye original. The buyer receives a complete 3D-scan of the chosen object along with the package. As such encouraging him to trace the route back to the original. In order to reconstruct another version — or endlessly come up with other versions and variations — of the shattered original using his own 3D-printer.
FutureBrand’s role involves developing the ‘Look’ of London 2012 and an identity system that works across every touchpoint. From pin badges to stadium interiors, medal ribbons to retail stores and from the London 2012 Festival (the Cultural Olympiad) to the ‘look’ of cities and working with sponsor partners, FutureBrand is involved with every touchpoint of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Geoffrey Farmer‘s “Leaves of Grass” exhibit at the Neue, an amazing fete, completely engrossing, a piece which boggles the mind in it’s content, intricacy and historical content. Farmer has constructed it using thousands of clippings from the iconic American magazine, LIFE…..This very long and large piece, (it spans more than 60 feet) is drawn from five decades of images, completely fabricated from cut-outs from the magazine. This piece is three-dimensional collage of images, advertisements, articles, it is an essay of the cultural issues, propaganda and pop culture of these 5 decades. Each image is individually attached to a thin wooden post in order to give depth to the collection, which is properly named after renowned poet Walt Whitman’s collection of poetry.
The first book from Berlin illustration dynamic duo Golden Cosmos and their maiden book collaboration with Nobrow Press. This beautiful Leporello book folds out to a stunning 139cm panorama detailing the history and mythology of flight, from the legendary attempts of Icarus, to the revolutionary innovations of the Jet Age! The wrap-around cover provides educational entries for each panel, detailing notable benchmarks in the history of aviation.
A fantastic educational tool and a great work of art, Nobrow’s best-selling Leporello series is an ideal gift for people of all ages! A beautiful concertina book that can be read as a book, displayed on a mantlepiece, or even framed as a print.Golden Cosmos was set up in 2010 as a collborative moniker for German artistic couple Daniel Doltz and Doris Freigofas. Their deep knowledge of traditional printmaking techniques and experiences in self publishing that have won them widespread critical acclaim in illustration circles made them the perfect choice for our trademark concertina series. Their bold use of colour and adeptness for shape and form recall the bold patterns and geometry of early Russian constructivism, with a nod to mid century French commercial art. Whilst the book itself can be read, displayed or framed, the new wraparound cover allows us at Nobrow to add an educational element to the series, with entries for each panel of the concertina detailing the notable benchmarks in the history and mythology of aviation.
London-based artist Marine Hugonnier is best known for examining
the relationship between words and images. In her ongoing series,
‘Art for Modern Architecture’ (2004 – present), Hugonnier manipulates
the front pages of well-known newspapers like The New York Times and
The Guardian, replacing the photographs with colorful abstract images.
The effect is disorientating and thought-provoking –
headlines take on greater significance,
and the notion of the ‘media spectacle’ takes on new meaning.
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac called his collection Fire on Ice, and invoked Iceland as the magical land of volcanoes that spawned Björk. It resulted in something enchanted and tribal, with a sometimes heavy-handed avian motif that the designer juiced up with primary comic-book colors.
In Of Beasts and Super-Beasts, Indian-born Raqib Shaw created a universe inspired by the Empire style typical of European – and more specifically French – art from the early 19th century. The anthropomorphic figures have heads like birds, crocodiles or even tigers, somewhere between gods and heroes. They hold bowls with griffon bases, pitchers with swan neck handles, and other avian-adorned pieces. These mythological man-animal characters evolve within precious and fantastical settings, fitted and chiseled like the work of a goldsmith.
The exhibition Of Beasts and Super-Beasts is currently on view at the Parisian Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. Raqib Shaw’s works on paper, presented in the form of an installation, superpose wonders, curios and vanitas. Each work is a line drawing repurposed with ink and paint and then enhanced with enamel, lead glass, rhinestones, and gilding.
