A curated glimpse into a world of infinite beauty and creativity.
It’s a scene etched in many a movie goers mind – actress Mena Suvari rolling around in a room full of rose petals in Kevin Spacey’s “American Beauty” dream.
Photographer Carey Fruth has made her own interpretation of this scene with her “American Beauty” image series. In it, women of all shapes and sizes which shows women of all shapes and sizes lying on a bed of flowers. Fruth wants to retake that quintessential male fantasy and use it to empower women of all colors, ages and sizes to be happy about their bodies:
“By stepping into a fantasy dream girl world and by letting go of that fear, they free themselves up to direct that energy they once wasted on telling themselves that they weren’t good enough to elsewhere in their life,” Fruth said. (via artfido)
In shades of electric blue, ruby red and black and white, photographer Lucas Zimmermann transforms mundane traffic lights in Weimar, Germany into an enchanting light show. The project is simple in concept, but absolutely beautiful in execution. ‘Traffic Lights’ was captured late at night on a foggy, vacant intersection. Lucas Zimmermann created the pictures taking 5-20 second long exposures. As all the colours and lights melt together, your eye is drawn further and further into the photographs.
Spectacular black & white Tokyo cityscape photography by Martin Stavars
From his photography project ‘Vedema’ – a selection of enchanting photographs portraying the famous Greek island of Santorini from a different point of view, by Petros Koublis.
Words from the photographer:
The concept of this project was to bring into surface and reveal a different face of Santorini, its hidden aspects and less known parts. The idea was to turn our eyes away from the famous caldera of the island, one of the most breathtaking and photographed parts of the world, and investigate the peculiarities, the secrets and the mysteries of the landscape that spreads towards the eastern part of the island.The project was realized in the April of 2014. We approached Santorini as the equivalent of a dream.The island of Santorini rises like an enchanting secret, both hidden and revealed, both real and mythical, wrapped in the captivating drama of its prehistoric volcanic creation. The Spirit of fire still wanders among the black rocks of the island, reciting an ancient, hypnotic poem, vigorously narrating the story of its origin through the hieroglyphics that the lava ecstatically engraved in the untamed land. A strange, murmured voice that enchants like a Siren’s song echoes from the steep cliffs of the Caldera; this song is the sound of the muddled, common memory of our very own origin. It is the sound of a whispering that escapes the crater, the deep blue sea, the irregular cracks in the scattered stones, the dark lunar soil, the carved caves, the breathing of the grazing horses as they dream of their mythological ancestors; Eos, Aethon, Pyrois and Phlegon, the horses that carried the chariot of god Helios, the ancient personification of the Sun.For in this island everything is somehow linked to a dream; like that of Euphemus, who dreamt one night that he made love to a nymph, the daughter of Triton. In his dream, the nymph who got pregnant and feared the wrath of her father, asked Euphemus to get a clod of earth from Anaphe, the island they were at, and throw it to the sea, so she could hide there and safely give birth to their child; even if it was a dream, he followed the nymph’s request and the new island appeared.Dreams are a part of a subconscious that the island itself seems to project on our thoughts, this primitive seduction that connects us with a forgotten Hysiodic theogony, ritually offering to our senses the sacred philosophy of imagination.
“Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness…”
from her series ‘Sand Creatures’ – beautiful photographs by Claire Droppert
House in Fukawa, Japan by ‘Suppose Design Office’
Wandering in the Woods, photography art by ‘Oer-Wout‘
India by Drone – Photographer Amos Chapple’s remarkable aerial views of India were shot by attaching his camera to a ‘quadcopter’ drone
Hello Everyone…. We are off for a one week break, holidaying in Athens, Greece. Have a great Easter! See you soon…
/ Nature’s jetpacks. Beautiful macro photography by Nordin Seruyan
Wonderful color photographs by Eric Cahan.
This photographic series by New York photographer Eric Cahan was created by adding filters with a variety of cameras that are both film and digital. Influenced by the California light and space movement, Cahan is interested in achieving an experience of light and color that is seamless and that transcends reality, much like his predecessors like Turrell in the 1960s. Through repetitive printing and filtering, Cahan eventually achieves these finished skyscapes that feel simultaneously surreal and hyper-real, revealing the seemingly magical phenomenon of light as we might experience it ourselves, but as many photographs fail to capture. (Text by Juxtapox.com)
A selection of beautiful minimalistic and serene photographs by one of our favorites – the very talented Hungarian photographer Akos Major
Humorous artworks using a variety of different media by artist Ole Ukena.
Majestic black and white Matterhorn portraits by Nenad Saljic. The Matterhorn, also known as Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin, is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps.
‘In Orbit’ ´wonderful suspended installation by Tomás Saraceno at the K21 Staendehaus museum in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Titled In Orbit the giant interactive piece is constructed from three separate levels of safety nets accessible from various points in the museum separated by enormous PVC balls measuring almost 30 feet (8.5 meters) in diameter. The resulting aerial landscape is an interesting hybrid between science fiction, spider webs, neural pathways and cloud formations.
Known for breaking the boundaries between art and science, Saraceno often refers to his interactive pieces as living organisms. In fact, over a period of three years Saraceno consulted with arachnologists (experts in the study of spiders), as well as architects and engineers to achieve the final design for In Orbit. Via the museum:
This floating spatial configuration becomes an oscillating network of relationships, resonances, and synchronous communication. When several people enter the audacious construction simultaneously, their presence sets it into motion, altering the tension of the steel wires and the intervals between the three meshwork levels. Visitors can coordinate their activities within the space, and are able – not unlike spiders in a web – to perceive space through the medium of vibration. Saraceno himself speaks of a new hybrid form of communication.
Text Via colossal / All photographs © Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW
“I’m Here, but Nothing” – black light art exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, 2000 using fluorescent sticker spots to fill an ordinary living room, giving the impression of a world seen through a magical, hallucinatory veil.
Its always nice when people find beauty in the every day things we pass by without a second thought…
From his series ‘ Means to an End’ – a set of photographs documenting electricity pylons that can be found criss-crossing the landscape around the city of Cape Town, South Africa by local photographer Marsh Dillon: “I was drawn to the seemingly haphazard variations of their designs and the cryptic reasoning behind their structuring”
Tosua Ocean Trench – Lotofaga, Samoa
Tosua actually means a “Gigantic Swimming Hole”. It is believed that lava field blow holes making thees tide pools and walking paths along the shore and near the ocean’s edge. it is about 30 meters down from the ground level, one must climb down a long ladder to the natural pool. The pool is situated close to Lotofaga, which is a village on the south coast of Upolu island in Samoa. For more info about the village, visit Lotofaga on Wikipedia (via amazingplacesonearth.com)
Photographs by ‘spiceontour’, Mick Byrne and ‘Steven and Darusha’
Incredible and powerful black and white photographs of storms across the central USA captured by Mitch Dobrowner. See much more of his work on his website.
Words by the photographer:
Landscape photographers count ourselves lucky to be in the right place at the right time if a storm system is moving through — but I wanted to actively pursue these events. Since storms are a process (not a thing) I needed a guide. I soon connected with Roger Hill (regarded as the most experienced storm-chaser in the world); he introduced me to Tornado Alley and the Great Plains of the United States.
In July 2009 Roger and I tracked a severe weather system for nine hours — from its formation outside of Sturgis, South Dakota, through Badlands National Park and into Valentine, Nebraska. Eventually we stopped in a field outside of Valentine, and there we stood in awe of the towering supercell (a thunderstorm with a deep rotating updraft) which was building with intake wind gusts of 60mph. It was like standing next to a 65,000-foot-high vacuum cleaner. It was unlike anything I had seen before in my life; the formation of the supercell had an ominous presence and power that I had never witnessed or experienced before. I remember turning to Roger, who was standing next to me, and saying, ‘what the ****… you have to be kidding me’. It was only the second day of my “experiment” in shooting storms, but I knew without a doubt that this experiment would become an important project to me.
Words are inadequate to describe the experience of photographing this immense power and beauty. And the most exciting part is with each trip I really don’t know what to expect. But now I see these storms as living, breathing things. They are born when the conditions are right, they gain strength as they grow, they fight against their environment to stay alive, they change form as they age… and eventually they die. They take on so many different aspects, personalities and faces; I’m in awe watching them. These storms are amazing sights to witness…. and I’m just happy to be there—shot or no shot; it’s watching Mother Nature at her finest. My only hope my images can do justice to these amazing phenomenona of nature.
—Mitch Dobrowner
Fernan Federicias microscopic images of plants, bacteria, and crystals are a classic example of finding art in unexpected places.
A couple years ago, Federici was working on his Ph.D. in biological sciences at Cambridge University studying self-organization, the process by which things organize themselves spontaneously and without direction. Like a flock of birds flying together.
More specifically, he was using microscopes and a process called fluorescence microscopy to see if he could identify these kinds of patterns on a cellular level. In fluorescence microscopy, scientists shine a particular kind of light at whatever theyare trying to illuminate and then that substance identifies itself by shining a different color or light back. Sometimes researchers will also attach proteins that they know emit a particular kind of light to substances as a kind of identifier. In the non-microscopic world, it as like using a black light on a stoner poster.
Federici grew up with photography as a hobby, so looking through the microscope at all the different colors and patterns he realized that the process was highly visual. He hadnat seen many images like what he was seeing published for the general public, so he asked for permission from his adviser Jim Haseloff to post the photos on his Flickr site. Today that site is filled with pages and pages of microscopic images, some of which are from his work, while others are just for fun.
“Microscopy is always serious science,a says Federici, who is now a researcher at Pontificia Univerisdad Catolica de Chile. aFor us [in the department at Cambridge] this was something we looked at as outreach. It was a way to bring this scientific data to the general public.” (text via techhumorblog)
Great aerial photographs from the series ‘Highway Interchanges’ in which Canadian photographer Peter Andrew captures the delicate and complex web of modern day highways. Find more of this work on his Behance gallery.
Fantastic Black and white photographs of the Selfridges Building in Birmingham, UK designed by architecture studio Future Systems, photographed by Giles McGarry
Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk island in Palau. This Micronesian island is home to five marine lakes that contain Mastigias papua, the golden jellyfish. It’s thought that these jellyfish have lost their ability to sting, but they do – it’s just rarely strongly enough to be felt by humans. See a video here
Photographs by David Kirkland, David Doubilet, Jody Macdonald and Chean Chong Lim
The urban landscape of New York City, manipulated by Oregon based photographer Brad Sloan into surreal, Inception-like, monochrome worlds.
‘The Event of a Thread’ – a fantastic installation combining A field of swings suspended 70 feet in the air, a gargantuan white curtain attached to a network of ropes and pulleys by artist Anne Hamilton / filmed and photographed by Paul Octavious
“Visual artist Ann Hamilton combines the ephemeral presence of time with the material tactility for which she is best known to create a new large-scale installation for the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Commissioned by the Armory, the event of a thread references the building’s architecture, as well as the individual encounters and congregational gatherings that have animated its rich social history. A multisensory affair, the work draws together readings, sound, and live events within a field of swings that together invite visitors to connect to the action of each other and the work itself, illuminating the experience of the singular and collective body, the relationship between the animal and the human. The address of the readers to the pigeons shifts at the end of each day, when a vocalist on the drill hall’s balcony serenades their release to flight. Each day’s song is cut with a record lathe, and the resulting recording is played back the next day.” (text by ‘park avenue armory’)
‘Doughnut City’ – Incredible photograph of parking lots in the city of Houston, Texas / photograph from the book: The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History
The term Doughnut City is used to describe a phenomenon that affects the physical shape of some cities of the North American Sun Belt. It consists of the concentration of urban activity on the ring road (where the newest and most advanced generation of housing estates and office parks are located) and the parallel physical disappearance of all that remains inside (the interior is affected by an accelerated process of obsolescence that leads to the demolition of a multitude of buildings). Viewed from a European perspective, the Doughnut City is a phenomenon that goes against nature. If in the cities of the Old Continent proximity to the center means an added value, in the Doughnut City quite the reverse is true: the most eligible urban areas are on the final periphery. (text source)
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2014 we are going to continue to divide our time between our Hovercraftdoggy Blog and our pinterest page, where we are focusing more on architecture and design such as beautiful interior spaces, furniture and graphic design as well as food & fashion and many more. So don’t miss out on all of these and come join us over at Pinterest :)
Have a good start to the new year. H
To our followers and those who have just stumbled upon us…we wish you all a happy and exciting new year.
See you in 2014. Your Hovercraftdoggies
“Cranes” – beautiful photographic series by Slovakian photographer Branislav Kropilak.
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‘Pixel Clouds’ – Delicate plastic sculpture work by artist Daniel Arsham. (via colossal)
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From our home to yours, we wish you all a Merry Christmas in good health and happiness. Your Hovercraftdoggies / photograph: miüda
The Lanxi Curtilage, International Intangible Cultural Heritage Park, Chengdu, China designed by Archi Union Architects Inc and photographed by SHEN Zhonghai
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‘Venus of Cupertino’ – iPad Docking Station, designed by Scott Eaton
Photographer Alexander Semenov (previously) who is well known for his documentation of oceanic wildlife, recently turned his camera upward and captured some fascinating photographs of jellyfish against the clouds and various sunsets. In some instances the water was so clear appears as if the animals are practically hovering in the sky. See much more over on Flickr. (via colossal)
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Curious how places left abandoned have a special magic or beauty about them…would you agree?
Places from top to bottom:
City Hall Subway Station- New York City
Ryugyong Hotel- Pyongyang, North Korea
Nara Dreamland- Japan
Château Miranda or Château de Noisy- Celles, Belgium
Christ of the Abyss- San Fruttuoso, Italy
City of Pripyat, Ukraine
Gulliver’s Travels Park- Kawaguchi, Japan
Abandoned mill – Sorrento, Italy
House of the Bulgarian Communist Party- Mount Buzludzha, Bulgaria
Abandoned flats- Keelung, Taiwan
Mirny Diamond Mine- Eastern Siberia, Russia
The Arcimboldo Series / by artist & photographer Klaus Enrique.
Words from the author: I had been working on a photography series in which I surround an isolated human body part with a large quantity of a certain object, when I was struck by the idea for this project. While I was photographing a human eye that was peeking out amongst hundreds of leaves, it occurred to me that I could actually utilize leaves to construct portraits or masks. I researched what other artists had created along these lines and discovered that, as usual, someone somewhere had already done something similar. In this case it was the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who made paintings with this concept in mind over 400 years ago.
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‘Silence’ photographed by Hengki Koentjoro in Ciwidey, West Java, Indonesia
In his ‘Architecture of Density’ photo series, German photographer Michael Wolf explores the incredible urban landscapes of Hong Kong. Stripped of all outer context like sky or ground, his photos only show fragments of massive blocks of flats, both crumbling or still in construction. The way their monotone and repetitive details occupy the whole frame is mesmerizing, and makes you think about all the walls we build around ourselves. (via demilked)/ for more great Art, Architecture, Design and Photography works, come follow us now on Facebook or visit us on Pinterest
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013 / photographed in 1994 by photographer/director Sander Veeneman
From her series ‘Harm Less’ – Harmless weapons made of plants by artist artist Sonia Rentsch who defuses the powers of modern weaponry by constructing guns, grenades and bullets completely from organic objects.
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From the series ‘Just the Two of Us’ – Portraits of Cosplay Enthusiasts in their Homes, photographed by Klaus Pichler
In his ongoing series of portraits titled Just the Two of Us, photographer Klaus Pitchler gained access to the homes of Austrain costume play (cosplay) enthusiasts where he photographed the elaborately costumed individuals against the backdrops of their everyday life. Via his artist statement:
Who hasn’t had the desire just to be someone else for awhile? Dressing up is a way of creating an alter ego and a second skin which one’s behaviour can be adjusted to. Regardless of the motivating factors which cause somebody to acquire a costume, the main principle remains the same: the civilian steps behind the mask and turns into somebody else. ’Just the Two of Us’ deals with both: the costumes and the people behind them.
While the costumes are incredible, terrifying, and laughable, it’s the strange juxtaposition of ordinary home life and the unknown identities of each individual that create such great images.
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PyroPet – Kisa (The Devil’s Pet) / Sweet little kittens are transformed in a fire. Crawling from the ashes come forth grinning metallic devils with sharp claws and fire blazing in their eyes by designer Thorunn Arnadottir and product developer Dan Koval. Photographs by: Glamour Et Cetera
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‘It’s raining, it’s pouring’ – beautiful photographs from Engineer/Blogger/Photographer Aishling Browne capturing a British Summer on the streets of Notting Hill, London.
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Cool and innnovative set of photographs from the series ‘I’m not here’ in which photographer Pol Ubeda Hervas captures the human absence from its surroundings. The concept behind the series is deeply metaphorical, visual food for though reflecting the situations where the change is irreversible and we cannot even recognize ourselves.
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Elevated Tracks, Chicago by Angie McMonigal
It’s a snug fit for Chicago’s famous “L” tracks, here shot from above by National Geographic Your Shot community member Angie McMonigal. Flanked on two sides by the elevated rail, the art deco Trustees System Service Building, now a condominium, dates to 1930. ( via National Geographic)
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Human Steel Sculptures, by British sculptor Antony Gormley /
Antony Gormley is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. His work has developed the potential opened up by sculpture since the 1960s through a critical engagement with both his own body and those of others in a way that confronts fundamental questions of where human being stands in relation to nature and the cosmos. Gormley continually tries to identify the space of art as a place of becoming in which new behaviours, thoughts and feelings can arise.
Gormley’s work has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and internationally with exhibitions at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Rio di Janeiro and Brasilia (2012); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012); The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2010); Hayward Gallery, London (2007); Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (1993) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (1989). He has also participated in major group shows such as the Venice Biennale (1982 and 1986) and Documenta 8, Kassel, Germany (1987). Permanent public works include the Angel of the North (Gateshead, England), Another Place (Crosby Beach, England), Inside Australia (Lake Ballard, Western Australia) and Exposure (Lelystad, The Netherlands).
Gormley was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999 and the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture in 2007. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an Honorary Doctor of the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge. Gormley has been a Royal Academician since 2003 and a British Museum Trustee since 2007.
Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950. (text via whitecube.com)
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‘Rodovia dos Imigrantes’ – (official designation SP‑160) is a highway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The highway connects the city of São Paulo to the Atlantic coast and with the seaside cities of São Vicente and Praia Grande. It follows the route of Rodovia Anchieta and is also one of Brazil’s busiest highways, especially on weekends.
Rodovia dos Imigrantes has 44 viaducts, 7 bridges, and 11 tunnels, along its 58.5 km stretch. The highway has recently been expanded, in one of the most audacious feats of Brazilian highway engineering, with extremely long tunnels and high strutting six-lane bridges constructed over the tropical rain forest which covers the steep faces of the Serra do Mar, the cliff range that separates the São Paulo plateau from the seaside lowlands. During sunny weekends, more than 1 million automobiles commonly cross its near 60 km run, separating the city of São Paulo from the sea. (Text: Wikipedia)
‘Gourmet Mouse Traps’ by Davide Luciano and Claudia Ficca /
“the creative couple of fine-art photographer davide luciano and food stylist claudia ficca have teamed up again to create ‘gourmet mouse traps’, a photography series showcasing various cheesy dishes, fit for the pickiest mouse, baited on the edge of traps. after a week-long cheese advertising shoot in new york, luciano, encouraged by his self-described ‘cheesy state of mind’ embraced the challenge of creating and photographing miniature, delectable food plates. creamy cheesecake, grilled cheese, layered lasagna, bagel & lox, and nachos are just a few of the gourmet, intricately crafted spreads that ficca cooked up. the ten, tiny dairy-based dishes are positioned on the catching device, set against changing environments and atmospheres. prop stylist maeve sheridan decorated each scene with diverse background wallpaper and lighting to give an impression that the traps were applied in different homes at different times throughout the day.” via ‘designboom’ – all images © and courtesy Davide Luciano and Claudia Ficca
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‘Armada’ – exhibition by Jacob Hashimoto currently at Studio La Città in Verona. Hashimoto frequently uses acrylic, paper, bamboo, and nylon to create densely layered installations of translucent discs and other geometric shapes that are mounted on walls. Unique to this exhibition he installed a large-scale kinetic sculpture of suspended sailboats affixed to three gently rolling lever mechanisms that cause the ships to roll gently along invisible waves. (via colossal)
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