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Photography

Multiple Exposure Photographs Inspired by Impressionist Paintings

By Chloe Pantazi on

Influenced by the Impressionist aesthetic of Monet and Turner’s work, these gorgeous multiple exposure photos by the artist Eeva Karhu (via Faith is Torment) possess the evocative quality of painting. Indeed, they look more like paintings than they do photos; note the grainy, hazy texture of Kahru’s photos and the way the light blurs the landscape within each frame. Her work doesn’t just emulate the Impressionist masters, however — it straddles that liminal space between mediums and worlds. In fact, Kahru’s portraits seem more like imagined renderings than real ones, but of course they are real. These pictures remind us that there’s something innately beautiful and painterly in our surroundings. … Read More

Los Angeles

Electrifying Photos of Los Angeles, 1940-1990

By Tanja M. Laden on

Not far from Downtown Los Angeles, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is the former home of American railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington, whose 500-acre estate and massive collection of 18th-century British portraiture became available to the public after his death in 1927. While the Huntington is definitely worth a visit in person, it’s also possible to check out a few of its resources online. Form and Landscape: Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Basin, 1940–1990 is a web-based exhibition presented by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West featuring a selection of 70,000 images from Southern California Edison, the company that supplies the majority of electricity to the LA area. As part of the Getty’s initiative, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in LA, authors, scholars, and other experts have culled the Huntington’s massive archive documenting the region’s — quite literally — electrifying history. … Read More

Art

Blueprints of Light: Illuminated 3D Perspective Drawings

By Chloe Pantazi on

This stunning installation by the London art collective United Visual Artists (UVA) uses light to create 3D constructs, repurposing space in innovative and compelling ways. With the aptly titled Vanishing Point, spotted at Architizer, UVA re-imagines and restructures the 2D designs of Renaissance architects, using laser beams to manifest 3D perspective environments that register as spectacular blueprints of light, revising architectural conventions and making art out of planning. Take a look at photographs of the installation, currently on exhibit at Berlin’s Olympus Photography Playground, below. … Read More

Film

Gorgeous Original Posters for Paul Thomas Anderson Movies From Mondo

By Jason Bailey on

Well, looks like Mondo has off and done it again. The collectible art division of our beloved Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has a new series of posters dedicated to the work of Paul Thomas Anderson, and they’re knockouts. Mondo artist Aaron Horkey curated the series; after the jump, you can see their posters for Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, and Hard Eight (aka Sidney), along with Horkey’s thoughts on the pieces and the artists responsible. … Read More

Photography

A Photographer’s Hauntingly Simple Statement About Gun Violence

By Julia Pugachevsky on

In the midst of America’s endless mass shooting epidemic, and at a time when “bleeding ex-girlfriend” shooting targets exist and Jim Porter has taken over as president of the NRA (here’s what you need to know about this guy), we need to start thinking differently about guns and their impact. Australian artist Sonia Rentsch’s Harm Less is a powerful, wildly creative collection that offers visual poetry to both the pro-gun set and the rest of us, who have yet to see any beauty in wielding a weapon. Click through to see these arresting images, and be sure to check out Rentsch’s website, full of equally stunning photographs. … Read More

Art

Gorgeous Comic-Book Collage Portraits of Women

By Emily Temple on

The portrayal of women (and non-gender normative characters in general) in mainstream comic books has long been a subject of discussion and controversy — not least because of their ludicrously unrealistic physical portrayals. It’s easy to see echoes of this in the work of Montreal-based artist Sandra Chevrier, spotted over at HiConsumption – Chevrier covers the faces of her subjects in the pages of comic books, leaving only their mouths or eyes to assert their femininity. The result is beautiful and more than a little thought-provoking. Check out Chevrier’s lovely collages after the jump, and then be sure to head on over to her website to see even more. … Read More

Art

Amazing Paintings That Combine Art Styles Throughout the Ages [NSFW]

By Alison Herman on

Art history buffs will find plenty of Easter eggs in Cuban-American painter Cesar Santos’ Syncretism series. Combining references to periods as diverse as the Renaissance, Impressionism, and Abstract Expressionism with his own contemporary additions, Santos creates mash-ups that are ultimately all his own. A typical painting might show Mona Lisa with tattoos and a beanie or an angelic girl framed by an Alexander Calder mobile as well as a halo, throwing in a McDonald’s bag or an American flag bikini for good measure. On his website, Santos says he aims “to show images that transmit the impression of paintings of the past, but are imbued with contemporary, fresh concepts.” Since his modern take on Monet’s Luncheon on the Grass seems ripped straight from Central Park, it seems he’s succeeded. … Read More

Art

Paintings That Capture the Alien World of Walmart

By Alison Nastasi on

Fascinated by the everyday routines of his subjects, painter Brendan O’Connell, who we learned about on Neatorama, ventured to Walmart to observe shoppers wandering the never-ending aisles. His expressionist-style artworks of Wonder Bread packed into the store’s cavernous shelves and people clutching bags of potato chips capture the garish glow and alien feel of the superstore. “I would argue that Walmart is the most visited interior architecture on the planet,” O’Connell said in an interview. We shudder at the thought. … Read More

Photography

Old Master-Style Still Lifes of the Ridiculous Food Musicians Request on Tour

By Alison Nastasi on

We’ve looked at the strange and hilarious demands that musicians made in their tour riders before, and artist Henry Hargreaves brought those contractual requests to life in a new photo series. In the style of Old Master paintings, Hargreaves photographed the nibbles pop stars like to stuff their faces with. “I was inspired to create this series after reviewing a few riders from some of the biggest acts in the world, all of which were ridiculous,” the artist wrote for Vice. “What I found most interesting about them is that they offered a glimpse into their larger-than-life personalities.” It’s true. Sinatra lived on booze, New Kids on the Block eat like 12-year-old boys, Axl Rose’s cuisine also makes you want to punch him in the face, and Prince sips tea. Meanwhile, Billy Idol has danced with himself for so long, he’s resorted to chocolate chip cookies and a tub of butter to soothe his weary feet (and soul). Take a closer look in our gallery. … Read More

Art

Fascinating Photos of the Models Who Inspired Famous Artworks

By Alison Nastasi on

We’re fascinated, and slightly unnerved, by Flóra Borsi’s photo manipulations, which bring abstract figures from paintings to life. They apply a surreal and cartoonish twist to the traditional notion of the model as subject, and mischievously toy with our separation of real and aesthetic dimensions. Of course, the two are intimately related, and the real-life models of the fine art world have their own fascinating stories to tell. Fortunately, the advent of photography offered artists the opportunity to capture their sitters for reference. See famous artworks and the models that inspired them, side by side, in our… Read More