Persian Pallet

Persian Pallet installation by Minneapolis based artists Chris Held and Andrew Vomhof. Executing this piece must have been a nail-biting experience, dry erase marker on whiteboard pallet - dry erase marker for mercy's sake. A medium is so tyrannously unforgivable. As common the motif and as pristine the work, simply looking at these photographs causes my chest tighten in apprehension.

Falconry

Absurdly opulent, but undeniably stunning bespoke hawk's hoods. Handmade by leather artisan Giancarlo Pirrotta and bejeweled by Tiroler Goldschmied, each one-of-a-kind piece takes a full month to create.

Slideshow Here

Ernst Haeckel

Plates from renowned (for better or worse at times) scientist and artist Ernst Haekel. One can't broach the subject of gentleman scientists without his mention. These illustrations are from Dr. Haekel's 1862 monograph, Die Radiolarien. The report covered new species of radiolarian, marine protozoa characterized by their elaborate mineral skeletons.

View all 35 plates >>>

Maurizio Cattelan

Mr. Cattelan unveils his latest work at the Milan stock exchange. Adolescently subversive... of course, but the sheer scale of it! 11m or 36ft including base.

On view for ten short days, during Milan fashion week.

via designboom

Urban Picnic

Londoner's were treated this weekend to impromptu picnic sites around the city.  Urban Picnic,  organized by the Vauxhall Collective, set out to reclaim the neglected spaces of the East-End and bring some whimsy to jaded city dwellers. 

For the event, furniture designer Gareth Neal crafted playful objects including ping-pong bats, picnic tables, stump stools, and log benches. All intricately embellished using traditional marquetry techniques. 

"The East London area was once home to hundreds of traditional furniture manufacturers, so it's the perfect location for the project. The objects within their locations refer to this lost industry and claim back pieces of land for relaxation, fun and play." Gareth Neal

Me.la.bo

Megan Bobogovich and her menagerie of porcelain oddities certainly evoke a little Mary Shelley. Utilizing slip cast components from tchotchkes, Ms. Bogovich reassembles the orphaned and unwanted creatures into curious new lives.

I was fortunate enough to receive a misfit squirrel as a gift a while back; methinks this may be my newest frankenstein. All those in favor, raise your hand!

Vatican Vectors

Virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel.

Amazingly detailed yes, but some atmospheric perspective would immensely help the nausea inducing navigation (compounded by the inextinguishable choir).

Passport No | Dramamine Yes

Luke Jerram

clockwise

SARS | Smallpox | HIV | Swine Flu

Luke Jerram is an inventor, a researcher, an amateur scientist and a multidisciplinary artist. Continuing our theme of gentleman scientists, we present his beautifully articulate series "Glass Microbiology". The series was designed in consultation with a virologist and produced in collaboration with a team of specialized glassblowers. Transparent glass question the arbitrary coloring in the medical illustration of viruses and how these colors affect their emotional reception. More importantly, the sculptures bring these infectious diseases out of the shadows and into the physical world, allowing viewers to face the threats in an entirely new arena.

anonymous letter to the artist:

Dear Luke, 

I just saw a photo of your glass sculpture of HIV.

I can't stop looking at it. Knowing that millions of those guys are in me, and will be a part of me for the rest of my life. Your sculpture, even as a photo, has made HIV much more real for me than any photo or illustration I've ever seen. It's a very odd feeling seeing my enemy, and the eventual likely cause of my death, and finding it so beautiful.

Thank you.

Andy Freeberg

In the vein of Ms. Knorr's quiet questioning of the museum setting, Andy Freeberg observes the silent soldiers of art, the ever present and oft ominous docent. These photographs are from Mr. Freeberg's series "Guardians" all shot in Russian art museums.

Another intriguing viewpoint of the 'there, but not there' can be found in his second series "Sentry", this collection captures the gallery desks of Chelsea.

Karen Knorr

A tasting from the "Fables" collection of Karen Knorr. The location sites include Carnavalet Museum, the Museum of Hunt and Nature in Paris, Kenwood House and the Conde Museum in Chantilly Castle.

Counterfeit

Artists next on the list for personal appropriation include Frédérique Morrel & Lisa Lefebvre.

I immediately think of Méret Oppenheim, albeit completely reversed and without the looming gray cloud of feminist sexual commentary. Not missed.

More Underfoot

Zebra-pad installation also in conjunction with "The Face of Lace" exhibition last year, hopefully now a permanent fixture of the city.

Pancha Tantra

Taschen Books is releasing it's large-format edition of Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra next month.

Large-format wallets were a prerequisite of previous editions.

Dan Funderburgh

This gentleman can do no wrong. Mr. Funderburgh is a wallpaper designer and artist based in Brooklyn. Know him more & more.

Untitled (Tool Wall)

painted laser-etched chipboard

YSL

There's a new piece in your place setting.

Yvonne Lee Shultz

The fragile weapon

hand-painted in the style of classic tableware motifs

lies next to your coffee and cake

asking to be picked up.

Its coolness and comfortable grip

increase the qualms of the user

leaving him in a quandery

between the pleasure of luxury and violence.

Seb Lester

T & A never looked so refined. I give you the gloriously inappropriate tidings of a typographer; printed in limited editions of course.

That Sebastian, he is incorrigible.

Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre

The peculiar papercuts of Wilhelm Staehle are now available signed and framed at the Bazaarium.

An Ornament and a Crime

Another blue & white find. Lenin bust in blue onion pattern available at A+R.