Geeky recycled keyboard clutch bag
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smile, breathe and go slowly
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Wasp sculpture from junk mechanical parts | Boing Boing
This gorgeous wasp sculpture, c.1980s by artist S. Allen, is for sale at Seattle's Great Stuff shop. It's 24" (h) x 34" (d) x 38" (w). The price is $4,500. "Centered around an industrial light bulb and hundreds of typewriter and printer parts, car door handles, sprockets and springs all assembled with fine-gauge wire; wings made from reclaimed 1/8" acrylic sheeting." Wasp Sculpture (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)
via boingboing.net
Fantastic Art from Recycled Toys | Environmental Graffiti
Fri, Nov 27, 2009
Gemini, Image: psfk via City of Skies
Kris Kuksi is an artist who almost redefines the word intricacy, and does so recycling toys, figurines, mechanical parts and other thrown away objects and discarded detritus. Like a maestro modelist who’s dabbled with too many mild-altering substances, Kuksi has an outlandish attention to detail, and as such is able to create surreal and macabre worlds, the bizarre quality of which is haunting – even hallucinatory.
A Tribute to the Madness of Beethoven
Image: psfk via City of Skies
To some, Kuksi’s work evokes ancient-looking stonework brought to life, perhaps, under the chisel of a master artisan; to others his unearthly creations appear almost frozen in time. To us, this is palpably outsider art, the painstaking handiwork of one who feels alienated from the world he has found himself inhabiting. It’s no surprise to learn that Kuksi leads a completely nocturnal lifestyle.
Anglo-Parisian Barnstormer
Image: psfk via City of Skies
“I feel that in the world today much of mankind is oftentimes a frivolous and fragile being driven primarily by greed and materialism,” the artist states. “I hope that my art exposes the fallacies of Man, unveiling a new level of awareness to the viewer.”
Churchtank Type 7C
Image: psfk via City of Skies
Undoubtedly, modern materialism sprang from the seeds of industrialism, so it’s interesting that Kuksi should be “inspired by the industrial world, all the rigidity of machinery, the network of pipes, wires, refineries, etc. Then I join that with an opposite of flowing graceful, harmonious, and pleasing design of the Baroque and Rococo”.
Imminent Utopia
Image via Freshnessmag
Such incongruous stylistic juxtapositions are mirrored in the mishmash of the materials Kuksi uses, “pop culture effluvia like plastic model kits, injection moulded toys, dolls, plastic skulls, knick-knack figurines, miniature fencing, toy animals, mechanical parts and ornate frames or furniture parts.”
Antics and Mechanical Frolic
Image via Freshnessmag
The fact that it is toys specifically that Kuksi recycles is hard to ignore. He experienced a difficult upbringing characterised by “seclusion” and “isolation”, where “open country, sparse trees, and later alcoholic stepfathers, perhaps paved the way for an individual saturated in imagination and introversion.” Innocence lost likely made the material trappings of a child soon lose their lustre.
Sub-Sonic Dissidence Propulsion Device
Image via Freshnessmag
In his art, in his adulthood, fantasy became a new reality; the grotesque, beautiful. Steampunk is one genre many of his pieces seem to fit into; the artist himself has likened his work to “an explosion in Hieronymus Bosch’s attic.”
The Beast of Babylon
Image via Freshnessmag
And if his sculptures seem out of time, almost petrified, it’s because their 3D textures spurn the depthless character of mainstream American culture, in favour of a more timeless – and entirely other – world.
Caravan Assault Apparatus
Image via Freshnessmag
Kris Kuksi’s works have been featured in numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. You can visit his website here.
Fantasma
Image via Freshnessmag
Circuitboards recycled as cyberpunk sneakers | Wired UK
By Michael Conroy |21 October 2009
Do you have an attic full of old computer junk, like a first generation iPhone? Sure, you sell it all on eBay, take apart the devices for kicks or even freecycle everything. But why not turn all that digital detritus into a pair of sneakers instead?
The Blazer Pentium 1.0 incorporates circuit boards, rusty metal sprockets, RCA plugs reborn as shoelaces, even a Pentium chip on the sneaker's toe. The junk was sourced from typewriters, adding machines and of course, old computers.
Artist Gabriel Dishaw spent three weeks on this piece, just the latest in a series of sculptures (no, you can't really wear these) recreating the form of famous sneakers like the Nike High Terminator (below).
Some of Dishaw's creations look positively steampunk despite the circuitry, and his online gallery is worth checking out, if only to appropriate a few creative ideas for finally cleaning out the attic.
As an aside, if an enterprising Wired reader could re-engineer these shoes w ith a working hydraulic system, this gravitationally challenged journalist might finally be able to dunk.
via wired.co.uk
Solar Shanghai Pavilion Made From Used CD Cases | Inhabitat
September 2, 2009
Preparations for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 are heating up and many countries are getting in on the action by designing structures for the space. We couldn’t help but be dazzled by the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, but we were even more impressed to learn that the fascinating building is composed of thousands of plastic tubes made from used CD cases! Read on to find out what other green features the pavilion is incorporating besides the extensive use of recycled materials.
The impressive exterior structure is composed of hundreds of polycarbonate transparent recycled plastic tubes formed into a grid-like matrix. Recycled from used CD cases, the polycarbonate tubes will be able to be recycled again at the end of the building’s life. Multi-colored LED lights will be built into the exterior structure and be computer controlled to change the appearance of the exterior on a whim or based on a computer program.
Energy will be collected through a 1,600 sq meter solar thermal energy system of heat collecting tubes on the roof. This system will heat water up to 95ºF and will be used to generate electricity through ultra-low temperature power generation, which is similar to power generation from low-temperature geothermal reservoirs. This energy will be used for the both the exposition as well as every day power needs.
A misting system will also add to the structures appearance and help give it a dream like feel. It can be sprayed in various patterns under the entrance ceiling to give the building a fresh and elegant appearance. The mist will also help lower the temperature, purify the air and create a comfortable climate in pavilion. Mist and some water use inside the building will come from collected rainwater, which will be treated for sedimentation and then filtered and stored.
Next year’s World Expo in Shanghai should be an exciting event showcasing many sustainable buildings, technologies and ideas. The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion looks like an intriguing and original addition.
Via ArchDaily
via inhabitat.com
