Posts Tagged ‘England’
Jun23
Artist creates massive state for BMW anniversary
2016 at 05:25 pm by admin | Comments Off
Every year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed hosts an international motor race event at West Sussex, England, challenging vehicles from across the world to its arduous and exciting hill-based course. Along with this exciting event, every Goodwood Festival since 1997 has featured an art installation featuring vehicles, creating a wide variety of designs and exhibits for visitors to enjoy. This year, to mark BMW’s 100th anniversary, the 2016 Goodwood Festival has commisioned artist Gerry Judah to create the largest sculpture in Goodwood history! The sculpture, which features several of BMW’s cars from over the years, is a feat in both engineering as well as artistry, as the car hover steadfast on massive pillars over onlooking crowds. At night, the installation is lit up with vibrant spotlights, creating a spectacle to be seen 24/7. The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2016 will be running from June 23rd to the 26th.
Jun07
Banksy’s new mural thanks Bristol school
2016 at 04:30 pm by admin | Comments Off
Banksy, internationally renowned graphic designer and street artist, has once against left one of his anonymous graffiti pieces for the world to enjoy, this time at Bright Farm primary school in Bristol, England. The piece, which depicts a crayon-like drawing of a schoolgirl playing with a realistic flaming tire, was drawn in thanks to the elementary school for their recent naming of one of their four school houses after Banksy. On top of that, Banksy, who is said to have been born and raised in Bristol, left a personalized note with the art piece, thanking the school for naming the building after him and encouraging students to add onto the artwork, cheekily stating “it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission”. The school has decided to keep the artwork as is, in order for the piece to serve as inspiration for their student body.
May09
Era-spanning wood art on display at Bristol
2016 at 06:58 pm by admin | Comments Off
Multimedia artist Katie Paterson and architect duo Zeller & Moye have come together to present an art exhibit that covers millions of years of Earth’s history! The exhibit, titled “Hollow”, is currently on display at the University of Bristol in England in order to celebrate the new opening of the university’s Life Sciences building, and is comprised of over 10,000 wood blocks from all over the world. These wood samples also come from eras throughout our planet’s timeline, ranging from petrified wood from 390 million years ago to newly budding forests from across the globe.
The exhibit is set up as a singular sheltered room on the campus grounds, which can be entered to reveal a vast layout of wood bricks of different sizes and colors, creating a spectacle akin to being in a thick forest. The collection of wood samples took more than two years to assemble, and are meant to tell a narrative of the history of our world. “Hollow” will remain open to the public for the rest of the year, giving fans plenty of time to check it out for themselves!
Photos © Max McClure
Sep28
Alex Chinneck debuts newest architectural sculpture
2015 at 02:32 pm by admin | Comments Off
Alex Chinneck is known around the world for this series of physics-defying sculptures and art installations which have ranged from melting walls, levitating buildings, and upside down cars. Now, Chinneck has debuted the latest in his series of abstract sculptures at the Greenwich Peninsula in London! The new piece, titled “A Bullet from a Shooting Star”, continues the trend of his previous artwork by turning ordinary everyday objects into abstract art sculptures by presenting a completely upside-down full-size electrical pylon. Seeming defying gravity by standing on the tip of the structure, this engineering feat was accomplished by attaching the 15-ton sculpture to a large concrete counterweight, which weighs 120 tons and is buried 82 feet underground. This sculpture marks one of the largest and heaviest pieces Chinneck has ever debuted, and will be marking the landscape for local London residents for some time to come.
Aug27
Artist fills Covent Garden with balloon clouds
2015 at 10:26 am by admin | Comments Off
Charles Pétillon, French fashion designer and installation artist, has brought his balloon art to the public for the very first time with his new cloud-themed installation piece! Titled “Heartbeat”, this giant expanse of white balloons has taken over the Covent Garden market building in London, England, and includes over 100,000 individual balloons! These balloons come together to form a weaving cloud form that hands over visitors’ heads as they shop and relax, and are illuminated from the inside to create a vivid display for spectators.
The piece itself reaches over 54 meters, or 177 feet, in length, and will be on display until September 27th. Alongside the installation of “Heartbeat”, Pétillon also has a separate pop-up gallery near the Covent Garden which showcases his other work. These displays are set up in anticipation for the London Design Festival, which will open from September 19th to the 27th, making London a prime spot to see some awesome art in the coming months!
May20
Artist constructs free-standing paper bridge
2015 at 03:24 pm by admin | Comments Off
Artist Steve Messam has taken paper design to a new level with his free-standing PaperBridge! The culmination of four years of design work, PaperBridge is unique in that the bridge is fully functional, able to support the weight of hikers, spectators, and more, all without using a single support! The bridge itself, located in the Lake District of northwest England, is made of 22,000 sheets of red paper, and relies on standard architectural principles rather than glue, bolts, or frames to stay sturdy and standing. Inspired by classical pack horse bridges that dot the Lake District, is also environmentally friendly, leaving no footprint on the beautiful scenery around it. The bridge will be recycled once the display ends, turning it back into usable paper once again. The bridge is only the latest of Messam’s paper-based installation pieces, so look forward to wherever his next piece may pop up!
Feb24
Alex Chinneck’s gravity-defying car installation
2015 at 03:37 pm by admin | Comments Off
Known for his work in abstract art installations, ranging from melting wax buildings to levitating walls, Alex Chinneck has displayed his newest installation piece in London this past week, titled “Pick Yourself Up and Pull Yourself Together”. This latest piece was created in collaboration with Vauxhall Motors in order to promote their new Corsa Supermini automobile, and uses ingenious techniques to suspend the car fifteen feet above ground in a seemingly gravity-defying feat! The car, which seems to be driving upside down on an upheaved piece of tarmac peeled from the pavement, takes advantage of sturdy steel supports hidden from signt in order to keep the piece secure and safe for passerby to gaze at. The artwork was erected overnight, and will remain on display at the South Bank Center in London, England until February 26th.
Oct21
Yoshitomo Nara exhibiton at London
2014 at 12:09 pm by admin | Comments Off
Yoshitomo Nara is often considered one of the most renowned Japanese artists of the 1900s, creating his own unique style of artwork and sculpture over the past decades. Now, Yoshitomo’s artwork has gone on display in his biggest exhibition in the United Kingdom to date in the new exhibit, “Greetings from a Place in My Heart”! This new exhibit, which has recently gone on display at the Dairy Art Centre in London, England, is a comprehensive retrospective of Yoshitomo’s work over the past 30 years, and features a large number of previously unreleased work and never-before-seen sketches. Over 200 art pieces are featured in this exhibition, and includes his more recent bronze sculptures as well as his infamous paintings and other artwork. The exhibit will remain open at the Dairy Art Centre until December 7th, and is planned to appear at the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Denmark next year.
Yoshitomo Nara, born in Hirosaki in 1959, is one of the most influential artists to emerge from Japan’s 1990s pop art movement. Studying at the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in the 1980s, and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany from 1988 to 1993, Nara has since assembled a cult-like following centered around his child-like illustrations. Drawing inspiration from the anime and manga characters that he was exposed to during his childhood, Nara creates characters, usually small children, who possess similar cartoon-like qualities, with highly stylized features and especially large eyes. However, Nara’s illustrations of children are often more menacing and devilish than they are cute and innocent. These images touch on broad social and cultural topics, such as violence and the rigidity of social structures in Japan. Since his first solo exhibition at Blum & Poe Gallery in 1984, Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions worldwide, including Iceland, Japan, France, and the United States.
Oct06
Artist creates illusionary floating building in London
2014 at 01:49 pm by admin | Comments Off
Experimental designer and artist Alex Chinneck has created many unique architectural pieces using illusions and clever solutions, including sliding building fronts and even upside down apartments. True to his past work, Chinneck recently opened up his newest exhibit at the Covent Garden in London, England, where his work has wowed crowds by creating a seemingly floating building! Titled “Take my Lightning, But Don’t Steal my Thunder”, the installation recreates a section of the 184-year-old Covent Garden Market Building, and seemingly splits it violently in half, leaving a large chunk of the building floating 10 feet above the foundations on the ground below.
The building, of course, is not simply floating on its own, but is a clever installation piece that takes advantage of the use of lightweight polystyrene shaped around a system of 15.5 tons of steel beams. The piece is attached to a small nondescript stall next to the piece, which contains 4.4 tons of counterweights that keep the piece afloat. The polystyrene shell of the building was meticulously crafted and hand-painted over the course of 500 hours by Chinneck and his team of 100 contributors to create a lifelike representation of the building, using over one ton of paint to complete the installation. The finished piece, which has dazzled and confused visitors to the Covent Garden, will be on display until October 24, 2014.