Pinar's Blog – June 2012 Archive (57)

Seaplanes are the technological advents of yesteryear, but that's only if we're talking about fuel-based transportation devices. Looking to the future, engineers in Finland have developed an electric seaplane that seeks to change the course of aviation design called FlyNano. The aircraft boasts a compact, carbon fiber composite construction that weighs less than about 154 lbs. The one-person vehicle is,…

Copywriter-turned-photographer Marcos Minuchin takes your average action figure and reworks it to cleverly mimic and comment on life in his ongoing project known as The Secret Life of Toys. In the series titled Recession Army, Minuchin uses classic comic book and Star Wars characters to pose as out-of-work veterans. We've seen the work…

There has really never been a better time to be conscious of your environment. Of course, that shouldn't mean having to sacrifice style for sustainability. There are several sites out there that can help you lead an energy-efficient lifestyle without abandoning your penchant for great design. In our next…

Similar to the idea behind the sheet music portraits of Erika Iris Simmons, Barcelona-based visual artist Sergio Albiac takes the written musical compositions of famous classical composers and constructs portraits of each corresponding symphonist out of…

German artist Heike Weber spent two months in Turkey as part of an exchange program in which she became rather familiar with the Middle Eastern culture that is simultaneously modern and traditional. One aspect of the country that stuck with HeikeHeike was her experience at the bazars filled with tourist-attracting oriental rugs known as kilims. Rather than buying some herself, the creative…

Ireland-based Polish painter Tomasz Alen Kopera uses basic oils and acrylics on canvas to envelop his audience into an otherworldly realm where the surreal prevails. Like the works of Tomek Sętowski, Kopera employs themes of "magical surrealism" in his paintings, though…

How much do you have in common with your neighbors? If you choose to reside in Tokyo's NE Apartment, you're sure to have at least one big interest to discuss with your fellow residents — your shared affinity for motorcycles. Built in collaboration by architects Akiyoshi Takagi, Yuji Nakae, and Hiroshi Ohno, the modern residential building was…

German photographer Menno Aden's Room Portraits series reevaluates the structure of a room by presenting an aerial perspective that typically flattens the three-dimensional space, reversing the effects of construction. This act of taking a real room and photographically reverting its appearance into a stylized blueprint offers insight into not only the size and shape of the…

Back in 2010, we all heard about the volcanic eruptions of Mt. Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland whose ashy discharge caused flight delays and ultimate cancellations. Over two years later, we're now revisiting the site of the volcanic activity through the extraordinary photographic captures of Reykjavik-based motion designer Davíð Jón Ögmundsson, who was at the scene with camera in tow to document…

Artist Yayoi Kusama is a master when it comes to bringing out a childlike wonderment in audiences, leaving them slack-jawed as they take in their enchanting surroundings. The Japanese visionary has a distinct style that doesn't go unnoticed, especially in recent years, with the employment of polka dots, mirrors, water, and an array of LED light fixtures. There's a surge of…

We're most familiar with Kumi Yamashita's mind-boggling shadow sculptures but the mathematically-inclined artist also uses her expertise in visual calculations in her ongoing series of thread and nail portraits called Constellation. The New York-based artist's work astounds…

Do you know what your carbon footprint is? It is nearly impossible for any person, let alone an entire energy-consuming home, to have a carbon-neutral footprint, but an underground one-story home in England is looking to change that. Architectural firm Make's ambitious project titled Bolton Eco House boasts a zero-carbon estate, the first of its kind in the North West of the…

The late French-born Polish artist Roman Opałka was a man of numbers. Best known for his numerical paintings known as The Finite Defined by the Nonfinite, Opałka began his famed work by hand-painting a consecutive series of integers, starting with "1" on the uppermost left-hand corner of the canvas, in 1965. He proceeded to produce canvases filled with the…

British artist Bruce Munro is back with another spectacular light installation, this time taking his lighting expertise to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. The exhibition simply called Light features a number of…

Originally from Singapore and currently studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, artist Andre Wee constructs figurative and metaphoric representations of limbo in his series titled Forming and Fragmenting. The artist interprets this collection of work as "An experience of being of two different states at the same time and yet, not belonging to either" and…

The aptly titled series Fingerprints by artist Kevin Van Aelst showcases the Connecticut-based artist's intricate fingerprint patterns in different mediums. Aelst literally and figuratively leaves his mark on typical settings using unconventional mediums that also happen to be common materials used in everyday life. A giant maze of tape pulled out of a cassette outlines…

Today, just about everyone has a cellphone that functions as a camera. People are eager to photograph every moment and stay connected through images which can conveniently be shared through social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Documenting and memorializing life has never been easier! While connecting with each other is simple, anonymity is…

Taiwan-based artist Hsin-Chien Huang lost sight in his right eye as a child due to a permanent scar on his cornea as a result of a misdiagnosis. It wasn't until ten years later that the new media artist regained vision in his right eye through a life-changing cornea donor from Sri Lanka. Though the sculptor never met the donor, his outlook on the value of organ donation dawned…

Like art, music resonates with global audiences, offering media that transcends language barriers. With so many genres and artists emerging on the music scene, it can be difficult to hone in on music worth listening to, which is why having an extensive array of media outlets providing insight can come in handy. In our next…

Sweden-based photographer Tommy Ingberg takes us on a surreal journey that has been two-and-a-half years in the making. The black and white series titled Reality Rearranged depicts an often-solitary, faceless man morosely trekking through life. There's a bareness to the series that is both intriguing and mystifying. It appears somewhat minimalist, devoid of any elaborate…