Sculpture

Cinta from Lumicast Set My Heart Aflame

I get a lot of email promotions from various companies over the course of the week. Most of them get ignored but every once in a while something rolls into my inbox that gets my attention and makes me stop and take notice for whatever reason. Sometimes it’s the actual design of the email itself, sometimes it’s the product, sometimes it’s a combination of both. So today when I was looking through the folder I’ve set up to collect solicitations from vendors that haven’t been flagged as spam I came across an email for the Cinta firepit from Lumicast, a California-based company that is making architectural cast concrete fire pits.

Most fire pits are rustic block cast stone rings or steel bowls for holding logs. The other common option is table style burners powered by propane. Cinta, on the other hand, is an elegant canyon of cast concrete with a unique form articulated by the axial parametric ribbons, that cradle the flames within a vessel of digitally sculpted terrain.

This hand made item is available in limited production at a cost of $15,000.00, so all of my well healed friends with the means I implore you to consider picking one of these up for your outdoor leisure and entertaining activities. Just look at it. If I had the cash, and the space, this would definitely end up warming me on cool nights as I lounge on my patio.

As I spent some time on the Lumicast site I was impressed not only with the quality of their designs but in the manufacturing process that uses 25% recycled materials to make our products more sustainable and is more environmentally friendly while producing a product designed to last a lifetime.

The End Of The World Is Coming. Lets Study Some Art.

In a world where everything seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, and science is predicting the end of life in the next great mass extinction, it’s nice to know that there is art in the world. The world might be coming to an end at some point in the future, but you still have a chance to educate yourself about art thanks to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum loading 205 free art history books to the Internet Archive, all of which are available as PDF’s or ePub books. Yes now as you contemplate the end of the world and hone your apocalypse survival skills you can bone up on the finer things and learn about Max Ernst, The Italian Metamorphosis, French Art in the 1970’s, Joseph Cornell, Francis Bacon, Pop Art in the 60’s and so much more.

Yes now as you contemplate the end of the world and hone your apocalypse survival skills you can bone up on the finer things and learn about Max Ernst, The Italian Metamorphosis, French Art in the 1970’s, Joseph Cornell, Francis Bacon, Pop Art in the 60’s and so much more. Just be sure and pick up a solar powered charger for your phone or tablet so you can keep reading them after the power grid fails.

For the last 5 years, theGuggenheim has been digitizing its exhibition catalogs and art books, placing the results online. So if you want to study some art history this is the right place. The collection also includes catalogs of retrospective exhibitions on masters like Paul Klee, Robert Rauschenberg, and Mark Rothko. Or you can explore older art with Chinese art in the 20th century, craftsmen of ancient Peru, sculpture and works on paper or Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection: From Picasso to Pollock. What better way to spend your time when you aren’t trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

Remember it is the arts and culture that separate us from the animals. Well that and opposable thumbs, larger brain capacity, the ability to create advanced tools, and a few other things.

Creatures of the Deep

When I first watched this video on Vimeo, I was drawn in by the fantastic cinematography, and the atmosphere that is created in Alan Williams studio. The visuals hooked me but as his story, and discussion about process unfolded, I knew I was here for the full 8-minute duration. After watching it with the sound on, I muted the audio and watched it again, full screen and really looked at the way this was shot, edited, and composed. Ben Cox does a really nice job of framing his shots and using shallow depth of field to focus the viewer on specific elements within the frame. Lighting and color grading come together to really help enhance the story and create a mood that captures Alan Williams personality and the artwork he creates. This short has such a solid look, and great story hooks as well, it’s definitely going in the visual reference library for inspiration at a later date.

“Velo”, or Chair Porn. Not That Kind of Porn. Get your Mind out the Gutter.

It’s been awhile since I have posted any chair porn, so here you go. Velo designed by Jan Waterston is a solid example of how taking a good creative concept and executing properly can reinvent an ordinary item creating intriguing beauty.

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The chair has been redefined by Waterson as a sinuous piece of furniture with a sculptural, yet inviting presence. It is a demonstration of master craftsmanship and creativity as it becomes a flowing form that wraps around the seated form. When not in use it is an object of art, a sculptural piece of wood that is visually dynamic, even though it is a static object.

Waterson says the beauty the chair was inspired by the flowing forms of bicycles, “This relationship between body and object is echoed in bicycle design with tubes flowing seamlessly into one another, constantly changing shape, to improve function and aesthetic”.

Velo is hand sculpted from ash and features seamless construction, which is a testament to the Waterson’s woodworking skills Each element of the chair blend into one another, making the Velo seem as though it is crafted from a single piece of wood.

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