Art | CJMS Communications

Archive For: Art

Alejandro Durán – Washed Up

Alejandro Durán creates beautiful yet shocking installations from garbage

Alejandro Durán: We love the amazing ‘Washed Up’ series by Mexican artist Alejandro Durán who organises the discarded waste he finds in nature into beautiful and yet somewhat terrifying art installations. Alejandro Durán does not remove or add anything, but simply rearranges the garbage he finds on site. Alejandro Durán was born in Mexico City in 1974 and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He is a multimedia artist working in photography, installation, and video. His work examines the fraught intersections of man and nature, particularly the tension between the natural world and an increasingly overdeveloped one. About his current work, Durán comments “In my current project, Washed Up, I address the issue of plastic pollution making its way across the ocean and onto the shores of Sian Ka’an, Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve. With more than twenty pre-Columbian archaeological sites, this UNESCO World Heritage site is also home to a vast array of flora and fauna and the world’s second largest coastal barrier reef. Unfortunately, Sian Ka’an is also a repository for the world’s trash, which is carried there by ocean currents from many parts of the globe. Over the course of this project, I have identified plastic waste from fifty nations on six continents that have washed ashore along the coast of Sian Ka’an. I have used this international debris to create color-based, site-specific sculptures. Conflating the hand of man and nature, at times I distribute the objects the way the waves would; at other times, the plastic takes on the shape of algae, roots, rivers, or fruit, reflecting the infiltration of plastics into the natural environment.” To view more of Alejandro Durán’s work, we recommend a visit to his website.

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Paris – New York: A Comparison

'Paris - New York' is an animated version of Vahram Muratyan’s book

Paris – New York: In 2012, Penguin Books published Vahram Muratyan’s book called ‘Paris versus New York’ and being huge fans of Vahram’s work, Nord Collective always wanted to create an animated version of the book. However, in order to make this tribute, they couldn’t source original illustrations directly, so they used Vahram’s ideas as the base, completely reworking the design and illustrations while trying to keep visual similarity to the original. Nord Collective animated all scenes and asked their dear friend The Cosmic Setter to write and perform original music and sound design for the ‘Paris – New York’ project. It’s fantastic – LOVE!

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One Bright Dot – Video of the Day

'One Bright Dot' is a beautiful short film about a little light

One Bright Dot: ‘One Bright Dot’ is a beautifully animated short film directed by Clément Morin with music by Etienne Forget and sound design by Hugo Thouin. Check it out & enjoy!

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Tiffany Bozic’s Surrealist Paintings

Tiffany Bozic presents life’s struggles & triumphs through the intricacies of nature

Tiffany Bozic: We love these surreal paintings from the portfolio of American artist Tiffany Bozic and have posted a selection of them for you below. It seems Tiffany Bozic has spent the majority of her life living with and observing the intricacies of nature. Her work has the traditional air of tightly rendered illustrations but with a highly emotional range of surreal metaphorical themes. In her paintings and sketches, she presents her vision of life’s struggles and triumphs that are largely autobiographical. Her wide array of subjects are inspired both from her extensive travels to wild places, and the research specimens at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California. Over the years, Tiffany Bozic has developed a complex process of masking and staining so the natural grain can collaborate with each composition using multiple layers of watered down acrylic paint on maple panels of wood. She has had several solo exhibitions featuring her large-scale paintings and installations. Her work has also been included in numerous group shows across the country and spoken about at international events. She was also the first ‘Artist in Residency’ whereby she collaborated with the California Academy of Sciences, to create the “From the Depths” exhibit on the public floor of the museum in November 2007. Tiffany Bozic is a self-taught artist currently living and working in her cottage in Marin, California. For more of Tiffany Bozic’s amazing work, we recommended a visit to her website. Enjoy!

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Kitchen Ghosts – The Culinary Cinemagraphs

'Kitchen Ghosts' is an amazing series of animated GIFs about food & cooking

Kitchen Ghosts: ‘Kitchen Ghosts’ is a very beautiful and delicious series of culinary cinemagraphs created by Dasha & Olya – Russian photographer Daria Khoroshavina (Dasha) and prop and food styler Olga Kolesnikova (Olya) – who are based in Moscow. An amazing series of animated GIFs about all things food and cooking, so far ‘Kitchen Ghosts’ includes stunning and delicious animations of them preparing French toast, breakfast, a pear and walnut strudel, and a pasta dish with chicken and honey orange sauce. Dasha & Olya’s mission is to make food photography beautiful, appetising and exciting. ‘Kitchen Ghosts’ will simply mesmerise you and make your mouth water. Enjoy!

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VHS – Be Kind, Rewind

If modern movies & TV series were available on VHS tapes

VHS: We love this awesome series of fake VHS covers imagined by Golem13 as an April Fools Day joke entitled ‘La VHS n’est pas HS’ (VHS is not dead). The modern movies and television series adapted for VHS include everything from ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘Gravity’ through to ‘Dexter’, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Interstellar’. Very cool!

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Projection Napping – Video of the Day

'Projection Napping’ videos people snoozing & projects it on buildings in NYC

Projection Napping: In an original and tongue-in-cheek take on projection mapping, Brooklyn-based digital studio Dawn Of Man has been projecting giant-sized video of slumbering people on buildings around New York City for their ongoing project ‘Projection Napping’. According to the studio, the site-specific installations use the very latest in “projection napping technology” and note “These massive nappers were projected throughout NYC over the course of several weeks, occurring unannounced, and each lasting only for a few hours. An unsuspecting audience usually emerges at each location, often sparked with intrigue, sometimes enlightenment, and always a whole lot of questions.” See, it does pay to grab a snooze wherever you can. Take a look below:

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Conrado Salinas – A Selection of Digital Illustrations

Conrado Salinas' portfolio fusions illustration, digital art & graphic design

Conrado Salinas: While flicking through our daily feeds, we stumbled across the amazing work of Los Angeles artist Conrado Salinas who is a freelance illustrator with a background in digital art and graphic design. Conrado Salinas has an impressive digital illustration portfolio. He was featured in Versus Magazine’s 2014 Summer Issue and had his ‘Bone Collector’ piece printed and featured at Adobe MAX 2014. Conrado Salinas also has a few more process steps of certain digital pieces that you can see on his website. Below are a selection of illustrations from his Behance portfolio which can also be purchased from his on-line store. LOVE!!

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Jean-Paul Frenay’s Video for ‘OFFF Quebec 2015’

Jean-Paul Frenay has written & directed a surreal yet hypnotic experience

Jean-Paul Frenay: In order to kick off the ‘OFFF Quebec 2015’ festival, the filmmaker Jean-Paul Frenay has written and directed a surreal yet fascinating visual art, transforming the creations of other artists into a truly hypnotic experience. OFFF comments about Jean-Paul Frenay’s piece “They say you should observe a piece of art deeply to understand its concept and interpret it in your own way, we think that Jean-Paul Frenay took this idea and twisted it into something even bigger than just an interpretation. He made sure to create an introspective ‘sarcastic’ adventure. We were so astonished when we received this and proud to present to you a visual piece communicating social behaviours in different sceneries that will put you into a hypnotic experience.” OFFF is “an entity in continuous transformation, alive and evolutionary. More than a decade ago, it was born as a post-digital culture festival; a meeting place to host contemporary creation through an in depth programme of conferences, workshops and performances by the most relevant artists of our time.” Jean-Paul Frenay is a Film Director/Creative Director and multidisciplinary Visual Artist living in Belgium. Born in Siegen, he spent his youth in Germany before moving to Brussels to begin his studies. His particular vision and the quality of his films made him graduate with honours from the InRaCi Film School. After a specialisation in visual effects, he started his career as a flame artist where he developed his skills which gave him the confidence to start directing. He took his first steps directing commercials and quickly became known for his ability to mix many different techniques, including live action, stop motion animation, CGI, miniatures, motion design, video mapping and photographic artworks. Several of his projects such as his short film ‘Artificial Paradise, Inc.’, the collaborative project ‘Resonance’ or his ‘VW Bluemotion’ and ‘Nike’ commercials gave him the opportunity to be featured in numerous leading national and international industry festivals and publications such as Onedotzero, Stash, IDN, OFFF, Motionographer, Shots and Repérages. Always looking for new challenges, he sometimes works as a video artist in performance pieces creating visuals and interactive installations for plays, choreographies and experimental work. In parallel, he’s developing his photographic skills creating artworks and a personal series and as a passionate musician, he is leading the electro rock project I, The Phoenix which already got great reviews for their first stereoscopic album. It seems Jean-Paul Frenay is always trying to push the limits, changing his style and explore beyond boundaries while continuing to combine storytelling with a strong sense of art direction.

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Alexia Sinclair – ‘Rococo’

Alexia Sinclair's 'Rococo' depicts a dreamlike world bathed by influences of the 18th century

Alexia Sinclair: We love the outstanding creations of photographer and artist Alexia Sinclair, including her latest series ‘Rococo’, which depicts a dreamlike world bathed by the influences of the 18th century and the court of Marie Antoinette. Alexia Sinclair notes that “Rococo is a series of theatrical artworks inspired by the lives, fashions, gardens and motifs of 18th century high society. Following the design aesthetic of this period, the series is sensual, playful and flamboyant. During this period, powerful women of the French court became fashion icons and their tastes swept across Europe. Their excessive, luxurious and exotic creations have inspired many aspects of the costuming within this series; from Madame de Pompadour’s porcelain flowers, to Madame du Barry diamond necklace, Marie Antoinette’s muslin chemise and the Duchess of Devonshire’s towering plumes. The floral backdrops within the series pay homage to the dreamlike landscapes of the Rococo period. Known as the pleasure playgrounds, their hidden gardens, mazes and wild flower meadows formed the backdrop of decadent garden parties and mischievous encounters.” Alexia Sinclair is an award winning Australian Artist and Photographer whose distinct style is easily recognisable and highly original. Using a visual narrative, Alexia Sinclair’s art is both dark and seductive, baroque and symbolic yet her multilayered photographs present contemporary notions of fashion and beauty through innovative digital media, whilst restoring antique notions of classicism, elegance and luxury. Sinclair is an artist who skilfully balances the worlds of Fine Art and Commercial Art. Whilst her evocative Fine Art imagery adorns the walls of museums and is held in important art collections, she often translates these skills and signature style into highly polished campaigns in the commercial arena for clients such as Harpers Bazaar and Canon Australia. Completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons I) and Master of Fine Arts, Alexia Sinclair is the recipient of a travelling arts scholarship, and two postgraduate scholarships. She has worked in New York as a digital artist and exhibited in numerous exhibitions including at the Australian Centre for Photography and the Art Gallery of NSW with her latest series ‘Rococo’ most recently on display at the Black Eye Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia. Below is a selection of Alexia Sinclair’s amazing work but for a more detailed look, we suggest a visit to her website.

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