LEGO: We love the ‘Legographie’ series created by French photographer Sofiane Samlal, who has fun staging his LEGO minifigs into beautiful photographs, which are both cute and funny. Fantastic work!
Sia: We can’t get enough of Sia’s haunting take on the 1965 The Mamas & The Papas tune, which was mastered for the San Andreas soundtrack and is grand, epic, and catchy – the sort of song you’ll most likely find yourself dramatically lip syncing to. Though it begins with a magnificent orchestra, the song transforms into a dance floor anthem (as Sia songs can do). With a different intention than the folk-rock quartet, this version seems to dwell on loss and catastrophe, proving the versatility of music ever the more. Damn, Sia—you’ve done it again. LOVE and on repeat all day.
Hueman: We love the beautiful street art creations by American artist Hueman, who divides her time between her studio and the streets of California. Equally at home on a canvas or walls, Hueman creates a subtle mix of abstract and figurative, of beauty and grotesque, always hiding the true meaning of her art between the lines. To view more of Hueman’s amazing work, check out her website. AWESOME! 🙂
Berlin: So this is how Berlin looked just after the Second World War. This fascinating colour footage shows the state of the city in the Summer of 1945, just after the Second World War and the capitulation of Germany. The vision gives us a rare glimpse of the slow return to daily life in Berlin after years of destruction from the war. Footage from the destroyed city includes the Reichstag, Brandenburger Tor, Adlon, Führerbunker, Unter den Linden, women working in the streets amongst the rubble and Berlin slowly coming back to life. Amazing stuff!
Kai Ti Hsu: Check out these beautiful digital illustrations by talented and creative artist, Kai Ti Hsu. Based in Taiwan, Kai Ti Hsu’s work is a satirical look at our modern-day society through deceptively soft and delicate illustrations. Kai Ti Hsu says of his work “I am making visual communication digital art, my focus – editorial illustration. My illustrations are taking over the world of social issues and digital expression.” To view more of Kai Ti Hsu’s fantastic work, please visit his website. Enjoy!
MEGALIZER II: We love this explosive new music video from creative team, MEGALIZER with music by edIT which is our video of the day. Check it out & enjoy!
Guillaume Kurkdjian: We love this awesome selection of retro animated GIFs by French animator and illustrator Guillaume Kurkdjian, who via his ‘Electronic Items’ series, pays tribute to iconic electronic devices from the 90s including the dot matrix printer, remote control car and handycam through to the fax machine and portable CD player. For more of Guillaume Kurkdjian’s work, pay a visit to his website. Fantastic stuff!
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.
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!
Fantastic Four: Just dropping overnight, Fantastic Four is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team and centres on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy. With a cast including Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell, Fantastic Four hits cinemas on 7th August 2015. Check it out – this looks awesome and is a definite must-watch!
