UnitedVisualArtists

I just discovered the work of the UnitedVisualArtists through their collaboration with Massive Attack.

They directed Massive Attack's new video "United snakes" which is amazing (must watch it full screen!), but I was really blown away by the installation they did about a year ago at Covent Garden.

Constellation - Covent Garden winter ligths

"Commissioned by Covent Garden, UVA lit up the market halls of Covent Garden with a responsive light installation. Launched as the flagship piece of the winter season program at Covent Garden the installation featured 600 custom-designed mirrored LED tubes hanging above the entire Covent Garden market space. The volumetric arrangement of the tubes created a canvas in which three dimensional light formations were made possible. Constellation was also individually controllable using a custom-designed control panel, giving the installation an intimate connection with the public."

Constellation from United Visual Artists on Vimeo.

All information, images and video via UnitedVisualArtists

Record Club - Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Record Club: Songs Of Leonard Cohen "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

sirphik, I think you might like this.

Philip Tsiaras - The Supereal

"I think what I like about being an artist... is the freedom to investigate anything I feel, at any time, in any way. I'm not formally trained, so I don't have any preconceptions as to how I should or shouldn't go about doing something." Philip Tsiaras



The Thessaloniki Museum Of Photography presents the first exhibition in Greece of the international artist Philip Tsiaras. Displayed at the exhibition will stand more than 200 selected works of the artist, covering his whole photographic output from 1971 to date. Until December 6 2009.




Philip Tsiaras (b. 1952) is an international artist of Greek origin, who lives and works in New York City. Tsiaras works in a great range of media–painting, photography, glass, ceramic, and bronze. He has exhibited in the Venice Biennale three times and produced a ten foot bronze sculpture on the Grand Canal entitled “Social Climber”.Since 1974 he made more than 75 one-person exhibitions.




Images and information via Philip Tsiaras, art topos, photo.gr

Madeleine Vionnet - Puriste De La Mode Exhibition

I became familiar with Madeleine Vionnet's work about five years ago, when I first began studying jewelry design. I had an assignment on fashion history and during my research I discovered Vionnet along with Mariano Fortuny, another great artist.



Madeleine Vionnet (June 22, 1876 - March 2, 1975) was a French fashion designer who created a fashion revolution by introducing the bias cut, a technique that enables fabric to cling softly to the body while moving with it, eschewing corsets and other constricting undergarments. Drawing inspiration by the Greek, Roman and medieval styles as well as the modern dances of Isadora Duncan, Vionnet created designs that showed off a woman's natural shape. Her garments appear to float freely around the body rather than distort or mold its shape.



In 1952, Madeleine Vionnet donated 22 dresses, 750 dress patterns and 75 photo albums to Les Arts Décoratifs. Selected from her major works between 1912 and 1939 and now restored with the aid of Natixis, this exceptional collection of avant-garde designs can at last be shown to the public. Madeleine Vionnet’s entire career was marked by her constant quest for freedom in extremely refined but unfettered designs close to antique drapery, which continue to fascinate couturiers such as Azzedine Alaia, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and John Galliano.



All information and images via Les Arts Décoratifs, wikipedia

The making of a Chanel Haute Couture Outfit

This video is absolute magic! It shows the process by which a Karl Lagerfeld's sketch, of a Chanel haute couture outfit, comes to life. Chanel's seamstresses put in hours of work cutting patterns and sewing sequins by hand. These women are great artists!

Have a look:

The Stimulus Project - Sienna Gallery

Held at the Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA and ongoing through August an exhibition titled The Stimulus Project.
The Project's aim is to provide an opportunity for handmade jewelry and objects to be accessible to a larger audience and to stimulate the flow of income for artists working across the United States and Canada.
With 80 of the most talented emerging artists participating in the project (some of my favorite such as Amy Tavern, Arthur Hash, Allyson Bone, Vina Rust to name but a few) I only wish I could be there!

Information via Sienna Gallery - The Stimulus Project



Images via Arthur Hash

tothemetal - July designs

Lotus part stud earrings



Summer constellation necklace



Large leaf and sodalite beads necklace


available at my etsy shop

The most beautiful gift

Last Friday was my name day and I received the most unexpected and beautiful gift ever, a painting by the Greek artist Stathis Koukopoulos.
It was given to me by a man I deeply respect and admire.



It's now hanging in my bedroom and I get to see it every morning I wake up. Thank you.

Théâtre de la Mode - French Couture

Robert Piguet, Raphaël, Pierre Balmain
Balenciaga

David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945
Back in 1944, the war-battered French couture industry decided to revive its international reputation by conceiving a small exhibition entitled Théâtre de la Mode. The exhibition organizer enlisted the major fashion designers of the day, including Jeanne Lanvin, Lucien Lelong, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Pierre Balmain to create outfits for small wire-frame dolls just over two feet tall.

Lucien Lelong

The exhibition of over 230 dolls, displayed in artist-designed sets, opened in Paris on March 27, 1945 at the Museum of Decorative Arts. It was an instant sensation, and traveled to London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, New York, and San Francisco. With the return of the French fashion industry, the dolls had completed their work and were donated to the Maryhill Museum near Portland, Oregon, where they disappeared from view.

Marcel Dhorme

Under an extraordinary set of circumstances in 1990, the dolls were rediscovered and returned to Paris, recoiffed and restyled for an exhibition at the Musée de la Mode. Because of his pioneering work with French fashion and historical gowns, David Seidner was asked to photograph the little dolls. Working in the rough interior of an abandoned theatre set, Seidner captured the essence of French style in dolls dressed in designs made on the eve of Christian Dior's New Look, which radically changed fashion in 1947. ICP will exhibit fifteen of Seidner's color photographs from the David Seidner Archive in the Permanent Collection, along with one of the original dolls.

Jean Patou "Fleurs de Mal"

All information and images via icp.org

Ode to Origami

Yuko Nishimura

"Only by folding one piece of paper an expressive masterpiece can be created. This is the Japanese way of folding.In order to link the past with future generations regarding the form of folding, I do not limit myself to the category of origami but consider the pursuit of any possibility of folding paper."

via YukoNishimura.com


Yasuhiro Yamashita

"I think everything is border-less, so don’t be limited, try to have a
wide view and the most important thing is to contribute to society
and not to just satisfy yourself."

via designboom


Simon Schubert

"Most of the people who see the work are surprised that the pictures are created by folding paper, they don't believe it when I tell them."

via telegraph.co.uk

Lucas Samaras - 53rd Venice Biennale

Lucas Samaras is representing Greece at the 53rd Venice Biennale. He will present the multi-installation “PARAXENA” in the Greek Pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale. “PARAXENA” (meaning strange in Greek) brings together three recent series of photographic and video works produced between 2005 and 2009, juxtaposed with a discrete group of sculptural works from the mid 1960s. ‘PARAXENA’ sets up a conversation across four decades of Lucas Samaras’ practice, establishing a historical context for the recent departures in his work.



Upon entering the pavilion the viewer will be confronted by an image of themselves, reflected in the mirrored sculpture ‘Doorway’ (1966-2007): a scenario that initiates a narrative that runs throughout ‘PARAXENA’, where the act of being observed and the activity of observing are central concerns.

Lucas Samaras (b. 1936, Kastoria, Macedonia, Greece) is widely known for creating a diverse body of work including sculpture, drawings, paintings, film and environments, many of which explore his own image as subject matter. He has innovatively combined materials such as beads, chicken wire, clay, Cor-ten steel, fabric, pastel, pencil, pins, plaster, and oil, and developed and/or experimented with new techniques and mediums, such as the Polaroid, which have had profound impact on younger artists.





All images and information via www.paraxenavenice.gr

tothemetal - new designs

I just finished these new pieces and updated my etsy shop.

Wild plant and howlite beads necklace.

950 silver, sterling silver, howlite round beads.
I'm so happy with this piece, the wild plant pattern is one of my favorite designs!
Wild plant earrings sold out at my etsy shop. Time to make some more!


Lotus earrings


950 silver, sterling silver, oxidized
These earrings were inspired by a close up look at the lotus leaf. It's amazing how many patterns you can find!

Paul Villinski - Artwork

Beer can butterflies - artist statement

" Who leaves these crushed beer cans – forlorn evidence scattered in the streets of the city? I take these “dead soldiers” – every one of them once raised to someone’s lips – and breathe new life into them, changing them into images that suggest the possibility of change itself. A kind of conceptual unity develops between materials, process and imagery: my practice in the studio mimics the act of transformation that butterflies symbolize everywhere, in all cultures."



" The beer can butterflies are like snowflakes, no two exactly alike. Many are imprinted with the textures of the streets of New York, embossed by the printing press of passing traffic. While each element is unique, individual, they are rarely alone. They rest or fly en masse, flowing in the same direction or diverging, each on its own path – a dream of harmony and community." (via Paul Villinski.com)


Shadow drawings - artist statement


" "Simple magic:” a kind of very modest alchemy. Start with humble, cast off materials, in this case a few dozen flattened, littered beer cans from the streets, wire from Canal Street Surplus, tiny bulbs from Radio Shack. Get out the scissors, files, and soldering iron. You're thinking: “the whole greater than the sum of the parts.... Make the things you are making nearly dissappear; all you want is their shadows. Not vine charcoal, not gouache, shadow.” Open a window and a little surprise arrives: a breeze brings a shadow to life; now search for the center of gravity and build-in the possibility of motion...add a small fan and the walls turn animate: at the month’s end a gently fluttering shadow garden of nocturnal flora and fauna." (via Paul Villinski.com)



All images via Paul Villinski.com