The Photography and Sculptures of Mari Katayama
Mari Katayama’s photography uses her own body as one of her materials. Born with a rare congenital disorder, the artist had her legs amputated as a child, and at times, her sculptural work emulates the features of her body that the condition caused. The resulting work explores identity, anxiety, and other topics.
“Her belief is that tracing herself connects with other people and her everyday life can be also connected with the society and the world, just like the patchwork made with threads and a needle by stitching borders,” a statement says. “In addition to her art creation, Katayama leads ‘High heel project’ in which she wore customized high-heeled shoes specially made for prosthesis to perform on stage as a singer, model, or keynote speaker. The motto of this project is to take advantage of any means including art and disabled body if it helps to expand the ‘freedom of choice’ for those in desperate need.”
The work of Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi has been compared to ethereal dreamscapes. He creates complex shapes with simple materials like dyed hot glue, clear plastic, and thread that inspire the imagination. Some see floating mountains, rain, and clouds, speaking to the broad scope of interpretation of his work. While Onishi’s flowing linear installations are site specific, they also celebrate the ‘happy accident’. Each piece begins with an organic object hung by fishing line, then connected to plastic sheets on which Onishi instinctively drizzles glue. Once the glue is dry, a cast of the object is revealed. Read more after the jump.
There's something ridiculously satisfying about looking at Lernert & Sander's latest photography project. The Dutch duo cut various types of foods — from raw tuna to kiwis to Romanesco broccoli — into perfect, bite-sized cubes and arranged everything in a meticulously planned-out grid. The piece includes 98 total cubes measuring two-and-a-half cubic centimeters each. The photo was originally commissioned by a Dutch newspaper for their food issue, but has gone viral internationally since its release.
Artist Eugenio Merino's lifesized, hyperrealistic sculpture of Andy Warhol is at the center of a installation at New York City’s UNIX Gallery. Complete with a "functioning souvenir shop" and "self-guided tour map of Warhol's essential haunts," “Here Died Warhol” toys with the idea of celebrity and tourism as an industry, with the chance to take selfies with the eerily realistic sculpture of Warhol. The experience is curated by Los Interventores and "explores the curiosity and motivation of Adjectival Tourism." A similar installation, "Here Died Picasso," gathered more than 20,000 to the Alliance Française in Málaga last year.
San Francisco based artist Alexis Arnold has found a way to preserve her favorite old books as timeless treasures. Her crystallized book series 'freezes' books into stunning, mystical sculptures using an unlikely recipe: "I primarily use the laundry detergent, Twenty Mule Team Borax, to grow crystals on the various objects, but there are many household products that can be used to grow different types of crystals," Arnold explains. Featured here on our blog, she has said that the reaction to her work varies, but often the growth of the crystals evokes nostalgia as many of her pieces preserve works of children's fiction.
In some strange future, 
