the shadow images above were already familiar to me from an anonymous google search a while back, but now i know who made them… japanese artist kumi yamashita
however there is much more classy work to be admired from this very talented artist, like these ‘rubbings’ made with old credit card embossed type (below)
not to mention these incredible portraits (above & below) made with steel tacks and thread… simply amazing
and finally these ‘warp and weft’ images created by stripping threads from pieces of denim material… check the website out for more of this outstanding portfolio
last week i spent a few days visiting the latest (and much criticised) edition of the (5 yearly) ‘documenta’ art festival in kassel, germany
these are the final projects which i apparently found interesting enough to photograph (and therefore blog about) the first was a series of more than 900 hand painted portraits of apples made by a monk korbinian aiger who was imprisoned at ‘dachau’ concentration camp during the second world war and whilst interred there managed to create several new breeds of apple, one of which is still around today… aiger spent years creating these beautiful apple images and although they are by biology standards not the most accurate depictions, they are still regarded as one of the most important collections in their sort, seeing them all together was quite overwhelming
secondly i was drawn into a performance project (and forced to take part) by american artist ‘michael portnoy’ the performance included more than 40 people, a giant mud spaceship and some new age crystals… difficult to explain if you weren’t there, to give you an idea of who he is see this clip where he first became well known by interrupting a live performance by none other than bob dylan back in the 1990’s, amazing how cool dylan remains throughout…
of course writing about these project doesn’t come anywhere near to the experience one undergoes when actually seeing them (see also these previous related entries here and here)
last week i spent a few days visiting the latest (and much criticised) edition of the (5 yearly) ‘documenta’ art festival in kassel, germany
some of the works which i apparently found interesting enough to photograph (and therefore blog about) included these books, the damaged ones (above & below) are from the archives of the city museum in kassel and are priceless old manuscripts and bibles which were irreparably destroyed by the british RAF during bombing raids at the end of the second world war… more art than history but still oddly beautiful to look at as artefacts
the lower image is from an installation containing several hundred beautiful ‘organic’ books made from solid sections of tree, all neatly ordered in an antique cabinet… unfortunately i cannot recall the name of the artist involved
of course writing about these project doesn’t come anywhere near to the experience one undergoes when actually seeing them (see also these previous related entries here)
