shards

Andy Paiko is a U.S. artist who blends form and function in his glass pieces.



Check out both his "Sculpture", as well as "Sculptural Vesselware" on his website, for striking designs, some holding organic shapes. I really like how layered and ornate the work is - a jar that only needs to be five inches tall has a gigantic layered finial on top, just to show off. Glass is a beautiful and difficult medium to work in, and I really appreciate this artist's work.




Special thanks to DF reader CuriousArt who turned me on to Andy's work!

Geothermal

Yes yes, I've been slacking on the posts. As Mandi has stated before, we belly ourselves up to the all you can eat buffet of work and fill our plates on a regular basis. Sadly fun things tend to fall by the wayside when I get busy.

I thought I'd just post a really beautiful (only one among many) and haunting video by Sigur Ros.
Directed by Floria Sigismondi, who is probably best known for her Marilyn Manson videos. Which,have a certain aesthetic that we rather like around here as well...I'll totally admit to it.

battle

I can't quite figure Ryohei Hase out.

His work seems to not know where it fits either - at his best, he creates amazing, moody, visceral, motion-filled works with the same grimy flesh-realism that I appreciate in Odd Nerdrum's work. But at his most questionable, he creates pieces that seem more at home on the cover of a paperback science fiction novel than a gallery wall. And then there are the creature-design sketches.



Regardless of its application, this artist's talent is apparent, working digitally instead of with a brush and paint. I mean seriously, we're talking detail down to the reflections in a rabbit's eyes, and individual pieces of fur. Pop on over to his website or DeviantArt gallery (with beautifully large pictures so you can see all the detail).

play your hand

Dear readers, I am so sorry for our absence. Time moves so quickly sometimes, I cringe when I realize almost a month has passed with no update to this Dark Forest. It seems that both Chris and I fill our life to the very top with things, and we often discuss whether or not it is such a good idea to be so full of "to do". But that is for another day.

Today I am looking at the haunting work of Valerie Hammond.



Her works are mixed media - paper, encaustic, graphite, other things, all carefully rendered upon the page. The colors are natural yet dreamlike - I don't feel like they are connected to this world, yet incredibly grounded at the same time. In this series, she just does hand after hand after pair of hands - maybe a repetition, but of such an iconic and expressive form. It doesn't even need to be attached to an arm or a body to speak volumes.

I love the ferns, the flowers, the coral. All laying still on a washy field of color. For something so simple, and careful and centered, they really are very evocative.

haunted

Check out the photography of Lauren Simonutti. On her Flickr page, she asserts that her photographs are all done without the aid of digital effects - all manipulation is done in camera, or in the darkroom. Certainly refreshing these days.

Darker Forest

What began as cottage industry catering to wealthy Victorian tourists in the Swiss town of Brienz in the early 1800's, Black Forest wood carvings escalated to a highly respected and sought after art form being exhibited in many great international exhibitions in the late 19th and early 20th century.

While the style is undeniably the inspiration for many new products in home decor as well as the driving force behind many an artisan, it's difficult to find a central resource on the web. That being said, I am more than happy to showcase some of our favorite carvings to save you the surfing. Enjoy.

seven deadly sips

Hamilton Design has created a conceptual set of seven red wine glasses based on the Seven Cardinal Sins. All nestled in plush burgundy velvet and polished wood, they look like an antique glass medical device.


Each handmade glass, representing a different sin, is almost painfully clever in concept - the Envy glass is full of holes, rendering what is most desired (the wine) all but unattainable, and the Lust glass is suspended from above, the only way to release the liquid inside being to manipulate a frosted glass globe with the tongue.

I don't even want to guess the price, but these absolutely exquisite sets are available for purchase at their website.

windy city

Both of us will be in attendance in Chicago this saturday for the opening. Amanda has done some amazing work that has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Also I will have two sculptures on display that we both collaborated on. See you there.

the magic eye

Like Mandi said, it HAS been too long.  Our real lives can tend to get very busy with our various projects, but we'll do our best to keep bringing you inspirado!

Music videos can be a perfect excuse to present amazing avant garde stories.  There are so many to choose from, I narrowed this week's selections

to these two from Unkle and The Knife.

it's been so long

Our apologies to you, Darkened Forest readers. We realize that it's been almost a month since our last post. Chris and I have both had a lot going on, between work, art shows, preparations for ComicCon, and home rennovations...that doesn't leave either of us nearly enough time for blogging.

But I'm going to try and make it up to you this week, while Chris is at Comic Con.

For my first trick, behold the art of Paul Toupet:


His fondness for rabbit masks, rotting fabric, and tattered cotton ticking has every ingredient to make me love it instantly.



His website is, admittedly, a bit of a pain - made in flash with load-times seemingly for no reason at all. But the work is great, taking inspiration from old tribal masks, baby dolls, and childhood toys from a forgotten age.

The work is ambitious, especially considering the fact that the artist is somewhere in the vicinity of 28 years old.

killing you softly

Sam Weber falls into a small, distinct group of illustrators that have a way of making a beautiful delicate image out of something that would otherwise seem frightening. His work is handled with the proficiency and aesthetic of an ancient Japanese calligrapher, while at the same time conveying heavy illustrative concepts.

I believe in fairy stories

I'm going to post something unabashedly girly because Chris can't stop me.

Whichgoose handcrafts absolutely beautiful fantasy crowns from natural materials, ribbons, beads, and tiny birds. The subdued palette and organic nature of them just fits my "fairy tale ideal" to an absolute tee. Her colors, photos, and textures are like a hand-colored photograph from the turn of the century. I might have kind of a girl-crush on her....okay, I do.


If you are going to a medieval fair this summer, or need something for a niece or daughter for dress-up, or if you're like me and feel your own need to play dress-up, be sure to check out her Etsy shop!

who's afraid

Okay, I know that animal-head busts in classical patterns, or in solid mod colors are kind of a "thing" right now, and we here at Darkened Forest like to pride ourselves on having an aesthetic that is somehow beyond trends (a delusion, yes), but I saw this and just couldn't resist.




It's a resin wolf's head, papered in a black and white damask-type pattern, with beautiful, stoic green eyes. This would look amazing above my red velvet sofa, if anybody wants to buy it for me. Or, if you'd rather purchase it for your own sitting room, you can find it, and other papered creations, in the artist's Etsy shop.

timeless

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison create fantastic, beautiful, surreal, and impossible photo collage works.


Subject matter ranges from desolate, isolated spaces, wounds, anachronistic men in period suits attending to various tasks, and colorful butterflies gathering in natural and man-made arrays. Their works are photographic collages, seamless combinations of images that tell a story. This Wikipedia entry has a lot of great information.

While many of their works are cleaner, lighter, and more colorful, these pieces from the exhibition "The Architect's Brother" (of which there is also a book) are dark and timeless, with pollution and open space, and labor.

earthen vessels

Laura Zindel creates beautiful and functional ceramic pieces.


Flora and Fauna are artfully arranged on her plates, bowls, and cups, like specimens in a museum. The best part, of course, is that they are available for purchase on her website.

Askewed View

Former Tattoo artist, Chris Conn Askew creates amazing narrative imagery that feels very much of a different time and place.



With technical proficiency and a serious handle on capturing the mood of the moment, you would never suspect that he has had no formal art training. From what I know of the tattoo industry though, is that working your way up through the ranks is harder and more intensive training than you would ever receive in any cushy institution . HIS SITE is still under construction, but there are plenty of images to chew on in his myspace gallery.

pigment-free Friday

mm.northwoods has an amazing Flickr set of albino Whitetail Deer that roam around their land. It's amazing how, with no pigment to let us immediately know what kind of deer they are, they appear to be some exotic, alien species....some rare and icy breed of snowy northern ungulate. Check out the other sets too, for lovely and interesting snaps of nature.

Swan Lake

The Silver Swan is an automaton from the 1700s, and is kept in England's Bowes Museum.



This description is from the Wikipedia entry:

"The swan, which is life size, is a clockwork driven device that includes a music box. The swan sits in a "stream" that is made of glass rods and is surrounded by silver leaves. Small silver fish can be seen "swimming" in the stream. When the clockwork is wound the music box plays and the glass rods rotate giving the illusion of flowing water. The swan turns its head from side to side and also preens itself. After a few moments the swan notices the swimming fish and bends down to catch and eat one. The swans head then returns to the upright position and the performance, which has lasted about 40 seconds, is over. To help preserve the mechanism the swan is only operated twice a day."

Here, you can see a video of the Swan's performance, and even better, the enraptured wonder of the viewers in the background. Such art, technology, craftsmanship, and flawless motion are spectacular, especially considering it runs on clockwork and was created over 200 years ago!

operation goose rescue

As we were pulling into the parking lot after our lunch break today, Chris and I spotted a lone Canada gosling toddling across the pavement. I slowed the car down, and he hunkered down to the ground; we looked around, but the family was nowhere in sight.

Knowing that the goose family would all be together, and that wherever they were, they had to have gotten there on foot, with babies in tow, we decided to go looking for them.

Chris hopped out of the car, cornered the terrified, shaking baby, and scooped him up, and I found a cardboard box in the trunk of my car, tossed my sweater into it, and we deposited him inside. The three of us set off slowly around the large multi-part parking lot, straining our eyes to find two large geese and some little fuzzy ones. Fifteen minutes after picking up the gosling, still no sign of a goose family. We didn't know what to do - should we just let him go where we found him, and hope his cries would attract his parents' attention? Should we try and find a wildlife rehabilitation center?

I was driving down the exit, and needed to turn around to go back to the building, so I pulled into a dirt lane that opens into a fenced-off expanse of land where the company is developing a greenspace, very far away, through some dense overgrowth, and an iron fence from where we found the baby. 100 feet in front of us stood two adult geese, and about six goslings the same size as the one anxiously squeaking in the box on Chris's lap.

We opened the door, Chris took the gosling and cautiously approached the geese. The moment the adults heard the baby's cries they started honking and bobbing their heads, and as soon as he was let go, the baby ran into the group and all were united once more.

We came into work about a half-hour late, but very happy knowing that, at least for now, our little gosling friend was safe, and that both of us had been able to be that close to this helpless wild creature, and give him the help he needed to be on his way to adulthood. It's a great feeling.

technologies of the future

I'll admit, this isn't our usual aesthetic/range of interest here on Darkened Forest, but it's not often you strike gold like this. So, it was imperative that we spread the word.
Fred and Sharon make "movies". Movies of such an awkward caliber that it's elevated itself to an art form. These people are serious about what they do, head on over the their YOUTUBE CHANNEL and you'll see what I mean. The Technologies of Peace series is amazingly unsettling, as is their sense of "humour".

This may very well change your life.