Driver’s License Photo as Art

Art is usually hung on walls, but the art of Fredrik Saker is now displayed on his driver's license, because he submitted a painted self-portrait of himself to the Swedish Transport Board for them to use as his license photo. And because it's a good likeness of him, the officials at the Transport Board accepted it. The self-portrait and his license are below. Saker has titled the portrait "This is not me." The BBC News suggests that Saker's work recalls "the art of the 16th Century miniaturists like Nicholas Hilliard" as well as "the Norwegian-born artist, Kjartan Slettemark, who made a career through questions of identity and travelled round Europe in the 1970s on a passport in which his head and beard had been superimposed on a photograph of the US president, Richard Nixon."


Saker couldn't have done this in the U.S. because the state Department of Motor Vehicles don't let you submit your own photo. (At least, they don't in California, which is the one I'm familiar with.) Though it might work for a passport application.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 16, 2012 - Comments (6)
Category: Art, Face and Facial Expressions

Puking Kitty Gravy Boat

Made by GingerEla, who's now raising money on Kickstarter in order to sell these to the general public. Pledge $35 or more to her Kickstarter campaign, and one of these will be yours if she meets her campaign goal of $14,000. She's almost halfway there, with 15 more days to go.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 13, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Food, Cats

Bacon Möbius Strip

Would pair nicely with the Bagel Möbius Strip, except that unfortunately it's not real bacon, but rather some kind of non-edible plastic resin. It's for sale over at shapeways.com for $19.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 10, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Food, Bacon

On Space Time Foam

This is an art installation in Milan, where you crawl with other museum patrons over a plastic surface. Lot of weird pics at the link.

But is that plastic suspended over a high well of emptiness, an atrium or courtyard, as it seems in the video? And guaranteed not to break?

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 10, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Science, Europe

Documenta

I'm sorry I learned about the Documenta Art Festival only just now. The thirteenth one occured this past September, and there won't be another for five more years.

We'll have to content ourselves with these videos till then.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 06, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Bombast, Bloviation and Pretentiousness, 1950s, Europe, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Historic Explosions in Cauliflower

By artist Brock Davis who, based on his other projects, likes to play with his food.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 06, 2012 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Food, Vegetables

Artwork on the Moon

Several pieces of art have been left on the moon during the missions to its surface. These are the two that I'm aware of, though there may be more:

Moon Museum — a tiny piece of ceramic wafer on which six artists (Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain, Claes Oldenburg, Forrest Myers, and Andy Warhol) drew pictures. It was attached to a leg of the Intrepid landing module (though this was never confirmed by NASA) which landed on the moon and was left there in November 1969. Warhol contributed the rocket/penis in the upper-left corner.


Fallen Astronaut — An aluminum sculpture of a humanoid figure that's supposed to represent an astronaut in a spacesuit. It was left on the surface of the moon on August 1, 1971, next to a plaque listing astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the advancement of space exploration.


So we've left a picture of a penis on the moon, as well as a sexless humanoid figure. I wonder if this will confuse future alien archaeologists who find the art.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 03, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Art, Space Travel

Oxygen-Tank Bubble Dress

An oxygen-tank bubble dress designed by Hana Marie Newman. It supplies the wearer with a constant supply of purified air, so they don't have to breathe in the polluted air that everyone else is choking on. Reminds me of Emilio Pucci's bubble bonnet that I posted about several weeks ago. [via treehugger]

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 28, 2012 - Comments (10)
Category: Art, Fashion

Euthanasia Coaster

Euthanasia Coaster from Julijonas Urbonas on Vimeo.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 18, 2012 - Comments (9)
Category: Art, Death

Bagel Möbius strip

How to make a Bagel Möbius Strip, or "How to slice a bagel into two linked halves." Get the full instructions at the website of George W. Hart, who describes himself as a "freelance mathematical sculptor/designer."

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 16, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Food