//THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.

I've been pretty busy the last two weeks or so.Had been studying for the biggest and last (for now at least) Art History exam and have been trying to make art while doing so...I never pull all nighters, as me in zombie mode is more likely to just make a mess of whatever I'm busy with, so sometimes I guess it's just better to hit the sack 'n deal with it tomorrow.Nonetheless I haven't had the greatest or rather longest of sleep lately, so it is time to catch up... if only it could be in this beaut of a bed.

//STRAW DESIGN.

Wow...I literally had a fit of excitement when I came across this!I made a sculpture from straws last year, and can confirm that it is not an easy job...mine definitely didn't look as "spiff" as this..I think I ended up only using 220 straws or so...

Well...this is not quite the case with Scott Jarvie's straw designs...
his Clutch Chair consists of 10,000 rainbow coloured straws!

He even made a spotlight from straws!Amazing...just wonder if they won't melt?





Nonetheless, Jarvie's Chair was selected by Zaha Hadid as her curators choice at Noise Festival 2008!



Go check out some more Scott Jarvie here...

//MOONMILK
Ryan McGinley's photos are really out of this world ...I suppose since his new body of work is titled "Moonmilk" it is okay to make us of clichés!McGinley likes photographing naked people, but what differentiates his photos from the usual naked portrait, is that the subject is photographed in a manner which makes him part of his setting (outdoors), and in a subtle manner obscures the nudity making it part of the scenery or the background.Some images do not even feature people but merely suggest a moon landscape, which I would say Mc Ginley skillfully achieves through the colouration of his photos.

go to his site here.

here are some images from Moonmilk

//FLOWER CONE

Found an image on another blog...oh wait...it was Apartment Therapy...check it out. The blog featured different ideas on how to present flowers. I enjoyed this one the most.It's quirky and it looks good.

//SAY WHAT?

I should probably try go sleep or something but sometimes blogging just seems like a better idea..
I've been wanting to share this list the last few days already, but only remembered to do so now...

The Times encouraged people to vote for their favourite artists since 1900.1.4 million people voted.
The results are not really close to my rankings, but I suppose this is just a fun exercise the paper did to see who people vote as the top 200 based on the merit of popularity.

Let's just say my number one would most definitely be Marcel Duchamp.

have a look at the top ten of the 200:

1.Pablo Picasso

2.Paul Cezanne

3.Gustav Klimt

4.Claude Monet

5.Marcel Duchamp

6.Henri Matisse

7.Jackson Pollock

8.Andy Warhol

9.Willem De Kooning

10.Piet Mondrian

read the whole list here.

//RICHARD SHED/peeled drawer doors


these drawers were designed by Richard Shed and Alex Taylor for the exhibition time:frame
(Nov 2003).

The doors are walnut veneered, and the drawer inside is lacquered.

What caught my eye are obviously the peeled corners. It is not only good design in terms of style, but is also truly functional and minimalistic.The peeled corners also reveal a bit of the lacquer coloured internal drawer...

check out more coming from Richard Shed's studio here....

//MESCHAC GABA

Michael Stevenson is probably one of my favourite local galleries.They seem to have one of the greatest line ups of artists.Eventhough Meschac Gaba is not necessarily my favourite from the Stevenson rooster, I still enjoy his work.It is simple and striking...as easy as that.I would say the Voortrekker Monument he made last year (i think?), was somewhat more successful, yet nonetheless I enjoy his new body of work "the Street".

have a look at Michael Stevenson's site here.

Meschac Gaba-Tank (2009)

Meschac Gaba-School Bus (2009)

//SIBLING MINE CO-LAB

I am super amped about this post... I recently met a co-blogger, a.k.a Casey.I suppose that is one great thing about the town of Pretoria - one still meets genuine people. Casey has such an awesome approach to blogging.Instead of taking the lazy approach (like me), she goes out and looks for things she can write about, thereby taking photos and meeting new people, and generally just living large and blogging about it..
So..since we both enjoy blogging we figured it would be pretty rad to contribute to each others blog. Pretty neat hm?! So ...I started off by contributing a weekly "mix tape" to Sibling Mine (that would be the title of her blog), and she came aboard to "whatever i can think of" with the following decent idea...

this is what she put together...

Casey from Sibling Mine....
and I'm going to be paying you a weekly visit from now on.

Maaike asked me to come and play but I just had to decide
where I would take you, and what I shall be sharing with you.
It's almost time for me to leave my home of twenty three years
for the first time - this irrepressible nostalgia lends to revisiting areas
my city.Viewed through my childhood and adolescent eyes,
join me as I traipse through my hood.

If only it were on this ....





I have had this getting-a-bicycle idea in my head for a while now. And I just found the perfect lust-worthy two-wheeled wonder. Salivate more at Electra. ( www.electrabike.com )

We will be cruising round the 'burbs of the East, the concrete in the CBD, the grit and grime of the West
and a pretty village in the South. See you soon!

so yes...do yourself the favour and go to Sibling Mine, explore it & then bookmark it!

//TODAY'S EMPEROR'S tomorrow's ashes.

I came across a post on one of my favourite blogs VVork. The post had a kid peeing on a statue .I wondered what this arbness was about, and one link lead to the next....I found a site featuring documentation of what happened to Saddam Hussein's statues.The result was a great amount of interesting photos and different categories, such as "peed on", toppled", "beaten", "sold on the internet" and "photo opped".The internet sales interested me the most.Saddam's leg is being sold on line by an antique dealer in Duisburg,Germany.madness.

Here's a photo courtesy of http://www.toppledsaddam.org/toppled.html

//FFFFOOD!

Luckily I usually eat my lunch at brunch hour,before anyone would even have a chance to give it the contemplative glance can and be tempted into sin.. Yet, for the less gluttonous, these anti-theft food bags might be a pretty clever solution... It sure looks pretty nasty...

//HELLS YEAH!

Man...somedays one can be in the greatest mood and next thing you know it just goes DOOOM.
This installation got me amped as I can imagine it being pretty stress relieving to interact with.I'd say the world needs more artworks like Anish Kapoor's ‘Shooting into the Corner’ (2008-09).
Ultimate solution to world peace...more good art (wax shooting canons) and less of all the bad stuff...

How does it work?
Kapoor''s canon is placed in the corner of the gallery.In this case as depicted in the photos it is at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.What does it do?The canon shoots 11kg of heavy wax balls into the next room...AWESOME right?

//DZAMA & THE EAGLES.

Canadian artists dominate when it comes to contemporary drawing. Marcel Dzama is one of these Canadian cats who knows his lines...I love his drawings. He somehow manages to create his own world with these characters which become familiar once one is acquainted with his work.I think the Department of Eagles have a sound that matches that world well.The music video "No one does it" makes it a whole lot easier to imagine Dzama's characters doing what they do (usually waging war), with an antique sounding track to it ...

Dzama designed the props and costumes and the set, and co-produced the video.
Please have a look at the video...it's magnificent!I know, I also hate waiting for videos to load, but it is well worth it.

//INDIANS VS. COWBOYS

I got these photos off someones flickr account..

A series of four hand-colored platinum prints gifted to the Library of Congress by David A. Rector.I only posted my favourite three...check the rest out here.These photos are copyright of Herman Heyn of Heyn Photo, Omaha, Nebraska, 1899.

I have this thing for Indians...maybe it's because their hats are way cooler than cowboy hats...?

Strikes With Nose, chief, Oglala Sioux.

Shout At, Oglala Sioux.

Bone Necklace, council chief, Oglala Sioux.