Russian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin dons an amazing performance for Hozier’s Take Me to Church music video. The video was directed by famous photographer David LaChapelle. I think this way of combining music with dance, as we saw earlier at Sia who partnered with Maddie Ziegler and Shia LaBeouf, is a relevant trend. And it is extraordinary.
Watch LaChapelle’s video below.
Franco-Portuguese artist and architect Didier Faustino is already renowned for his intriguing projects which debate alternative relationships between body and architecture. Founder of Bureau des Mésarchitectures, Didier Faustino is the author of Doppelganger, Sky is the Limit, (G)HOST IN THE (S)HELL, We Can’t Go Home Again to name just a few projects.
His latest art project displays a personal interaction with a particular space – Villa Bloc (designed by French sculptor André Bloc in the 50s). At Villa Bloc Didier Faustino has implemented a semi-architectural installation entitled ‘This Is Not a Love Song’. I love both red explosive entrance and the light arrows-installation placed inside. And especially the way these landmarks interact with the whole environment.
Didier Faustino installation at Villa Bloc Paris/ photos: Felipe Ribon/ images via designboom.com
James Ostrer‘s photographic series Wotsit all About depicts monstrous creatures made out of sugar, sweets and foodstuffs, assembled in a way that recalls primitive art. Referring to contemporary addictions and our culture’s dietary concerns, the artist mocks his own weaknesses and guilty pleasures.
“I wanted to redefine the human species in modern tribes based on what they eat.”
Ostrer studied at the Royal College of Art, before becoming a set designer at the English National Ballet. The artist lives and works in London. His work talks about the body politics in the ever evolving analysis of the western body, sexuality, and society, functioning in the same time as “self-help therapy”.
The photographs from Wotsit all About series have been exposed at Gazelli Art House, London.
Andrea Husler – Perishable Goods/ Swiss Mountains, Verbier, installed 2014
Andrea Hasler is a Swiss artist currently based in London, UK. Her wax and mixed media sculptures are characterized by a tension between attraction and repulsion, and highly influenced by artists like John Isaacs, Berlinde De Bruyckere and Louise Bourgeouis. Andrea Hasler helds an extensive portfolio with exhibitions in Los Angeles, London, Greece etc. She recently has won the Greenham Common Commission for 2014 and is currently artist in residency at Chisenhale, London.
The flesh cube that Andrea Hasler has recently installed in Swiss Mountains is a mix of luxury and decay, a relevant piece for her peculiar esthetic. In artist’s words:
“How to depict the emotional body is the red thread in my work. I am fascinated with the psychological aspect of the body and its emotional link to ‘Abject’, the borderline of inside/outside, something that is aesthetically desirable, yet revolting and where viewer’s attraction are replaced by repulsion, power, control and impotence.
In my work, I have always been particularly drawn to the body, how to depict the emotional body and working with skin as the physical element that divides the Self from the other, as well as the potential container for both and what happens if you open up those boundaries.”
Levi Van Veluw – commissioned work for Hermès/ images via behance.net
On 12 September 2014, Hermès celebrated the Grand Opening of the Hermès Maison in Shanghai. The Maison window display by Dutch artist Levi van Veluw installed for the opening depicts a horse traveling from France to China, representing the relationship between Hermès and China. Actually, the horse symbol brings together Western and Eastern traditions in an inspired way.
The Hermès Maison in Shanghai is the fifth of its kind worldwide, after Maisons in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Seoul.
Gian Paolo Barbieri is a famous Italian photographer, well known for his fashion projects published in Vogue, GQ and another fashion magazines, but also for his traveling photos took in the 90s showing exotic locations and tropical paradises (check his albums Madagascar, Tahiti Tattoos, Equator etc.). Barbieri approached flowers, fish, islands, sea, rocks and native people with a keen eye and a macro lens; he photographs in analog and does not retouch his pictures. The images published above revolve around one of Barbieri favorite themes – fish and fishing.
Can you conceive any similarity between the characters depicted in classic artworks and contemporary hip-hoppers? Cecilia Azcarate proves that a conversation between hip hop and art before the 16th century is not only possible, but somehow legitimate. Her comparative exercise relies mainly on body adornments such as tattoos and nose-rings, continuing with accessories such as medal pendants and fur collars. I find these connections smart, funny, creative, impressive – which is a 1st class salad!
Left: detail of Christ Blessing surrounded by a Donor Family. Unknown German Painter 1560 – Right: Kanye West
Left: The Adoration of the Magi.Hugo van der Goes. Netherlandish. Late 15th century. Right: Wiz Khalifa
Left: Detail of 1500 Tapiserie – Right: Boychild
Left: Detail of “The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence,” oil on wood, by Masters of the Acts of Mercy (Austrian, Salzburg, c. 1465) Right: ASAP Ferg
Left: Male Ancestor. 1st–4th century. Mesoamerica. Nayarit – Right: Young Thug
Left: Quentin Massys. Ecce Homo-1520 – Right: 2 Chainz
