Surreal video works from Sam Spreckley

Scotland based sound designer and video editor/director Sam Spreckley has totally captured my attention. About 5 days ago he released a new video called Surface ii, which is the combination of 8mm film melting and being destroyed paired with some really interesting and kind crazy sound design. The end result is this extremely detailed, nuanced piece of art that’s quite interesting. The sound choices he made are often quite odd but always fit. I hear things like ballons being stretched, bottles being broken and wires being tightened, things like that. He also does a nice job of panning the sounds back and forth between speakers, which gives it a layer of intricacy.

I’d also recommend the video he did below called Oil and Water… which is just oil and water. Except it’s got Sam’s magic touch, so it’s these basic materials that are being turned into art. The way he lit the video gives it a beautiful quality, and the symmetry created by mirroring the screen makes it seem so perfect. Really looking forward to seeing what he comes up with in the future.

Bobby

‘The Disciples’ – A Series by James Mollison

Over the course of three years, photographer James Mollison photographed fans at a number of concerts around the world. The resulting images form a fascinating body of work which he calls The Disciples. For Mollison, these concert crowds are almost like different tribes; he describes them as becoming like an extended surrogate family.

It’s a fun, fascinating, and at times frightening portrait of popular culture, highlighting the extent of how people aim to emulate celebrity and how they use it to form their own identity. The series exists both as an exhibition and as a 128-page book; published by Chris Boot. Above are only a few Disciples from the series. Many more can be viewed on Mollison’s website here.

Philip

Tauba Auerbach lives in a brightly colored universe

I’m severely behind the times on this, but Tauba Auerbach is my new hero. I came across her work last night and have been pretty obsessed since then. For those like me who are unfamiliar with her, she’s a San Francisco based artist who went to Stanford and now makes some really beautiful art. It’s all pretty conceptual, like the stack of gradient colored paper bound like a book, or the third piece above which is acrylic on canvas, even though it looks like something you’d make on a computer. Words can’t do her art justice, just click here to see a huge trove of her work and get obsessed like me.

Bobby

Andrew Holder Interview On Los Angeles, I’m Yours

Today on Los Angeles, I’m Yours, we have a special treat: an interview with artist Andrew Holder. Holder has been featured on The Fox Is Black quite a few times and is a super sweet guy, living in a nice little house in Eagle Rock. We spoke with him about his work and inspirations, how Art Center in Pasadena is the reason he is in the city, and how surfing in Los Angeles isn’t very good. Be sure to check it out and, if the interview doesn’t sell you, he also wanted to climb up a tree for his portrait (which ended up being super rad). You can read the story here.

KYLE

The fragility of efficiency: Tensegrity lights by Michal Maciej Bartosik

A few years ago, I came across a photo of a lighting system designed by Michal Maciej Bartosik, although I didn’t know it at the time because the photo was uncredited. “Who did this?” I didn’t figure it out then, but the smart use of fluorescent tubes as structural components in a glowing dome stuck with me. Years later, I’m happy to have figured out who made it, and just how talented he is. Michal Maciej Bartosik studied architecture (and now lives) in Canada. A newer light sculpture/structure of his employs a structural principle popularized by Buckminster Fuller: Tensegrity.

Tensegrity has always made me a little nervous. It’s a very efficient way to hold something up, but there’s no redundancy: every member of the structure is critical to keep the structure standing. If a single cable snaps, it can cause the whole structure to collapse. So while I think these light sculptures are amazing, I have a hard time figuring out what happens when one of the tubes burns out.

Alex