Reverb » Art

Million Dollar Facade

Ghosty — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 02:10:44 +0000

Remember that kid with the Million Dollar Homepage? Pixel advertising where he sold off 1 million pixels of advertising space for 1 million dollars? (He actually fetched more). Well this is another advertising idea that’s crossed over into the real world.

The Million Dollar Facade! Part art project part commercial part everything! There’s already some big companies on the side of the building.

There’s Google, Apple, Nike, Canon, BMW, McDonalds and far more coming soon I’m sure.

Instead of selling off pixels they’re selling off tiles on the side of the building.

More info at their site here: Artvertising

Beautiful Losers

Ghosty — Tue, 30 May 2006 04:24:33 +0000

“Beautiful Losers” has wrapped up and was quite a success. I’m hoping it’ll make its way over from Milan to our shores here sometime. It was essentially an art exhibit that showcased art from the fringe. Art that draws upon inspiration and returns back to the fringe. Flavoured from pop iconography, street wise renditions, indie music, urban graffiti, and other various sources of creative fuel.

It can almost be described as rebel or guerilla art in its purest form. If you have the time check out this documentary that delves into the whole ethos behind it all. You’ll get a taste of how hip hop, breaking, and graffiti influenced some of the art coming from New York and the East coast versus the “rebellious” nature of punk, surfing, skatboarding and the legendary Dogtown pops through from the West coast.

On the same note check out a couple of other art collections I enjoy with the same creative tone. It’s raw art unrefined and undefined.

Check this idea out. You check into a hotel room or you have full control of an office boardroom. This really doesn’t matter. You take down what artwork is already there (or whiteboard, photograph, mirror, etc) and in its place you create some art directly on the wall. You then replace and cover it back up with what was originally there. Until the next person comes along and discovers the wonderful creation behind it.

This art (or vandalism depending on how you look at it) movement is mostly found in hotel rooms. It was started primarily by people who spend a lot of time on the road and in hotels — rock bands. One of the main guys is Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. Here’s what he had to say:

Basically, it’s like a box of Cracker Jacks. You get a secret toy surprise. We have a set of patterns and each art piece is kind of a stepped up rendition in the duration we spend in a room. We spend a lot of time in museums and hotel rooms while touring. That’s our inspiration.

You can see some of the work Secret Wall Tattoos.

This next one is an online art gallery. It features quite a bit of contemporary art. The gallery’s own mission is unique in itself making it accessible for all.

Check out the Vintage Vandals gallery which is interesting to see how each artist rethinks or reinvents an old art piece.

The Wurst Gallery

Enjoy! Feel free to comment and let me know of other similar art projects.

ECIAD Grad Show

Ghosty — Tue, 23 May 2006 05:57:18 +0000

Since it was raining today instead of going mosaic hunting I ended up going to Granville Island where there are more covered areas that I could check out. In the pursuit of free art to look at I ended up at the Emily Carr Graduation Show that’s going on.

There were a lot of visual art pieces with a little bit of media / animation art mixed in. I have to say that there are some very talented artists coming out of that school.

Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera with me, so I resorted to putting my phone’s camera to use.

Okay that last one was me fooling around at a toy store in the kids market with the magnetic poetry board.

There was one particular artist who’s work I found extremely intriquing. Furthermore the ideas behind his pieces were simple and embodied the spirit of simply creating art. Embracing the nonsense and the fact that things can be created without a need for a back story. You can check out his stuff at louis-marc.com, I find the free form organic nature of his creations strangely soothing. What about you?

Downtown Sidewalk Mosaics

Ghosty — Tue, 16 May 2006 18:21:59 +0000

I’ve always really liked the look of mosaic art. I’m excited about the fact that the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association decided to do a project like this.

There’s been 12 mosaics created by various artists and now that they’re done being displayed at the Park Place building at 666 Burrard they’re being installed in the sidewalks around downtown. It’ll be spread out over a 90 block area..so far I’ve only found 8 7 of the 12. The 90 block area they are contained is marked on this map.
*56K Warning* Check them out after the jump.

They’re all quite beautiful. Sorry for some of the blurry shots. More information is available at the DVBIA website here.

These are by no means official titles for the art work. Just my guesses of what they’re depicting. I unfortunately don’t have more info about which artists contributed or the proper depictions, except for the few times I passed by them in the lobby of Park Pace.

*UPDATE* – Cordova & Richards Mosaic does not appear to be part of the 12 mosaic pieces as indicated here. It is actualy part of an older art project known as the “Footprints Community Art Project” done back in 2001 by the Downtown East Side Community. More information on that project can be found here.
Cordova & Richards – City Of Vancouver Crest

Robson & Burrard – Musical Instruments

Smithe & Seymour – Orpheum

Seymour & Georgia – Hudsons Bay Company

Georgia & Howe – Lions Gate Bridge

Georgia & Hornby – Health Care

Dunsmuir & Burrard – Fishing

Georgia & Homer – Logging