Optical profusion

About four months ago I got going on the topic of art, and promised/warned/threatened that here and there I'd revisit the subject, since the Internet provides so much jaw-dropping stuff.

It's that time again.

Let's start with Juan Francisco Casas. This guy blows me away — he draws HUGE portraits using a blue ballpoint pen, and the results are amazingly photorealistic. Be warned, many of the women's portraits on this site show a lot of cleavage: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//85064.html

Casas' own website contains female nudity. This being a family paper and website, I won't link you there, but you can do a web search of his name.

Dan Witz specializes in "street art." One amusing project was his painting of "do not enter" street signs -— you know, the red circle with the horizontal white bar the in center. Take a look here. Use the red arrows at the top of the photos to navigate. http://www.danwitzstreetart.com/dne1.html

There's also Witz's pranks, at http://www.danwitzstreetart.com/pranks1a.html

Now for an Internet classic: Michael Paulus' gallery of cartoon character skeletons. If you've ever wondered about the skeletal structure of Charlie Brown, Hello Kitty, Fred Flintstone or Betty Boop, you can find it here.

http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/v/character-Skeletons/main.php?g2_itemId=18

Pretty funny!

Here's the same idea in 3D — an artist named Hyungkoo Lee has sculpted skeletons of cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner and Donald Duck. http://www.arariogallery.co.kr/exhibition/exhibition_past_artwork.php?Page=3&exhibition_serial=49&word= Some pages can be slow to load, even with a fast connection. Here's the same series of works at the artist's home page:

http://www.hyungkoolee.net/animatus/animatus.html

If you like 3D chalk sidewalk drawings, here are some new photos of Julian Beever's work: http://www.moillusions.com/2006/05/3d-chalk-drawings-category.html

By the way, you'll notice that the thumbnail photos are stacked in rows of three. A few columns back I talked about 3-D painted rooms and put in two links to the photos of them, but I've heard that some people couldn't get either link to work. If you still want to see them, go to row 3, photo 3, the one that's captioned "Felice Varini 3D Painted Rooms Set 1" and click on it.

I thought this was amazing: The artist draws pictures of room interiors, but in an unusual way. I can't think of a clear way to describe it, so just look at the photo. To see more, go to: http://www.wonderfulinfo.com/arts/alphapaint/index.htm. I can't find the artist's name — anyone out there know who drew these?

Sculpture and 3-dimensional art

A fellow by the interesting name of Pete Goldlust is another well-rounded artist who sculpts, creates prints and does wall drawings. But what drew my attention were his carved crayons. See them at http://www.petegoldlust.com/carvedcrayons.html

Talk about "depth of field" — Rice field art! In the rural town of Inakadate, Japan, farmers plant different types of rice so that when the crop grows, amazing pictures are revealed. It's better than crop circles! http://www.hemmy.net/2007/09/23/rice-field-art/

"Lightmark" is a German duo, Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke, who use light as their paintbrushes and nature as their canvas. Their work is surprisingly precise and beautiful. Take a look: http://www.lightmark.de/overview.htm

Last but not least, there's "Tapeworks" by Mark Khaisman. He makes his scenes and portraits out of packing tape. You have to see to believe. http://www.khaismanstudio.com/#

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

— Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887

"It doesn't matter if people are interested. It's about you taking your stuff and shouting out into the void."

— Jadelr and Cristina Cordova, Chasing Windmills

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