Laura Keeble’s Mermaid Corpse

Last Sunday morning, artist Laura Keeble dumped this fantastic sculpture outside an Essex Starbucks – their consumer avatar mermaid drowning in coffee beans, grounds, half-molten Styrofoam cups and filth. The installation Wish you were here?… lasted a few hours until Starbucks hauled it away. The effigy was the artist’s contribution to UK’s first annual ARTSIDE project.

Artist Shout Out: Yuken Teruya

“Notice- Forest” (McDonald’s paper bag) Paper Bag, Glue  6”x 3.1/2” x11”

“Cut Up Price One” dollar note, 6.3/8” x 2.3/8” x 2.1/8”

Artist Statement:

Yuken Teruya manipulates everyday objects, transforming their meanings to reflect on contemporary society and culture. Cutting trees out of paper bags and cardboard toilet paper rolls, he creates meticulous and intricate art works, small and enchanting worlds, which relate to broader concerns. In each bag and roll, the shape of a tree is created without adding or removing anything, just by cutting out and folding the paper from the bag itself. Teruya’s works explore issues such as the growing consumerism of contemporary society, depleting natural resources and other problems associated with globalism, including the threat it poses to localized cultural traditions and identities.

“For the world to come” Mixed Media Installation 16”x 16”
The trigger of this project was the article titled “A crash’n the Scent of Pizzatocracy Anger Okinawa!” in New York Times. According to the article, American helicopter crashed on the grounds of Okinawa International University on August 13, 2004 and the accident site was blocked by American soldiers . Even though the Japanese police, and even government officials, were not allowed to enter, a pizza delivery gained easy access to the place.

“Corner Forest” Toilet Paper Rolls

See more of Teruya’s work here

Tree Mountain: 11,000 Trees, 11,000 People, 400 Years

click photo for a larger version

Between 1992 and 1996, environmental artist Agnes Denes created Tree Mountain—A Living Time Capsule.  The project consisted of a series of architectural renderings on vellum featuring designs for a new forest to be planted in Pinziö, near Ylöjärvi, Finland. These works  on paper became planning documents after the Finnish government decided to make Denes’ project its official Earth Day contribution at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.  This major earthwork and reclamation project was designed by the artist as a community building project that also made use of waste from a nearby gravel pit.  To accomplish the massive undertaking, Denes invited 11,000 people to plant a tree. Each person became the custodian of a tree and received a certificate recognizing their role in the project. The forest, which is to remain a living legacy for the next 400 years (20 generations), has spawned additional projects in Australia and the Netherlands.

The 11,000 trees were planted according to an intricate mathematical pattern derived from a combination of the golden section and sunflower/pineapple pattern designed by Denes. The tree mountain is 420 meters long, 270 meters wide and 28 meters high.

See more of  Denes’ work via Chelesa Art Museum

posted by: Brent Carter

Watch: The Making of Mike Stilkey’s “Reminiscent”

Thanks to the Pasadena Library, Mike Stilkey incorporated 5,000 books into his latest installation Reminiscent at the new Hurley Space Gallery.

posted by: Harold Johns III

Photo Flash: Growing Forgiveness on the Field

From Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz’s Memorial of a Concentration Camp (2006):

A 10-meter magnolia tree is planted in the center of Chile’s National Stadium where dictator Pinochet in 1973 imprisoned thousands of political prisoners who were tortured and killed. After planting the tree, the stadium doors are open to the public as a park; offering a space to stop, look again, and remember. An impossible, cathartic soccer match played before 20.000 people, closed the project after a week of activity.

See more of Errazuriz’s work here

posted by: Harold Johns III