10 | February | 2021 | Jak's View of Vancouver v.3

Artistic Illusion

February 10, 2021

A Portuguese artist named Odeith has become a master of illusion, using spray paints to transform a concrete block into an abandoned bus:

from …

And turning this …

… into this:

An article in this week’s My Modern Met has numerous other examples of this wonderful street art.

1 Comment | Art & Design, Other Writings | Permalink
Posted by jakking

Night Music: La Carretera

February 10, 2021

3 Comments | Music | Permalink
Posted by jakking

Paint From Dirt

February 10, 2021

A recent edition of Smithsonian magazine had a fascinating article on the collection of different soils in Wyoming and California, and their transformation into pigments.

“A soil scientist and a professor at the University of Wyoming, Karen Vaughan sees a lot more soils than the average person, and certainly knows them more intimately. Over many years spent examining them, she has come to appreciate their natural beauty and immense variability. Two years ago, she began channeling that appreciation into a product she could share with the world, turning the soils she loved into watercolor pigments. Now, she and her collaborator, Yamina Pressler, a soil scientist at California Polytechnic University, use soils to make pigments and paintings, bridging the gap between science and art. “

“To the uninitiated, the landscape of Wyoming might seem like a monotonous stretch of tan dirt. But that idea is exactly what Vauhgan is trying to change through her art. By explaining to artists and curious laypeople how the myriad hues in soils come to be and sharing them visually through both her own creative works and those by other artists, she hopes to give people the ability to see soil as more than “just dirt.”