Robert Burden’s toy box is filled with familiar images of childhood-Captain America, the Joker, Battle Cat and Hulk Hogan action figures reinvented as larger-than-life Technicolor epic paintings.
 
Each painting places the figure against a background that Burden recalls from wallpaper or other fabric patterns around his childhood home. His intentional juxtaposition of the masculine toy against the feminine background brings his own touch of irony to the subjects.

Burden often displays the original figure with the painting to show the long road from mass-produced, cheap import to objet d’art. Burden acknowledges the coveted place that these childhood favorites have had in his life and the lives of so many of us.

There is something innately cool about these toys taking on a life outside their intended usage. Burden captures some of the legendary status that the figures occupied in our imaginations by recreating them on canvas.

Burden is currently showing at the “10 under 30” show at the Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Monica, California through November 4th, 2008.

http://www.robertburden.net

Tabitha “Tabikat” Vocque’s TalentDatabase listing can be viewed here.

Inspiration, I think, is important when doing anything art related. Afterall, if you are not inspired to do something, chances are its not going to come out as great as it should. I find inspiration in a lot of things but my favorite mediums are music, history, fashion/photography, other styles of art, and life itself. When I listen to music, images go through my head like a music video or one specific image will come to mind, the music also sets the mood of my images as I will actually listen to the same song or set of songs while doing a piece of artwork. In “A Drop of Water” (pictured), I listened to chinese folk music non-stop every time I worked on it, this helped inspire me to keep with the soft, oriental design that I really wanted for this piece. Life is such a huge inspiration because I do draw a lot of my expression and personalities for my characters from myself or the people around me. Read the rest of this entry »

SlowArt Productions is accepting entries for their annual group exhibition, A Show of Heads. The exhibition will be held at the Limner Gallery in Hudson, New York, November 1-29, 2008.

Open to all artists in any media, the show will include all interpretations and portrayals of the human head, from traditional to abstract.

SlowArt sponsors competitions for Limner Gallery exhibitions and for the annual edition of Direct Art Magazine.

Direct Art Magazine was founded in 1996 as an alternative to the mainstream art magazines which tend to cater to more established galleries and museums.

Deadline for entries is August 30, 2008.

http://www.slowart.com/prospectus/head.htm

They say patience is a virtue and egg master Franc Grom must have it by the bucket load! To master the intricacy of his egg shell art pieces requires him to drill at least 2,500 to 3,500 holes in each eggshell. He has been know to drill up to 17,000 per egg!

Grom’s works are inspired by Slovenian designs. More of his work can be seen here.

Flip Animation Festival wants your submissions! Flip runs November 6-8, 2008 at Light House Media Centre and other locations throughout Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Light House Media Centre is all about bringing technologically - based media to a wider audience. Film, video and creative media are all a part of this innovative center. The Centre also has a library, café and meeting place for special events.

In January Light House celebrated 20 years and continues on its original mission “increasing the enjoyment and understanding of different media forms and using them for the benefit of the people of Wolverhampton and beyond.”

Deadline for entries is August 8th, 2008.

Taking influence from sculpture, medical science and biomechanics, Christopher Conte has created a world of alien creatures that belong in a sci-fi movie.

The Articulated Singer Insect (2005) unites antique mechanical parts with a vintage Singer sewing attachment to make a house pet fit for the Terminator.

Cynthetic Version 1 (2008) is polyurethane, glass-filled nylon and stainless steel components that eerily meld man and machine.

His External Video Eyeware Apparatus (2006) was commissioned by a Dutch recording artist to wear on-stage for live shows. The sinister monocle would make any villain proud.

Born in Norway and drawing at age 3 Conte attended St. John’s University before going to the Pratt Institute in 11th grade. After earning his BFA from Pratt, Conte entered the prosthetics field and began making artificial limbs for amputees in New York.

In addition to his work with those less fortunate Conte never stopped doing the sculpture that remains his deepest passion.

His work has been featured in Wired, Popular Science and used by the Discovery Channel and MTV.

You can view his amazing work here.

Hamburg’s Marziart Internationale Galerie is accepting submissions for their “Best of 2008″ competition.

Artists 18 and up are invited to enter their work in seven categories including: Landscape, City-life, Interior, Still-Life, Portrait /People, Nature/Animals and Abstract.

The winner of each category plus one sculptor gets a showing in the Hamburg showroom for one year.

The jury for the event includes owner Marion Zimmerman and several other prominent artists.

Marziart Gallery is a space where international artists can present and sell their work to the German public. Workshops are presented in the Marziart Studio next door and there are always plenty of visitors perusing the gallery and studio looking for new talent.

Deadline for entry is August 1, 2008.

http://www.marziart.com/Wettbewerbe2008/Start-Competition.HTM

A unique furniture line inspired by graffiti is one from the design duo Jimmie and Martin of Jimmie Martin Ltd. By adding graffiti and unusual paint finishes to traditional furniture, they’ve created a unique niche for the aesthetically trendy.

All pieces are individually finished off to either the customer’s personal taste, or to the ideas of the founders. Between them, they have experience and education in the arts, design, media and fashion as well as the business and IT market.

View their designs here.

Lisa Oakes is a visual artist and contributor on TalentDatabase.

My personal mantra, “perception is reality” shows through in both the traditional art and photography projects I take on. As a self-taught artist, it’s very important for me to express the world around me in the unique way that I see it, but also, to leave many aspects open to interpretation by the viewer. I believe through our own unique artistic experiences, we all form differing perspectives on life in general, and the opinions we form about art and our surroundings. Those opinions, however varied, are each valid in their own way because they are truth…if even to just one person. Read the rest of this entry »

The work China Gates is technically based on possibilities of synchronizing a group of performers using the clock pulse emitted from GPS satellites. Aesthetically, China Gates is rooted in works for open public space and belongs to a series of works, which celebrate the use of innovative mobile technologies to explore public space and public audience.

A series of tuned gongs are used to perform the work. Tuned to an Eastern musical scale, these gongs give the piece a touch of the orient on the horizontal, melodic side and a western type dissonance on the vertical, chordal side.

In addition to having the gong and beater to create the music, each player wears a custom built GPS interface on the wrist. The interface acts as a “conductor”, indicating when the gongs are to be hit. By using a delay between the satellite clock pulse and the LED that indicates when to strike the gong, a harmolodic effect is obtained as the players gradually shift from a chordal to a melodic structure (and vice versa) dependent on geographical coordinates.

China Gates - Mobile Music Piece for Gongs and Satellitest by Art Clay & Erratum Ensemble Shanghai-Basel
September 27, 2008; 1:30 - 6:00 pm :: Münsterplatz, Basel, Switzerland