Lego Art

The Block Art

When I first saw this picture I just couldn't believe it was made entirely out of legos, or small plastic building blocks that children play with. The planning and design aspect is enormous, because the artist had to have carefully planned out were each piece had to go before he built it. And also, make sure that it looked symmetrical, as shown by the yellow man ripping himself open to reveal what he's made of: legos.

In fact, Nathan Sawaya, the artist responsible for these lego creations has an exhibit of lego people shown in yellow, blue, and red. I think it is really spectacular to see the amount of emotion in these "brick people", and how not any of the lego sculptures are fully constructed. By leaving parts out it seems to me he is saying that all people can fall apart.







I also found this lego video for fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWWfnKVbYY

Chalk, Street Art (cont.)

The street art i was looking at in my last blog dealt with 3-D imagery, and trying to get the picture to pop out. In this type of street art, the artist uses chalk and Michelangelo's "God Creates Man" painting from the Sistine Chapel ceiling as a reference to create his own copy of the masterpiece. Personally, I thought the artist did a great rendition of the original piece, spending countless hours and getting all of the details to match up. I wondered though, how was it different using chalk to copy a fresco painting. Did the difference in materials make it harder or easier? It was painstaking either way, because in the video of the artist making this modern copy, it took him 3 solid days of intense work to complete it.

Here is the video link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRmbhCs3A2k

I just think that this re-do of this Michelangelo piece shows just how popular Renassiance art is even today, and that it is easily recognizable and shows up countless times in our lives.

Sidewalk Art

I have always wondered how artists have been able to use perspective and original designs to create street art. I have seen some of these designs and I am amazed at how realistic and complicated they are. They are usually made with chalk, and take hours upon hours to complete. Sometimes even using the surrounding buidings and objects to complete the design.

This amazing piece is by Edgar Muller and is a "Lava Burst [that] transformed a typical German street into a scene from the apocalypse for the 30th anniversary of the international competition of street painters in Geldern". When I first saw this picture I thought it had to be a digtal design, because the level of detail and pure scale of this project seemed so immense. I also though how he used the cars parked on the strret and the manhole cover integrated into the desgin was brilliant.

This large canyon picture was another amazing piece by Muller. I looked into it more online and found a video of him actually making it, and thought the process was very intricate.

Here is the link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SNYtd0Ayt0

Most Expensive Paintings

How Much Would You Pay?

This painting was reportedly sold for $140,000,000 dollars. It is by Jackson Pollock, and is an example of his famous "drip" method. This is the most money a painting has ever sold for at an auction.

When I look at this painting I can think of thousands upon thousands of paintings that are of a higher quality, in my opinion. It just baffles me that a painting like this, and paintings in general can be sold for such unbelievable amounts of money.

It is true that the art collecting world is a rich man's game, and that if you want a painting by a famous artist, you will have to pay...by the millions.

This next painting is by Pablo Picasso, entitled "Garçon à la Pipe". This painting was sold for $104,100,00 in 2004. Even though this price for a Picasso was not out of the question, it was seen as surprising since it was not an example of his famous cubist technique.

Vincent Van Gogh makes the "top 10 most expensive paintings of all time" list 3 times. With this painting, "Portrait of Dr. Gachet", being sold for the most out of his works. Sold for $82,500,000, the purchaser wanted to be creamated with the painting when he died, although the painting was never burned after his death. But I can't blame the guy for trying to take it to his grave after paying that much money for it.

After all of my research I found out that only one painting, out of the top 10 most expensive, was out of the 19th or 20th century, whcih could mean that people value modern art more now...or perhaps only because all of the ancient art is in museums these days.

Our Very Own Architecture

Close to Home

I have been interested in the architecture of the Denver Art Museum ever since I went there for the very first time. I am a big fan of old Renaissance architecture, which is usually very symmetrical and orderly, so this building was quite a shock to me. It was so different than what I was used to seeing that it made me looked at architecture differently.

I really liked how the building seemed to be shooting out in all directions, with no real rhyme or reason to it. It was random. Yet with a real plan to it.

All of the angles and movement of the strcuture made it look completely unique from different viewpoints....inside and out. This picture suggests that some people might fall off the ledge!


The Denver Art Museum really is a one-of-a-kind building, and I am really proud to be able to say that it is located in my home town.

3-D Tattoos

Skin Art

One of my friends recently got a tattoo, so I became interested in some of the extreme extents that tattoo artistry can go. These are a few of the pictures that I thought were very eye-opening. The first picture looks incredibly realistic; it seems like it is actually ripping through the skin. I liked it because it seemlessly was one with the person and didn't look like it was just pasted on them.

This next tattoo also looked very realistic, and I felt as though the spider was just standing on the person's shoulder. I think the artist did a great job of shading to portray a sense of three dimensions around the subject. I also liked the placement of this tattoo. Any other place on the body might have looked akward, but having the spider on his shoulder made it that more believable. I know I did a double-take when I first looked at this.

Modern Car Design

Customization: color, shape, and vinyls

Car customization has been alive and well since the inception of the automobile. However, more recently, aftermarket car parts have taken off, and many car owners are looking to the almost unlimited amount of options to make their car their own expression. Beginning with the car itself, including it's unique shape and design, is like the pallete for which a driver can begin to apply his or her artwork.

The first thing somebody notices about a car is it's color. From vibrant oranges to lime greens, the color decides how the rest of the customization will be. For example, the second picture deals with a green car, and a blue vinyl (sticker) on it. This combination looks quite natural because both of the colors are cool colors, and blend together easily.

Some cars have extravagent designs on them, ranging from the actual of the body to the car to even the windows themselves. I really like this design on a Lamborghini, it realy fills out the car; however i thought it was interesting because this is such a fast car, it perplexed me to have such intricate artowrk on something that wont be seen on the road.