Hypnotic Cubed/Uncubed installation by Victor Polyakov
Russian artist Victor Polyakov has created a beautiful publicly accessible installation called Cubed/Uncubed. More specifically, it is a cube that encloses another object hidden inside.
By touching the surface of Cubed/Uncubed the object can be “awakened”, becoming completely transparent and revealing to the viewer what is hidden. As the artist tells us:
“The object, enclosed inside the sculpture, is inspired by the art of origami. The aesthetics of origami — the Japanese art of folding various figures from paper — is close to the skillful manual work of Takumi, the Japanese masters, whose standards and rules are taken as a founding principle in the creation of Lexus cars”.
This is one of the first works produced by Lexus Hybrid Art that adheres to the concept of hidden art. If this work has mesmerized you with its neon lights, check out the Russian artist’s website here.
“We cannot take anything or anyone for granted. Let us celebrate what is beautiful in life. Let us go through the hard times and remain standing.” With these words we enter into the poetics of Basque photographerAndoni Beristain who, with simple objects and colorful landscapes pays homage to the beauty of life. His Basque origins are fundamental in his research and particularly evident in his aesthetic. In his still life photographs, his personal vision of life emerges: colorful, optimistic and ironic.
With this series of shots by Andoni Beristain that we are offering today, we evoke the coming summer and everyone’s desire for carefree time. But despite the warm colors, the sea, the beach, and elements such as plastic chairs and fans that immediately harken back to summertime, a certain nostalgia lurks behind these shots. Summer lightness is accompanied by a streak of loneliness. A chair is alone in the sea. A game is carried by the waves. An egg hangs in the sun. A man floats alone in the sea. These are all lonely scenes that evoke a certain sense of abandonment. Probably, with these shots Andoni chooses to call to mind the dualism typical of summer, on the one hand we long for it but on the other hand we never get to enjoy it. And here Beristain’s phrase returns and his desire to teach us to savor the moment, to be able to lead the classic slow life, which is increasingly difficult to implement today.
Born in 1980, J. Jason Chambers is an American photographer who captures America through his shots, traveling from state to state and drawing inspiration from the New Topographics Movement. As you browse through the photographer’s shots, it feels like you’re seeing a very different America from what we imagine. Bright neon signs, gas stations, and old cars suspended in an almost cinematic atmosphere. Chambers appears to be in constant motion, from California to Wall Street, passing through the desert. The photographs taken in New York contrast with the desert suggestions of New Mexico and the Texan landscapes of Marfa.
J. Jason Chambers’ reflection on a new man-influenced topography is inspired by an exhibition from 1975 in Rochester called New Topographics. On this occasion, ten photographers showcased their work, dealing with the arrival of Conceptualism and Minimalism in photography during the 1970s. In 2010, the SFMoMA decided to revive this exhibition, revealing the pre-existing bridge between the world of contemporary art and photography.
The point of convergence between Chambers’ photography and New Topographics lies in the relationship between man and the environment. Gas stations, motels, or parking lots have now become part of our imagination when it comes to landscapes, just as they were in the 1970s.
To discover more shots by J. Jason Chambers here is his Instagram profile.
Chiang Yu-yi, also known as John Yuyi, is a Taiwanese visual artist with an extraordinary background. Her works embody the spirit of the post-internet generation, challenging consumer culture, one of the most recurring themes in Yuyi’s career.
Yuyi’s career began as a fashion influencer, but when she moved to New York in 2015, something changed. She started selling temporary tattoos to promote her swimwear collection, and over time, she incorporated illustrations, photographs, and symbols from the world of social media into them. Temporary tattoos, an interesting medium, involve the realm of corporeality as both a medium and an object of investigation. These, along with her photographs, have made Yuyi very popular not only on social media but also in the art world.
The process of documentation carried out by John Yuyi speaks of her experience as an influencer, our relationship with social media, and our bodies, especially our faces—the part of our bodies in which others recognize us and that can offer a sense of real representation for the viewer. Mental health is also a topic close to Yuyi’s heart. Suffering from bipolar disorder, she has depicted her distress through a series of photographs titled, Cell for Young Plant.
But Yuyi is not only involved in art and photography. She is also working on commercial projects that have led her to collaborate with important brands and magazines. One unforgettable collaboration took place last year with MIUMIU, where Yuyi captured Lee Youm and Ever Anderson for the SS22 advertising campaign.
John Yuyi’s journey demonstrates how it is possible to reinvent oneself and discover one’s artistic talent starting from a world far from the traditional art scene as we know it.
Discover more of John Yuyi’s projects on her Instagram profile.
With a photo-journalistic approach, photographer Luca Marino searches for the absurd in situations. Born in London to an Italian father and a Colombian mother, Marino is attracted to those details that often go unnoticed, “I look where no one else looks,” he says. Among the streets of the great metropolis of London, Luca Marino makes two projects, “Oxford Street Paradox” and “Transport for London.“
In the first project – “Oxford Street Paradox” – the photographer’s much sought-after absurdity is evident, which, at times, deceives the viewer. The photographs capture passersby on the city’s busiest shopping street – Oxford Street – appearing totally deformed. This effect is not achieved in post production, Marino in fact shoots the reflective surface of a cloister that creates funny altered images. With irony and levity, the photographer uses this natural “alteration” to point out how crazy our shopping habits have become, bordering on compulsive.
Also in the second project – “Transport for London” – Luca Marino shows what is often not looked at but rather, ignored. In this case, the protagonists are the employees of London’s transport system, from buses to the underground. People we do not pay attention to but who are responsible for the city’s road system. They allow us to move from one side of the city to the other, but they remain in the shadows. Luca Marino, in collaboration with the company, gets in touch with the hidden side of the famous Underground, photographing employees in their offices and rest rooms. He captures moments of cleanliness, including the sanctification of the carriages during the period of health emergency dictated by covid-19.
