Monthly Archives: January 2013

Jason Taylor: Underwater Sculptures

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The traditional attitude, common to all the experts in restoring works of art, is to search for and retrieve archaeological remains from the place where they are located, to bring them back to their former glory. The examples are many and all about works “saved” from the imperfections they have due to the effects of time and erosion on them. But there is someone who bases his art right on the degradation of these works in contact with nature. It is the case of Jason Taylor and his underwater sculptures.
“[…] These ambitious, permanent public works have a practical, functional aspect, facilitating positive interactions between people and fragile underwater habitats while at the same relieving pressure on natural resources. Taylor’s art is like no other, a paradox of creation, constructed to be assimilated by the ocean and transformed from inert objects into living breathing coral reefs, portraying human intervention as both positive and life-encouraging.”

Source: http://www.underwatersculpture.com/

Coffee Art

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“Since 1980s, the art form created by pouring steamed milk into a shot of espresso, or so called latte art, has been widely welcomed within the modern society, which thirsts for elegance and beauty. With the strong need of the society, the Baristas, coffeehouse bartenders, have sought for creativity and evolution for the latte art since then, resulting in plethora of patterns and even variants in the industry.”

Coffee art is a beautiful example of artistic design, whose perfection in creating extraordinary images is ephemeral and temporary.
The beauty of these works, in fact, lasts only the time of exposure to the public, or in this case, to the customer who ordered the coffee.

a cup for winter morning

latte art: kiki

However, this is not the only thing it is possible to do with a cup of coffee.

“Shanghai-based artist Hong Yi, aka Red, has already impressed us with her sunflower seed portrait of artist Ai Weiwei and even went on to gain worldwide attention with her portrait of basketball star Yao Ming, which was painted with a basketball. Now, the creative artist who “likes to paint, but without a paintbrush” is back with a new inventive portrait project of pop star Jay Chou, made with coffee cup stains.”

 She dips the upside-down cup into the coffee grounds and presses it against big paper to finally get a great picture of pop star Jay Chou. So it obviously represents a new way of making the well-known coffee art.

Sources: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-latte-coffee-art/
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hong-yi-red-jay-chou-coffee-stain-portrait

Belen Rodriguez: ” I’m imperfect”

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During the last Pitti fashion show Belen Rodriguez spoke about her life, her work and her private life.
Belen defines herself imperfect: “I’m imperfect,be perfect is boring. Now that I’m pregnant I can not be a model, so I decided to have fun creating new ideas for this collection. On Facebook I get so many messages of girls ask me advice on how to dress. ”
The private showgirl said: “For now I’m getting married. I am not convinced that a marriage can make an eternal relationship, for this there is need of love and commitment every day. At the end of the marriage is a contract, it’s like a contract of employment. I’m not saying that I will never marry, but I would make a good party, perhaps with a shepherd who gives a blessing. “Love the belly:” I’m almost seven months, I did not diet, but I did not take many pounds. I like myself so, because before I was too thin. “On behalf of the child, Santiago, anticipates:” It ‘a name I’ve always liked as a child. ”

English translation of this site:

http://www.chedonna.it/attualita/cronaca-rosagossip/2013/01/12/belen-rodriguez-sono-imperfetta/

The Strabismus of Venus

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Beautiful, slender, pale skin and perfectly oval face (according to Renaissance), surrounded by a flowing golden hair: it is the most famous image of beauty, as Sandro Botticelli depicts in his most famous work, The Birth of Venus. But the legend tells us that a small defect, in such beauty, there was. A slight tendency of the eye to deflect outwards with respect to its visual axis. As with all legends, however, we will never know if indeed the goddess of beauty had that little defect commonly known as “strabismus of Venus.”

Source (in Italian): http://www.ateneonline-aol.it/030626pimaAP.html

 

 

Ugly Betty: Imperfection Vs Perfection.

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‘Ugly Betty” is a telefilm,in which the main character,Betty Suarez,is a journalist for a fashion magazione Mode. She is not beautiful,in fact she wear glasses and brace and she wear a lot of clothes that aren’t very beauty,but ugly.
In opposition to Betty there is Wilhelmina Slater who is beauty and who wear very good clothes.
For this reason, there is a competition between beauty: in fact,both of them represetn a style of beauty: Betty can be considered beautifully imperfect and Wilhelmina Slater
can be considered as beautifully perfect.. So in this telefilm there are perfection and imperfection.
Betty,during all episode starts to change and in the end she isn’t very ugly,but become beauty. So,the imperfection can be considered a character of this TV series. In addiction,there is also another thing to say: The actress who play the rule of Betty is America Ferrera. She is the opposite of Betty as far as the external asperct.

Cartoons: The beauty of imitation.

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We all know who is Elvis Presley, the legendary singer and actor who has been a myth during all his life. For this reason,he was and he is considered perfect.
There was a musical band ”The Cartoons”,who during all thie performances were dressed in a way that imitated not only Elvis but also a lot of characters of cartoons. An other musical band who can be considered the Cartoons’s rival were Aqua.

Urs Fischer : Shameless Imperfections in Impressive Works

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Urs Fischer, with the huge success of his expositions in Paris and Venice, is one of the most important contemporary artist.

Three main reasons to love his works:

1. He is totally crazy and visionary.

“Urs Fischer’s universe is made of logic and absurd things, illusion and reality, made of violence and humor, of eternity and ephemeral” (Caroline Fischer, commissioner of the exposition “Madame Fischer”)

2. His art is ‘participative’.

“My creations start from improvisation. I try a lot before strenghtening them. It comes from childrens, too, who visit regularly my atelier”

3. His art is simple and accessible.

“Everytime the exposition does not appear as a traditional event, neither a retrospection, but an introspection, an invite to penetrate within his personal bubble” (one of his gallery owner)

Source (in French):http://agencevertu.com/blog2012/?portfolio=urs-fischer-une-oeuvre-imposante-empreinte-dimperfection-insolente

A Perfect Technich to Reach (Im)perfection

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Rick Genest is one of the most characteristic models all over the world. He has totally tattooed his body in order to be close to a zombie…and the operation was succesful. As you know, the zombie is a putrescent and limping creature and it hasn’t got any feelings….something very far away from perfection and beauty.
Today Rick is named “the zombie model” and many fashion designers (mainly Mugler) employ him for their advertisements and fashion shows.

rico2 Rick Genest by Raphaël Ouellet for NIGHTLIFE.CA

Source: http://thefashionisto.com/rick-genest-by-raphael-ouellet-for-nightlife-ca/

Heterochromia: Imperfection in the eyes.

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Heterocromia means the characteristic somatic of individuals whose eyes have an iris of a different color from the other. In the case of different colors in the same eye is called somatic mosaicism.
The heterochromia is not a feature mostly human, but is often found in 5% of some animals such as dogs, cats (especially in the variety of the Turkish Van Van Kedi in which heterochromia is part of the genetic standard), the horse .
The heterochromia in human beings is a phenomenon that affects about 1% of people.
Usually both are identifiable characteristics from birth, although they may be acquired later in life. It was once believed that eye color depended on a single gene, but genetic studies have shown that eye color is polygenic, that is due to the interaction of several factors.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: Impefect/Perfect Art

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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a french painter. During his life,he realized a lot of work,but heconcentrated his attention on the portraits of women,in which he usually deformed a body part. For example,he realized ”The Great Odalisque” and ”The Valpincon baither”. In both of them,the back of women is not regular.

 

A Mole to Seduce

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One way to transform their physical defects into virtues? Exasperate them. So the spaces between teeth, freckles and moles can become a resource, in spite of the myth of physical perfection.No defect has ever been charming and intriguing as the mole.

Frank Polowny, Marilyn Monroe, 1952

Source (in Italian): http://bargaingirl.tumblr.com/post/17756746665/un-neo-per-sedurre 

See also: Marilyn Monroe, an icon of beauty

 

Hillary,Imperfect Beauty:

Image

Starting from the film “Boys don’t cry”,Hillary Swank  imposed on herself to be out of rules:always busy and ready to the metamorphosis and come into action,capable of big dramatic interpretations.She is the protagonist of some famous films like :”Boys don’t cry” and ” Million dollar baby”.She isn’t beautiful, she has an irregular face,she isn’t a classic example of harmony. But with her skills,determination and competence,she has been able to create a new model of actress.

Hilary, bellezza imperfetta

Hilary, bellezza imperfetta

Hilary, bellezza imperfetta

Hilary, bellezza imperfetta

Source (in Italian): http://espresso.repubblica.it/multimedia/lista/fotogallerie/29171835

The Imperfection Of Edward Scissorhands

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“Peggy Boggs, representative of cosmetics in search of customers, goes to the left castle on the outskirts of the community where she live, and finds a strange young man, pale and frightened, that instead of hands has shears. He lives alone, after the sudden death of his inventor-father died before he could apply hands and his imperfection causes him serious difficulty. Peggy, moved to pity, took him into her  house, to make it live with his family. The strange visitor immediately arouse the curiosity of the inhabitants morbidly attracted by its “diversity”, and enthusiastic of the wonderful work that Edward is able to do with her scissors.”

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDU8K114aYw

In Praise of Imperfection

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The title bespeaks an unwarranted modesty as Levi-Montalcini, co-winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in medicine, reviews her life and work. An elegant writer, she highlights events and personalities that have altered her life. She examines her family and youth, neither Catholic nor Jewish, but dynamic and creative; her schooling and attempts at research in anguished war-torn Italy; her successful research in the United States; and finally, her work in establishing the Laboratory of Cell Biology of the National Research Council of Italy. She does not reveal her soul, but rather a spirit of determination against social and political forces. Imperfection – says Montalcini – has always allowed continuous mutations of that wonderful and very imperfect mechanism that is the human brain. I believe that the imperfection goes with human nature more than perfection.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/In-Praise-Imperfection-Foundation-science/dp/0465032184

 

Where Is Hello kitty’s Mouth?

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Have you ever noticed that Hello kitty hasn’t got mouth? Its designer, Yuko Yamaguchi, made it on pourpose. “I want people to be able to project their feelings on her. Kitty looks happy when people are happy and she looks sad when people are sad” –  Yamaguchi says – ” If she had a mouth, she would have an expression and nobody could find in her his mood, so I preferred to paint it not.”

Hello Kitty Pictures 8

Sources: http://slowbuddy.com/photography/hello-kitty-pictures/

  (in Italian)  http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty