How many times we complained about a nose a little crooked an eyebrow a bit higher than the other, a slightly smaller eye? Often think that the more harmonious and beautiful faces are those perfectly symmetrical. It was wrong according to Alex John Beck, the author of these photos.

With the help of Photoshop the photographer has created “special” portraits of his models, achieving perfectly symmetrical versions of the left side or the right side of the face. The result has been collected in the photographic project Both Sides Of. The first of the pictures you see, the left one, was obtained with only the left side of the model’s face, also mirrored symmetrically on the right side. The right photo, on the contrary, was created reflecting from both sides the right part of the face of the woman.

What the photographer has failed, however, is the original photo of his subjects : “I wanted to avoid that the viewer continues to make comparisons with the original version,” he explained ,”after all , that’s just a boring portrait.” For those who want at all costs to see the true face of these people, the photographer may want to print both portrait and juxtapose them by bending one of the two parts.

With his experiment, Beck wants to prove that the stereotype of beauty without imperfections and asymmetries is totally unfounded.”I think these faces missing character” he explained , “and the beauty is more about personality than some arbitrary parameters.»

Since Beck often works with models from particularly well- proportioned faces, some of these photos do not give transparent big differences .

But there is one detail that caught the attention of the author of the project: the eyes. According to Beck, the right version, obtained with the right side of the face, shows a more watchful eye and mind of the left, from a little less concentrated. The effect is particularly visible in the photos of this guy.

Francisco Goya, Nude Maya, 1797–1800

For years we talk about how to use Photoshop, and -in general- of editing has changed the common perception of the female body: in magazines and advertising we see long skinny bodies and free of imperfections, which never correspond to reality, but that they impose themselves as models and references, especially for so many young girls..

Raphael, Three Graces, 1504–1505

Of course it was not always so. In the course of art history, painters Titian and Rubens, Gauguin found the beauty in the bodies of women who would never have worn a size 0.Ma what would happen if the perfection of today’s canons were applied to famous works of art? The website Take Part took some of the masterpieces of the Renaissance and applied a coat of Photoshop, doing to slim the female protagonists of some paintings that are true masterpieces of art history.

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1486

Martina Magrì

Enough with fisicato model nonhuman limit. Welcome editing the contrary, which adds belly and love handles. Enough with the envy of the model all nice and fisicato, with abdominal turtle on display, shaved and fake. They send men around the world paranoi, giving the image of an anthropomorphic figure nonexistent. Distractify finally comes to the aid of all people who have a lot to do and who can not stay in the gym two hours a day, so they are proudly equipped with love handles and bacon. So here comes the editing on the contrary, that instead of to refine their body to the limit of the non-human, adds the imperfection, the realism, neo-realism for which we Italians are famous Worldwide.

Martina Magrì

Inspired by the exuberantly painted compositions of the Action Painters group of Abstract Expressionists, KwangHo Shin works with oil paint and charcoal on canvas to produce portraits that merge inner states with outer appearances. Often working at a grand scale, he creates sketchy, vigorously executed images of human figures, heads, and faces using a multicolored patchwork of brushstrokes. In some compositions, his brushstrokes obscure his figures, whose contours can just be made out amid the pigment. In others, faces and forms are more clearly articulated. The conglomerations of marks make such forms appear almost sculptural. By replacing flesh and features with thick strokes of pigment, Shin reflects the tumult of thoughts and emotions that lay concealed below our surfaces and that fundamentally shape our identities.

[https://www.artsy.net/artist/kwangho-shin]

In a cobblestone alley near the Piazza del Popolo, a weather-striped window showcases the porcelain heads, limbs, and bodies of dolls long lost and in complete disrepair.

Above the ghastly repository of broken faces pressed to the glass, small owl figurines perch menacingly. What appears to be Rome’s own little shop of horrors is actually the Restauri Artistici Squatriti, known to Romans as “un’ospedale delle bambole,” or a dolls’ hospital. Here, Federico Squatrito and his mother Gelsomina nurse ailing dolls and other porcelain objects back to health.

The minuscule workspace is approximately 50 square feet and pungent is the odor of glue and solvents, the “medications” Squatrito doles out to his porcelain patients. The walls and counters are covered with parts of broken toys and figurines, along with antique plates, vases, and any number of mysterious objects waiting for Squatrito to give them new life.

Though the cluttered shop might be intriguing enough to draw the attention of passersby, the contents of the collection are as worthy of a visit as the shop window itself. Because Squatrito is equally adept at repairing an ancient Roman platter as he is an heirloom plaything, visitors may encounter any number of curiosities – and stories – when they stop by.

[http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/restauri-artistici-squatriti-ospedale-delle-bambole]

From dogs with three legs, to cats born without eyes, Perfect Imperfection celebrates the intrinsic beauty of animals who have overcome adversity and adapted to a physical impairment.

After constant eye issues, Scrappy had both his eyes removed

Kitten Nimh had both eyes removed after complications from birth

Photographed with care and sensitivity by leading Australian animal photographer, Alex Cearns of Houndstooth Studio, each image leads with the beauty of the animal subject, making their physical issue almost a subtle afterthought.

Baby Goat  who had a broken leg

A 3 legged rescue puppy saved by the Bali Animal Welfare Association

Savannah, the beloved Rottweiler had an groundbreaking implant placed into the bone of her front left leg after having half amputated due to an aggressive cancer. RIP

Cearns says “One of my most passionate aims as an animal photographer is to capture the adorable subtleties that make all creatures precious and unique. I love every animal I have the privilege of photographing, but those perceived as “different” hold a special place in my heart. These are the creatures who have lost a leg, been born without eyes, or are still showing the scars of former abuse. Most animals with “afflictions” don’t dwell on them. They adapt to their bodies without complaint and they survive with determination. They push on, always, wanting to be included and involved in everything as much as they can, and as much as an able bodied pet does.”

The hamster with a Pearl Earring Marge Simpson Best spoofs of Vermeer’s masterpiece, waiting for the exhibition of Bologna.
It’s the show everyone is talking about, for better or for worse: the exhibition dedicated to the “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, the Vermeer masterpiece in Bologna from February 8 to May 25, 2014, has divided critics. Among the detractors, it is also expressed in Philippe Daverio, who called the show “entirely devoid of interest” adding that “we reach the same result by buying a box of Belgian chocolates: there is already the girl on the box, you see better the picture, and the more you can eat chocolates. ”

Whatever the judgment on the shows, there is no denying that the painting by Vermeer – once known as “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” – has become absolute pop icon. And as for the Mona Lisa, his status as a “celebrity” has inspired the creation of parodies and irreverent clones here is the most original and amusing.

Also  The famous and elusive street artist Banksy has created a wall of the city of Bristol parody of “Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer.

In place of the pearl, the girl painted by the artist has the burglar alarm unit of the building. The title is: “Girl with a pierced eardum” or “The Girl with a piercing in the ear drum.”

A parody not much appreciated because, it seems, has already been smeared by someone.

È una tecnica ideata nel 1977 all’università di Heidelberg e i suoi risultati sono stati visti a oggi da 38 milioni di persone. Si tratta della plastinazione, frutto della ricerca avviata dall’anatomopatologo tedesco Gunther von Hagens, un procedimento che consente di conservare i corpi umani dal deperimento post mortem sostituendo i liquidi con polimeri di silicone. Ed è anche un procedimento che non è ristretto alle sale di anatomia degli atenei, ma che è diventato la mostra itinerante“Gunther von Hagens’ body worlds”.

Nata per sensibilizzare dal punto di vista sanitario i visitatori, “Body Worlds” è dunque il frutto di una tecnica che, per ogni corpo preso in carico dall’istituto di Heidelberg, richiede una media di 1500 ore di lavoro distribuite nell’arco di diversi mesi. L’esemplare più grande su cui lo staff di Gunther von Hagens ha lavorato è quello di un elefante.

Ma gli effetti su chi è andato a vedere “Body Worlds” quali sono stati? Il fine di indurre a una maggiore attenzione per il proprio corpo è stato raggiunto? Secondo un’indagine condotta dall’istituto di Psicologia dell’università di Kassel sul 30% degli ospiti, qualche risultato potrebbe esserci stato. Infatti, secondo quanto dichiarato dagli organizzatori:

Per lo meno il 9% di quei visitatori ha dichiarato di aver fumato meno e di aver consumato meno alcol, il 33% da allora si nutre in maniera più sana, il 25% pratica più sport e il 14% vive in maniera più consapevole del proprio corpo.

Sara Proietti

Autumn, a picturesque season. With its warm colors and its cooler climate than the summer, this time of year is loved by artists. So he is by Joanna Wirażka, Polish painter of just 16 years, which replaced the fallen leaves from the trees to the canvas.

The high school student began to create his particular works last year and since then, has made about 10 paintings on leaf.

A form of very original art that uses “living” material. As soon as the leaves begin to fall and cover the earth, Joanna feels strong within her a call. This seasonal process awakens in her the desire to make paints and brushes and give shape to his inspiration.

Start by collecting various leaves, intrigued by their shape. Later, it is dried by putting them between the pages of books. After the leaves have dried, Wirażka begins the work.

imperfetta ma unica
  

I don’t know that the work “celebrating” is appropriate It seems that the art typified by the dismemberment or subversion of the human form is not a celebration but an accusation.

Included in this parade are the grotesque, the carnivalesque, abjection and “informe” – formless. As my computer is the epitome of order and control it rejects two of these words as indigestible …. This is the central notion of this category of artists. Each has found the semblance of order in society indigestible for their own reasons (psychological trauma, rejection of prevailing ideologies or a desire to reconcile nature and culture to search for the “truth of being human” as opposed to a socially constructed reality) so they serve it back to us as it presents itself to them.

Like Halloween this art subverts order  – conventions, categories, rules and exposes the hidden aspects of ordering mechanisms in our society and in our physical reality – irrationality, corruption, persecution, cruelty, alienation, repression, hubris, decay. It questions mutual exclusivity of binary oppositions by breaching the social and psychological barriers we create between them.

Magdalena Abakanowicz grew up in Poland and lived under Nazi then communist rule. From an aristocratic family on a country estate she was required to move to an impoverished urban environment and hide her identity.

Her art stems from physiological trauma rather than political subversion.  She seeks to engage with the human condition both in terms of physicality and society. She is particularly working through her fear of the mob – The “faceless herd of the collective”.

Her work engenders a sense of fear and empathy. We feel empathy for the headless, faceless, ragged humanity while fearing their anonymity and sheer numbers.

[http://artandtoday.blogspot.it/2008/08/art-deformation-celebrating-human.html]