Tag Archives: imperfect

Tt’s, by (im)perfect

Posted on by

Designer Mur Tarragona

“tit’s” is an artistic project created together with Naomi Thellier de Poncheville. The claim is “choose yourself, choose your friend’s, choose who you please – who pleases you” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the very idea of what is beautiful or perfect is relative – never absolute. Celebrating all the diversity and singularity in the female form, we have created a catalogue of women’s breasts – releasing a collection of t-shirts and artworks to be sported and exhibited with pride.

Tarragona00Project created with Naomi Thellier de Poncheville for an itinerant exhibition celebrating womanhood, developed in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and launched in Barcelona (Catalonia).

Concept:
“Choose yourself, choose your friend’s, choose who you please – who pleases you”.

Under this idea we created a collection of artwork celebrating the beauty in the diversity and singularity of the female form. A limited series of screen printed t-shirts was created adorning different women’s breasts.

Tarragona01 Tarragona02 Tarragona03 Tarragona04

Several catalogues were printed – referencing those that one might find in a breast implant clinic. These catalogues archived over a hundred busts of varying sizes, from different ages and nationalities.

Tarragona05

Copyright info: Attribution – Non-commercial
Source

About plastic surgery

Posted on by

Marie-Lou Desmeules is an artist who uses pure pigment to transform living models into bizarre sculptures of surreal celebrity lookalikes. Her work refers in particular to plastic surgery which often for some reason or another, didn’t exactly go as anticipated. We can read in her work a veiled complaint to reality television, which imposed this kind of beauty.

The art of glitches by Sara Cwynar

Posted on by

Sara Cwynar, is an artist from Canada. She uses images from encyclopedias, biology textbooks, featuring sexy pinups, children, politician-on-TV subject matters, but each gives off an air of american antiquity. Then search the glitch effect she wants by using a scanner; moving the image while that is being scanned, the results are distorted figures. “By mashing up these two technologies, I want to highlight the obsolescence of the old one and the future obsolescence of the new one”. She thinks that the most stylish pictures are the kitchest ones.

Sara Cwynar

Sara Cwynar

Sara Cwynar

The beauty of diversity

Posted on by

Michelle Marshall is a french photographer. During her career she decided to document the incidence of the MC1R gene mutation responsible for red hair and freckles, particularly amongst black/mixed raced individuals of all ages. The gene is recessive, which means both parents need to have it, in order for the child to receive it. Marshall wanted to show the stereotype of the redhead is not representative for all people who enjoy their red strands. Her work is really interesting.

Christian Richter shows the beauty in ruins

Posted on by

“When I was young, I fell in love with abandoned buildings. After I got a camera as a present, I started photographing the beauty there. I mostly photograph empty buildings with great staircases or interiors.”

“I simply adore old decaying architecture, their patterns and textures – they remind me that everything is impermanent. Abandoned architecture photography is my ongoing project and I often travel around Europe looking for abandoned buildings.”

[http://www.boredpanda.com/abandoned-buildings-urban-decay-photography-christian-richter/]

Nancy Davidson’s sculptures challenge absurd body ideals

Posted on by

Nancy Davidson creates massive inflatable sculptures that resemble an unbridled body, ballooned and bulging. Combining pop culture kitsch with a feminist spirit and carnivalesque sense of humor, the artist specializes in a visceral language of bellies, bumps and lovely lady lumps, harnessing the bodily force of the human form in a minimalist range of colors and shapes.

Many of the sculptures begin with a weather balloon that the artist blows up with a nozzle. Then she goes to work, squeezing and binding and smushing the round orbs into various bodacious configurations.

For example, “Blue Moon” (below) resembles a belly and butt bursting from a corset trying desperately to restrain them, while another recalls fishnet stockings winding their way up impossibly long legs. Through abstraction, Davidson creates images so physical you may find yourself needing to swallow, as sometimes perusing erotic materials makes one forget to breathe.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/feminist-artist-brings-minimalist-sculpture-to-bootylicious-new-heights_us_5748ad57e4b03ede4414d77a?utm_hp_ref=female-artists]

The photographer who normalizes women’s imperfect bodies

Posted on by

After a slew of instagram hate following her body positive imagery depicting women’s body hair went viral, it would have been easy for Seattle based photographer Ashley Armitage to take a step back from her bare-all approach to photography. But this online hate didn’t deter her from portraying a realistic, photoshop free depiction of the female form. Instead of bowing to the trolls, Armitage decided to push the boundaries of beauty standards further, shooting stretch marks, scars, spots and more.

Ashley Armitage bodies

Ashley Armitage bodies

Ashley Armitage

“I create images of the female body because historically these images have been controlled by men. We were always the painted and not the painters. I’m trying to take back what’s ours and explore what it means to have a body that has always been defined by a male hand”– Ashley Armitage

[http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/29017/1/the-photographer-normalising-our-imperfect-bodies]

The strange beauty of pollution

Posted on by

The Gowanus Canal is a Brooklyn waterway that, during the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century and beyond, served as a receptacle of waste for the various companies that fueled the way.

Specifically, the canal served as a dumping ground for coal tar, a thick, black liquid containing benzene, naphthalene, phenols, aniline and a bunch of other hazardous chemical compounds. After it was no longer needed, the canal was left to fester, and the tar substance seeped underground, floated to the surface, and interspersed itself throughout the fetid body of water, yielding a virulent stench and strangely stunning visuals.

Today, the Gowanus Canal is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the country, and was declared a Superfund site in 2010. In 2013, a dolphin even died in its toxic grip.

When photographer Steven Hirsch, a Brooklyn native, saw the channel for the first time in 2010, he was enthralled. During his initial visit, an eruption of oil started bubbling and erupting on the water’s surface with a bizarre cocktail of centuries-old pollutants. Hirsch pulled out his camera and braved the nauseating smell to capture the strange visual effect, like a metallic Impressionist artwork.

The images are at once haunting and oddly hypnotic, illuminating the disastrous results of unchecked contamination left out to rot, and the strange visual complexity that arises from such hazardous destruction. In the images, emerald green, metallic gold and electric aquamarine dance in abstract patterns that seem brewed from the imagination. It’s hard to believe these organic-looking shapes are the result of human waste and carelessness.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mesmerizing-photos-of-the-gowanus-canal-capture-the-dark-reality-and-strange-beauty-of-pollution_us_56e2fb6ae4b065e2e3d5c056?utm_hp_ref=photography]

Play- Doh portraits by Jose Cardoso

Posted on by

Jose Cardoso’s work looks scary but surely it is really interesting.

“There’s a lot of theories about identity loss nowadays, about how social networks can help you fake your real identity, why do people use photoshop in order to hide imperfections but never use that tool to enhance deficiencies?”

This work could be refered also to how easy is to get plastic surgery to your face like it was made of Play-Doh.

These photos are open to a variety of interpretations.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/play-doh-portraits-jose-cardoso_us_5734e23fe4b08f96c18294c4?utm_hp_ref=photography]

Photosculptures by Brno del Zou

Posted on by

Brno del Zou is an artist and a photographer who uses an interesting fragment style which highlights all parts of a human face. In his “photosculptures” series, Brno Del Zou uses the fragmentation of the body in order to better understand it. The body and the faces are revisited and their volumes are highlighted in order to create installations of multiple scales. These “photosculptures” suggest a clear aesthetic preference which does not hide the chaotic side of our minds.

Physical Transformation

Posted on by

We can see actors transformed to fit completely into the character of a film in which they starred . Some of the transformations are truly amazing , it’s not just the makeup and hair , but also to actual physical changes, such as haircuts , losses or drastic weight gain . In short , being an actor is not a walk , and it’s not just money and fame , we must also make compromises and sometimes change things about their appearance they do not want to ever change . It must be said that some of these actors are really transformed beyond recognition , it will surprise you to find out who they really are few movie characters who may have seen.

Chiara Barbera

Photo series by Sheila Pree morphs real women with Barbie

Posted on by

We’ve seen what a Barbie doll would look like if modeled after the average 19-year-old woman. But when you juxtapose a doll’s facial features with a real woman’s, the results are startling.

That’s what photographer Sheila Pree Bright did in her 2003 series “Plastic Bodies,” which is currently part of the traveling art show “Posing Beauty in African American Culture.” Pree Bright’s work focuses mostly on women of color, exploring their complex relationships to white beauty standards by combining images of real women’s bodies and faces with those of dolls.

“American concepts of the “perfect female body” are clearly exemplified through commercialism, portraying “image as everything” and introducing trends that many spend hundreds of dollars to imitate. It is more common than ever that women are enlarging breasts with silicone, making short hair longer with synthetic hair weaves, covering natural nails with acrylic fill-ins, or perhaps replacing natural eyes with contacts.

Even on magazine covers, graphic artists are airbrushing and manipulating photographs in software programs, making the image of a small waist and clear skin flawless. As a result, the female body becomes a replica of a doll, and the essence of natural beauty in popular American culture is replaced by fantasy.”

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/22/plastic-bodies-sheila-pree-bright-beauty-identity_n_4324403.html]

Awesome Split Personality Portraits Through Clever Styling

Posted on by

For a recent assignment, Sydney-based photographer Toby Dixon created these two awesome split personality portraits not with fancy Photoshop but with the help of two talented friends. Monique Moynihan, who was in charge of styling and Budi, who handled make-up, transformed a man and a woman each into two distinct halves.

Similar to a mullet, “business in the front, party in the back,” these side by side characters couldn’t be more different. While the studious, bow-tie and pearls-wearing side seems more than a little serious, the tattoo-sporting, red lipstick-wearing party side is all about letting loose.

Dixon proudly states about this project, “No cutting, no comping, no Photoshop trickery.”

[http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/toby-dixon-split-personality-portraits]

Going over perfection’s idea

Posted on by

The korean Seung-Hwan Oh is a photographer and a microbiologist who suceed to combine these fields of work. In his serie Impermanence, he cultivates fungus that he applies to his film before he puts it into his camera. It consists in a serie of portraits which wants to go over the perfect and idealized pictures we see everywhere nowadays.

Sue Hotchkis’s use of Wabi-Sabi doctrine

Posted on by

“…my work is texture and surface, strongly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi. I seek out imperfection, in the insignificant and the overlooked, using a camera to freeze a moment in time, recording marks and surfaces that are in the process of breaking down, ephemeral, in a state of flux. ”

[http://www.artandartdeadlines.com/2016/02/artist-of-the-day-sue-hotchkis/]

What Wabi-Sabi is? This word represents  a Japanese world view centered on the acceptiance of transience and imperfection.

Barbie Curvy

Posted on by

In recent years Mattel has been flooded with criticism for his size and Barbie’s life so decided a sea change for a company often criticized for representing a stereotypical beauty. Today, with this new operation, all women can identify with the nearest to your physical model. in my opinion this is a representative case of imperfect beauty.

160128114630-barbie-original-curvy-split-super-169

Eleonora Formiconi

Bycicle Chains

Posted on by

Carolina Fontoura Alzaga , who wanders from landfill to landfill in search of old bikes , from which dissect pieces like circles and chains , and then build beautiful industrial chandeliers from classic form.
She makes these chandeliers because her passion for ecology.
After all this is art!

Chiara Barbera

When The Boxer Is a Painter

Posted on by

Omar Hassan is 29 years old, Italian mother Egyptian father. There’s color everywhere, from the sketches on his shoes and laptop because Omar is a painter. Omar boxa with the canvas. Dips his gloves in painting and tum-tum-tum, you hear the sound of fists on the canvas, an artistic gesture summarizing street art.

1459956002_1_Omar-600x335 1459956050_7C4A7624-600x335

Eleonora Formiconi

Edward Honaker documents his own depression

Posted on by

Twenty one-year-old photographer Edward Honaker documents his own depression in powerful self-portraits. The series of black and white images illustrates the photographer’s experience with depression and anxiety.

In an attempt to raise awareness of the topic, Honaker says about the project:

“Mental health disorders are such a taboo topic.

If you ever bring it up in conversation, people awkwardly get silent, or try to tell you why it’s not a real problem.

When I was in the worst parts of depression, the most helpful thing anyone could have done was to just listen to me – not judging, not trying to find a solution, just listen.

I’m hoping that these images will help open up conversation about mental health issues.

Everyone is or will be affected by them one way or another, and ignoring them doesn’t make things better. 

It’s kind of hard to feel any kind of emotion when you’re depressed, and I think good art can definitely move people”

Edward’s face is blurred or covered in all of the haunting black and white photos, which are meant to portray the helplessness felt by someone who is battling a depressive disorder. 

“All I knew is that I became bad at the things I used to be good at, and I didn’t know why” Edward recalled of the time before his diagnosis. “Your mind is who you are, and when it doesn’t work properly, it’s scary” he noted. 

The Honaker’s series of mental illness portraits are a powerful reminder that while each individual’s experience with depression is personal, the feelings can be universal.

http://www.edwardhonaker.com/booktwo/

http://edwardandrew.tumblr.com/About

#DefineBeauty series by Nowness

Posted on by

Founded in 2010, Nowness is a video channel premiering the best in global arts and culture.

The channel’s programming strategy has established it as the go to source of inspiration and influence across art, design, fashion, beauty, music, food, and travel. They work with both established and emerging filmmakers which connect their audience to emotional and sensorial stories designed to provoke inspiration and debate.

The #DefineBeauty Series collects videos created for “unpicking the politics and prejudices of attraction”. 

#1 – Define Beauty: Les Fleurs by Saam Farahmand

Director Saam Farahmand heats up the body hair debate.

“One of the things I appreciate most about female beauty is what’s commonly appreciated the least” says Saam Farahmand of his ode to body hair that launches NOWNESS’ new five-part series #DefineBeauty. “I wanted to find something about women that was almost unanimously disliked.” The transformation of the female form from hairless ideal to glorious natural state is set to the rousing score of Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs”.

“There was something so affecting about Minnie Riperton’s ability to breathe her gender—she speaks to female sexuality in a way that seems to exclude male consideration” says the London-based filmmaker.

 

#2 – Define Beauty: My Scars by Matthew Donaldson

Each disrupted surface has a story to tell: a heavily scarred man and his lover share their intimate thoughts in Matthew Donaldson’s “My Scars”.

Matthew Donaldson illuminates the narrative function of scars in this stripped-back portrait of British photographer Sam Barker, accompanied by intimate reflections from his lover.

 

#3 – Define Beauty: Beyond the Skin by Jonas Åkerlund

Director Jonas Åkerlund takes model Shaun Ross on a hyperkinetic trip through LA.

“Hollywood is so good at only seeing what’s on the outside, and using that first impression instead of going deeper” says Jonas Åkerlund of the location of the final film in the #DefineBeauty series, in which he follows American model and actor Shaun Ross around the back streets and freeways of Los Angeles. “I think Shaun has spent all his life with those reactions. Look again and you see that this guy is really beautiful.”

His gothic style is apparent in today’s portrait of the famed albino model, who recently starred in Lana Del Rey’s 30 minute film, Tropico. “When Shaun showed up on Hollywood Boulevard, Darth Vader and Mickey Mouse were affronted” the filmmaker says of filming Ross. “Like, ‘What the fuck is this guy doing here?”.

 

https://www.nowness.com/tag/define-beauty