Simply Creative: December 2013

Upside-Down Metropolis by Hu Shaoming

Chinese sculptor Hu Shaoming has constructed a model of an upside-down metropolis, consisting of over 2,000 buildings beneath the canopy of a parasol, known as 'Umbrella'.

The umbrella represents traditional Chinese culture which was the foundation of the urbanization, but with the passage of time, the buildings rise further away from that foundation.

The sculpture reflects a booming urban landscape. He used cold steel parts like buttons, metal collars, handles, utensils, and other random bits of metal, to reflect the urbanization of China.

He also created a beautiful sculpture called 'City of Dreams' where a city is emerging from the head of a massive seahorse beneath the water.

Images taken from here

Architectural Watercolor Paintings by Sunga Park

South Korea-based designer and illustrator Sunga Park creates these gorgeous watercolor paintings of of architectural landscapes.

"I can't tell you what my exact art field is but I want to show you something different."

Check his website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksunga/

Dirt Art by Sarah Rosado

New York-based illustrator and photographer Sarah Rosado uses dirt as her medium for her unique project titled 'Dirty Little Secrets'.

She collects dirt from local parks and shapes this raw material using various tools.

Once the illustration is complete, she photographs the dark soil against a stark white background. There is no digital manipulation to the final image.

"The subject of my work could be something that I have seen in the park, street or internet that interests me enough to create something about it. However, most of my work is an inspiration of my own feelings and thoughts. The process involves tossing a pile of dirt on the table and carefully shaping it into the selected object. I then add real life accessories for realism. Once done the piece is documented by taking a photo of it. Although it seems easy it takes a lot of practice and having the artistic skill to draw is helpful in maximizing the output of the image."

"I wanted to do something different, something challenging. I had seen other artists do art with food and other objects but I had never seen art with dirt. That’s where the idea came from."

"Each design seems to play with the fact that the material it’s crafted from comes from the ground, either morphing into plants and animals as natural as the ground itself, or running the opposite way and becoming objects of pure human-made materialism."

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All images are © Copyright of Sarah Rosado

Check her website: http://www.sr-artwork.com/

Source: scribbleblog

Sand Sculptures by Sudarsan Pattnaik

Sudarsan Pattnaik is the inventor of sand art in India.

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"I started sand sculpture when I was 7 to 8 years old because where I live, my house, is very near to the sea. At that time my family had some financial problems. I was always wishing to be able to draw something but everything was expensive for me, pencils, paper, and colors. Since I was always going to the beach, I thought maybe I could do something in sand without spending money. At that time it was very difficult to get even a single rupee for me. My family was struggling, my grandmother was earning only 5 dollars a month and we were 5 people that had to survive on that."

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"Then I started these sand sculptures. I wanted to develop this art form. I was wondering, how could that be possible to use this art form to communicate with people?"

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"For last two years, everywhere I heard about the issues of global warming and climate change, so I started working on these issues."

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His ultimate objective is to create awareness and enthusiasm among the people and make it popular professional art form among the people for which he is traveling various places in the country and demonstrating this art form by holding work shops and training.

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Sand sculptures are temporary art forms and can last for 2 or 3 days. For huge sculptures, they can last up to 30 days depending on the climate and on the organizing way. If the sculptures are near to sea, they only last for a short time. But some can stay up to 3 months.

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In 2012, he created 500 sand Santa Clauses on the beach of Puri in Odisha to create a new world record.

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The sculptures were meant to spread awareness on environmental conservation.

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“I have created at least 500 sand Santas along with a 38-foot-high image of Jesus, with the message ‘Go Green, Save Earth'.”

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He used nearly 5,000 tonnes of sand and worked for around four days to complete the sculptures. He used colour sand to create images of Santa.

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He has won prizes at international sand sculpture festivals around the world.

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Check his website: http://www.sandindia.com/home.html

Source: wikipedia and radicate

Food Art by Dan Cretu

Romanian photographer and visual artist Dan Cretu converts food into incredible food art.

"I am a professional photographer specialized in eco art. I blend food sculpture with photography."

"All objects and things around us daily are possible subjects for me. The challenge is to transform a common object that we don’t notice anymore into something unusual, alive, and appealing."

"My photographs aren't digitally altered, and due to the nature of the organic materials I use, the subjects are made in less than four hours."

"Although it is something that requires attention to detail, I have to move fast and cut precisely. The raw material dehydrates rapidly and if I waste too much time I risk losing the beauty of shape and colours."