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Deconstructed Flowers – The Art of Fong Qi Wei

Deconstructed Flowers – The Art of Fong Qi Wei

Posted on by Kbaumlier

We’ve all seen flowers and heard of the “he loves me, he loves me not,” method of pulling off flower petals to predict if someone loves you.  Fong Qi Wei, takes the removal of petals to a new level in his series of photographs of deconstructed flowers.

Wei is a conceptual fine art photographer who is based in Singapore, who views role of artist is to be a communicator what he calls an authentic message.  He writes on his site, “I try to engage my audience by providing a new perspective on familiar subjects or themes. Through my art, I hope to introduce my point of view to my viewer and engage them beyond aesthetics. I wish to provoke them to think further about the familiar and ordinary.”

His series called Exploded flowers presents the beauty and design of flowers by taking flowers and presented them in a manner similar to a dissection.  Each piece is separated and presented next to the other parts. The results is images that show the radial symmetry of flowers, and presents the moment of time in which a flower is still alive and in bloom.

He writes about the series, “… what is interesting to me is how much more expanded some flowers can get when they are disassembled – the relative surface area to size of a rose is so much greater compared to a larger flower like the sunflower.”   The series has been featured in publications that include The Boston Globe and My Modern Met, and can be seen on his website fqwimages.com.

 

Image Source:
http://fqwimages.com/2011/08/exploded-flowers-3/

 

Links:

http://fqwimages.com/2011/08/exploded-flowers-3/

 

Double D’s : A Café in a Double Decker Bus

Double D’s : A Café in a Double Decker Bus

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Food trucks have been on the rise lately, but in Asheville, NC there is a café that takes food on wheels to a new level.  Double D’s, a coffee shop located in downtown Asheville, is located inside of a bright red double decker bus.  It is parked on downtown Biltmore Ave., and has been in operation for over twelve years from the same location.

The bus is a 1963 Lodekka model double decker bus came from Bristol, England where it was a public transportation vehicle in the 1960’s and 70’s. It somehow ended up in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1970’s and was as a “party bus.”   The bus ended in Ashville in 1999, and has been a coffee shop every since.

Entering Double D’ s, you duck your head to get under the spiral stairs that go to the second floor.  The café is on the first floor, and has a tin roof ceiling and red chairs. Coffee, espresso, and local bakery are for sale, and the chai tea that I had there was good.

On the second floor of the bus, there are reupholstered bus seats with tables that are painted or have mosaic tiles on them.  The atmosphere is funky and upbeat, and when I was there, people would greet each other and talk when drinking coffee up there.    Double D’s has an outside courtyard with tables, and the sometimes have live performances outside.

More history and information about the menu and barristas can be seen on their website, and you of course can stop by and ask questions at 41 Biltmore Ave. in downtown Asheville.

Image Source:
Kristen Baumlier
Links:

http://doubledscoffee.com/

 

Tomi Astikainen – Living in a Gift Economy

Tomi Astikainen – Living in a Gift Economy

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Whenever I am looking for interesting things on the web, I will check out what events or workshops the creative group Pixelache are having in Helsinki, Finland.  I checked their site yesterday, and saw that there was a speaker/ potluck event called Living in a Gift Economy with Tomi Astikainin, who is a writer and advocate of the creative commons and unrestricted knowledge who has been living without money for over 3 years.

Since 2010, Astikainen has been living a moneyless lifestyle, and has been traveling around talking about the gift economy.  The idea of a gift economy is based on the idea of community, sharing, and paying things forward.  At the core of this is the idea of helping others without asking for anything in return.  Astikainen writes on his site, “On a personal level it’s fairly simple: let others know what you need and contribute what you can, by doing what you love to do. When you help others, don’t ask for anything in return. When offered money ask them to pay it forward, i.e. help someone else!”

On his website, you can read some the answers to questions that he is frequently asked.  When asked about why he lives without money he writes, “Money had its place and time in the history of human race but now it’s an obsolete institution that does more harm than good. Because there’s always more debt than money in the monetary system, it creates a profit motive on all levels of society. That profit motive pushes us to dire competition with each other, feeds dishonest behavior, increases fear and decreases trust between people. I didn’t want to have anything to do with a system like that anymore. I wasn’t content just to survive; I wanted to live and enjoy life, to see if I could learn to trust other people again, depend on them and lead a fulfilling life.

When asked about food and how he eats he responds, “ People that you meet on the road are by and large very generous and giving. I eat when people offer me food. Sometimes I ask for leftovers from restaurants or just grab whatever is left on the table. When there is a possibility to use a kitchen I go dumpster-diving. Half of the food produced globally ends up thrown away.

Astikainen has written several books that are all available for free as a download on his site.  I downloaded his book called Sunhitcher, which is described as “a story of Remmus Reverof, a guy who embarks on a hitchhiking journey completely without money. It’s about finding love within you, in your relationships and in life in general.”

To download Astikainen’s books, read more of his FAQs, or learn more about living in a gift economy, you can check out his website.

Image Source:
http://www.tomiastikainen.com/
http://moneyless.info/
Links:

http://www.tomiastikainen.com/

http://moneyless.info/

 

Jimmy Kuenhle – Inflatable Wonderland Labyrinth of Joy

Jimmy Kuenhle – Inflatable Wonderland Labyrinth of Joy

Posted on by Kbaumlier

I recently was able to check out Jimmy Kuehnle’s piece, Inflatable Wonderland Labyrinth of Joy at the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, OH.  Jimmy is an artist known for making inflatable wearable forms that he wears in public spaces, and I was interested to see what inflatable setup he had created for the Sculpture Center show.

When you find the space, which is in the Euclid Avenue Gallery, you are greeted by a sign that has both a warnings and welcome tone.  “Beware of claustrophia.  Watch your step.  No horseplay.  This product was made in a factory containing nylon.  Have a great time.”  I read this as “Have fun but not too much.  This might be a tight and difficult space to get through.  If you have a problem with nylon, do not enter.  But maybe you should try it.”

Past the sign, the space is completely filled with an inflatable brightly colored “bouncy house” style structure that is made of what looks like puffy marshmallow cube shapes.  You hear the loud noise of a blower, and if you dare – you can enter into a single crack between two of the cubes, to enter the work.

I pushed my way in, and found myself surrounded by color, the sound of a blower, and fabric that was quite some work to move to get through. As I continued to push my way through yellow, blue, and pink structures I became focused on finding the walls, and getting to the other side.  The space was a bit tight at times, and the structure is not polite to let you by – you have to push.

I got through the piece, and reached the front of the gallery. I took a break, and pushed my way through again, this time going on the outer edge near the walls, which was harder to get through.

The piece is an interesting investigation of interaction, space, and perception.   The scale, color, and labyrinth of shapes provide an interesting experience that when I think back – I mostly remember the bright color of the fabric, since at times that was all that I could see.

You can read more about his work, and also what he is up to this Winter at Spaces Gallery in the Spaces World Artist Program on his blog and website.

 

Links:

http://www.sculpturecenter.org/

http://www.jimmykuehnle.com/

 

Statistics that Reshape Your World View: Hans Rosling and Gapminder

Statistics that Reshape Your World View: Hans Rosling and Gapminder

Posted on by Kbaumlier

I recently watched a TED talk by Hans Rosling, who is a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.  His current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the developing world, which he says is no longer worlds away from the West. His work indicates that the majority of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity.

The way that he presents this – with unique data and a visual interest, makes the observations and trends “come to life.”  Data and statistics of social and economic trends creates an interesting picture and predictions and trends come to life in flowing curves, moving bubbles, and playful color.

The material presented is drawn often from data from the United Nations, and is illustrated by visualization software that he developed in his nonprofit company, Gapfinder.  World health, population, energy, and war come up in his presentation.

You can check out his talk on TED talks, and the software is free and can be used with any data at Gapminder.org.

Image Source:
http://www.ted.com – Hans Rosling Talk
http://www.gapminder.org/

Links:

http://www.ted.com – Hans Rosling Talk 

http://www.gapminder.org/