One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick Inspired by Zak Smith's (previously) Illustrations for Each Page of Gravity's Rainbow, self-taught artist Matt Kish is posting One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick. Some favourites: 8, 40, 48, 54, 66, 74, and 85. While he's only through about 100 of the Signet Edition's 552 pages, you can follow along on the artist's blog.
posted by synecdoche on Dec 22, 2009 - 21 comments

ITP just had their winter show here’s a random sample of the works the students produced: Scratch & Sniff Screen by Alex Kauffmann. Collaborative storytelling from Daniel Tsadok and Eun Joo Lee in the form of Exquisite Corpse Drawing. Whisper Deck a new way of interacting with search from Craig Kapp. Face Fight, a fight with faces and joysticks from Greg Borenstein. Mental Block from Arturo Vidich, Eric Mika, Sofy Yuditskaya, which is an exploration of attention, mindfulness, and communication using dust shields and polarized lenses. VJing, not that kind, from Alejandro Miguel Justino Crawford. Current is a visualization of search and reporting trends(cooler and prettier than it sounds) from Zoe Fraade Blanar.
posted by edbles on Dec 22, 2009 - 6 comments

Find the visual business cliches in this holiday poster from XPLANE. Boil the Ocean. Low-hanging Fruit. Drink the Kool Aid. Find the Strawman. (big PDF you really have to zoom in to appreciate).
posted by mathowie on Dec 21, 2009 - 56 comments

Best known as an Indonesian handicraft, batik is a distinctive technique for textiles that has been used for millennia and can be found as far away as Egypt, Ghana, China and India. An integral part of daily life in Java, batik has spread around the world as a wellknown artform as well as clothing. From its hippy heyday to the smart couture outfits of the Singapore Girl, batik is still daily wear for many and the equivalent of black tie in the ASEAN. [more inside]
posted by infini on Dec 19, 2009 - 13 comments

It may be a joke to some people (previously), but there’s a good deal of art underneath the streets of NYC. All cataloged here in the Arts for Transit portion of the MTA’s website. Clicking the permanent art tab lets you take a ride on any line and view the art in any station as well as providing background information on the artists and pieces. So if you've ever wondered what that rock tiled mosaic in Bryant Park was about, or those little brass dudes at 14th and 8th, or how exactly those busts at Eastern Parkway ended up in the walls, here's your chance to find out.
posted by edbles on Dec 17, 2009 - 12 comments

Rock band reunions normally involve, at minimum, a little live music. But as The Velvet Underground are not your typical rock band, maybe none of us should have been surprised that the reunion of The Velvets at LIVE from the NYPL on Tuesday December 8th had none.
posted by Joe Beese on Dec 16, 2009 - 37 comments

The Kitsune Noir Poster Club "feature[s] curated prints by all kinds of artists & designers creating around central themes." Current designs are for Infinite Jest (by Cody Hoyt), Moby Dick (by Mark Weaver), Slaughterhouse 5 (by Frank Chimero), Walden (by Jez Burrows), and The Road by Garrett Vander Leun. From Bobby Solomon's Kitsune Noir Art & Design Blog and Society6.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy on Dec 16, 2009 - 11 comments

Westminster Gold reissued classical albums in the seventies. The covers could be racy [slightly NSFW], unusual, puzzling, irreverent, and employ national stereotypes, but my favourites are the literal puns like Pops Promenade and Allegri String Quartet.
posted by tellurian on Dec 15, 2009 - 16 comments

The Top 100 Freedom of Expression posters from Posters4Tomorrow.
posted by OmieWise on Dec 14, 2009 - 9 comments

At ComiCon 2009, comedian Paul Scheer stood up during the LOST panel and introduced Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear, a painting on black velvet of the two head writers/executive producers of LOST with a friendly polar bear, as well as a website that turned into an almost five month scavenger hunt/Fan appreciation event, where fans were given the opportunity to purchase 16 LOST-inspired posters commissioned by artists such as Daniel Danger, Dan McCarthy and Olly Moss. The hub page, which has been updating with clues since the beginning of August, has brought out fans from Tokyo, Argentina, Arizona, Honolulu, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Glasgow to events where the URL to purchase these prints (300 limited editions, less than 200 for sale) has been given out. LOSTArgs has been following the action since the beginning. Tomorrow, the LOST Underground Art project wraps up with the reveal of the 16th poster (rumored to be a Season 6 spoiler), at the Gallery 1988 art show in Los Angeles.
posted by roomthreeseventeen on Dec 14, 2009 - 10 comments

2010 is the bicentennial of the birth of Frédéric François Chopin - a reluctant instrumental virtuoso, an immortal Romantic composer, and all-around bastard. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Dec 13, 2009 - 45 comments

The top 75 Iconic DC covers of all-time
posted by Artw on Dec 11, 2009 - 67 comments

What Was Popular Mechanics Thinking? from Woot.
posted by blue_beetle on Dec 11, 2009 - 63 comments

Masters of Pen and Ink: Franklin Booth, Joseph Clement Coll, Michael Kaluta, Roy Krenkel, Norman Lindsay, Howard Pyle, J. Allen St. John, and Bernie Wrightson. [more inside]
posted by marxchivist on Dec 11, 2009 - 17 comments

Michael Jackson heals the world
posted by Artw on Dec 10, 2009 - 41 comments

Ah! The Hopeful Pageantry of Bread and Puppet documents the radical puppet theater's Domestic Resurrection Circus, held every summer on its Glover, Vermont grounds from 1975 to 1998, and which featured puppeteers from around the world. They no longer hold the yearly festival, as the crowds grew out of control, but they are still active [ 2009 documentary | part 2 | 3 ], and as always, serving free bread and art as panacea. There's plenty more Bread and Puppet Theater on Youtube. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Dec 8, 2009 - 19 comments

Henry Miller had always loved art. He first began painting after seeing some Turner prints in a Brooklyn department-store window. There was only one minor drawback: he couldn’t draw. But his best friend, Emil Schnellock, could, and Miller became his disciple. It wasn’t long before he realized that what he lacked in draftsmanship, he made up for in color and composition sense. (previously)
posted by Joe Beese on Dec 8, 2009 - 9 comments

Besuboru Bromides (Japanese Baseball Cards) from the collection of John Gall, as featured at A Journey Round My Skull. Here is an earlier essay by Gall about Japanese baseball cards.
posted by OmieWise on Dec 8, 2009 - 4 comments

Navid Nuur's portion of The Knight's Tour, a multi-artist touring exhibit most recently seen at De Hallen Haarlem, contains a sculpture made of florist's foam and crushed by his hands into a pock-marked wall. The sculpture sits in the open, without barriers, offering a tempting place for museum visitors to leave their fingerprints. I know I can't walk past floral foam without sticking my fingers into it. If a visitor does cross that line, irreparably altering Nurr's art, they have two options: a 200-euro fine, or stand outside the museum with a sandwich board, declaring: At This Museum I Damaged Navid Nuur's Art. I Failed as a Visitor.
posted by AzraelBrown on Dec 8, 2009 - 71 comments

Corey Arcangel is perhaps the internet's most infamous hack, masher-upper, digi/net artist. His work stands for a growing culture of artists who run wildly through animated GIF landscapes populated with corrupted data-compressed bunny rabbits and tinny, MIDI renditions of Savage Garden ballads. As the Lisson Gallery, London, opens its archives to Arcangel's curatorial eye, could digi/net art be set to infect the real, fleshy world, like a rampant Conficker Worm? Has YouTube become the truest reflection of our anthropological selves? Are we destined to roam the int3erw£bs like the mythic beasts of yore, hoping, in time, that digi art can free us from the confines of this fleshy void? [...previously]
posted by 0bvious on Dec 8, 2009 - 20 comments

Thomas Shahan's Photostream - Macro Insect Photography
posted by You Should See the Other Guy on Dec 7, 2009 - 19 comments

Wesley Willis's Joy Rides, one week only at Pitchfork TV. Dual-wielding a Technics KN and a microphone, breaking Chicago down to a vector space of magic marker; homeless busker, Napster celebrity, punk headliner and hellraiser: take your pick. The late Wesley Willis as remembered in Joy Rides.
posted by kid ichorous on Dec 4, 2009 - 33 comments

Holidays on Display, currently on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, offers an image-rich online exhibit as well, detailing the way businesses learned to capitalize on one of the country's largest celebrations. Peer into the artistry of holiday window design as well. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Dec 3, 2009 - 6 comments

Getting something permanently inked upon your body is not to be taken lightly, especially if it is a rare type of fungus. [more inside]
posted by jonesor on Dec 3, 2009 - 32 comments

Come on Metafilter! Have something prettier than the reddit version.
posted by grumblebee on Dec 3, 2009 - 145 comments

Starting her comics career as a colorist, Marie Severin was largely responsible for the distinctive color palette of EC Comics, where her brother Johnny Severin also worked. She later worked in the Marvel Bullpen, drawing just about everything, including many well loved staff caricatures. She turned 80 this year; here are a few of her Marvel covers from the 60s and 70s.
posted by interrobang on Nov 30, 2009 - 18 comments

Tomokazu Matsuyama was born in Japan. He moved to the US when he was around ten years old, not speaking any English, and being overwhelmed by the culture shock of 1980s Los Angeles. His artistic work is a reflection of this upbringing. Matsuyama’s paintings envision traditional Japanese imagery through the lens of American pop art, creating a unique and beautiful hybrid. He strives to portray this global melee through a conscious “appropriation” of all of his influences: cultural, artistic, and personal. Matsuyama’s unconflicted and positively ebullient works do not ask, “What am I?,” but assert, “I am everybody.” (via) [more inside]
posted by netbros on Nov 29, 2009 - 14 comments

Remember Paper is a blog with photos of interesting magazines, books, and other paper-based ephemera. NSFW.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy on Nov 29, 2009 - 10 comments

Bush and Blairline-dancing, The Queen on the loo, Marilyn wanking (nsfw). The phototgraphy of Alison Jackson blends the real and the irreal.
posted by Artw on Nov 27, 2009 - 25 comments

CT Scan art - Radiologist Kai-hung Fung takes scans of our innards and makes them outwardly beautiful.
posted by Kickstart70 on Nov 27, 2009 - 8 comments

Basic Sounds is a blog of art and technology blending. Lots of enhanced photos, art installations, modern sculpture, and A/V performance. Modern, abstract, hi-tech, and surreal. Lots of shiny pretty things to look at while you digest. Monthly archives go back to 2003. Nothing NSFW on the main link but I did come across a smattering of NSFW images in the archives.
posted by Babblesort on Nov 26, 2009 - 6 comments

Douglas Wolk's Ignite presentation of Kant's critique of aesthetic judgment. via Coilhouse
posted by cgc373 on Nov 26, 2009 - 32 comments

Many is a collective project exhibiting fine photography found by fine photographers.
posted by chunking express on Nov 25, 2009 - 7 comments

It may be the worst police sketch ever: "The head is shaped like a rugby ball, the lips slide to one side, the nose is phallic, the ears are missing and the hair is having a very bad day." But it led to two arrests, and one television station, in order to protect the identities of the arrested, seemed to think it was a good idea to superimpose the illustration on top of the faces of the suspects.
posted by Astro Zombie on Nov 24, 2009 - 45 comments

A strange, cryptic compact disc was found while hiking in Joshua Tree National Park. [more inside]
posted by gcbv on Nov 24, 2009 - 85 comments

Jaap Blonk, Namesake of the blonkorgan, performer, sound poet. AaaaaAAAøøøøøøøøøAEEEeeeiiiIIIIIiiiüüüüüüüüüüieeeeooooOUUUUUooooooo. [more inside]
posted by idiopath on Nov 23, 2009 - 26 comments

Jan Fabre put 1.6 million irridescent beetles on the ceiling [via]
posted by mhjb on Nov 22, 2009 - 37 comments

5bis rue du Verneuil is the home of Serge Gainsbourg in Paris. This short film peels off the layers of graffiti left on the wall there.
posted by creeky on Nov 22, 2009 - 12 comments

Chris Foss concept art for Dune, with bonus Nostromo. The images were produced for Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1974 attempt at filming the story, with other artists involved including Moebius and HR Giger. Though the project failed Jodorowsky collaborated further with Moebius to lay the groundwork for his own Dune-like comicbook universe (and a trailer for an animated version of it was even created). More visions of Arrakis can be seen on this page of Dune cover artwork through the ages, with bonus midi Toto.
posted by Artw on Nov 20, 2009 - 97 comments

Lexington’s Mayor, Jim Newberry, bristled at critical questions about The Dame block, “Nothing of consequence ever happened on that block.” Richie Wireman begs to differ. [more inside]
posted by T.D. Strange on Nov 20, 2009 - 8 comments

Jeanne-Claude, Christo's partner, is dead at 74. Christo will of course continue their work. [more inside]
posted by kozad on Nov 19, 2009 - 58 comments

Playing with Fire and Water is a blog by a freelance chef who creates some of the most interesting and delicious looking food creations. The best part? The accompanying science behind it and recipes. Amateur chefs and food nerds, eat your heart out. [more inside]
posted by battlebison on Nov 19, 2009 - 10 comments

For each unique visitor it receives, Temporary.cc deletes part of itself. [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Nov 19, 2009 - 44 comments

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee. 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat. The MotherF**king Pterodactyl. These and various other amusements courtesy of The Oatmeal.
posted by brain_drain on Nov 18, 2009 - 30 comments

A glistening chunk of pork! [more inside]
posted by mrducts on Nov 17, 2009 - 30 comments

Julian Voss-Andreae makes art based on quantum physics.
posted by jefficator on Nov 17, 2009 - 13 comments

Two months & three thousand photographs later: here is a fascinating YouTube video of the making of Abigail Uhteg's new art book The Complex of All of These. [more inside]
posted by OmieWise on Nov 16, 2009 - 7 comments

STEP 1 Buy 100 pieces of crap from thrift stores and garage sales.
STEP 2 Get 100 authors to write a fiction about pieces of crap.
STEP 3 ???
STEP 4 Profit!
Significant Objects hosts the stories for all 100 pieces of crap/art, but the last six are still available for bidding: Blue Vase by Lauren Mechling, Umbrella Trinket by Bruce Holland Rogers, Lighter Shaped Like a Small Pool Ball by Rob Agredo, Bar Mitzvah Bookends by Stacey Levine, Geisha Bobblehead by Edward "ed" Champion, and Missouri Shotglass by Jonathan Lethem.
posted by carsonb on Nov 14, 2009 - 12 comments

I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a French magneto-lamp.
posted by boo_radley on Nov 14, 2009 - 30 comments

Newmoticons: Fresh new emoticons for happy internet people.
posted by The Whelk on Nov 14, 2009 - 80 comments