First, look at La Baigneuse by Ingres whose works were presented as a bigger collection at the Louvre in 2006, here. Then look at this photograph, also called La Baigneuse, by Stéphane Lallemand. Street medicine meets street art? Medicine meets art? Who cares, the work is fantastic anyway!
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There is DNA and there is DNA. It’s a common phenomenon for the layman to put a certain amount of mystique into areas he doesn’t comprehend or have great insight into, or they can be twisted into something rather different from the true meaning of the word. I have stumbled upon some really hilarious and interesting forms of DNA, so please let me introduce to you the other DNA:
A Swiss project, visualdna, was launched as part of a final diploma project at the Art University (department of visual communication) of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in order to establish whether there are “cultural differences in creating visual work”, so over 400 designers from all continents were invited to participate and the only indication of when this took place is the copyright year, 2003. The designs were made with the term “choice” in mind and the results are extremely various. An analysis can be read in more detail on the web page and here is one of my favourite entries made by Caisso Emiliano from Argentina:
Then the VisualDNA at Youniverse: “Every day, Youniverse helps 1000s of new people discover their unique VisualDNA” they claim, and “Discover your VisualDNA and get matched to people“. I don’t feel the need to get matched to people, but I am interested in the outcome all the same, so what I did a year ago was to take the quiz and here is a part of who I am:
And finally my PersonalDNA: “Your true self revealed” in a “free, fun, fast and accurate” test. Sounds almost too good to be true, so this is a test I can’t miss to take. The result is even presented in the shape of a chromosome:
The “chromosome” comes with a lengthy analysis of several traits and seems to shoot pretty close, so although the test isn’t as fast to take as indicated it is still worth taking. Who would not want to know their personal DNA really?
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Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, seems to remain some kind of a secret in the Western world. The movie Blade Runner certainly didn’t do its share in unravelling the mystery either and so we still think of a white paper crane whilst knowingly nodding when origami is mentioned. Origami is ancient for sure, but is it outdated, as well? Take a look at some things that I recently have found on the net:
The brain – http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/
WALL·E - http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/
And finally the compulsory paper crane, too:
Keep in mind that all objects are folded from one single piece of paper. Almost unbelievable, right?
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Hieronymus Bosch painted several triptychs and The Garden of Earthly Delights is among the most famous of them. The link directs you to a large picture where the intricate details can be seen, so don’t miss it, it’s a fantastic experience!
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Here are some blogs that I’ve recently stumbled upon:
Vatican Palace, Vatican State, Stanza della Segnatura, The School of Athens, 1510–1511, fresco by Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has made an extensive Timeline of Art History that is absolutely fabulous. It is easy to browse and the essays are an inspiration as are the many photographs of very high quality. All in a nutshell, enjoy!
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