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Completely brilliant sculptures of the cast of UK cult TV show ‘The Young Ones’
08.25.2021
05:55 am
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A sculpture of actor Adrian Edmondson in character as Vyvyan Basterd from the UK cult televsion series, ‘The Young Ones.’
 
At Toy-Con in London in 2020, one of the exhibitors was UK sculptor, artist, and toymaker Mike Strict, who we can all thank for making our mid-80s dreams come true by sculpting up figures based on the unforgettable characters from the UK sitcom The Young Ones. Only twelve episodes exist of The Young Ones, but the impact the show made is still felt by its dedicated fan base to this day. Strict chose to create three sculpts/figures of fictional Scumbag University undergrad students Vyvyan Basterd; an angry heavy metal fan and medical student, played by Adrian (Ade) Edmondson; Rick, a sociology student and genuinely unlikable make-believe anarchist, played by the late Rik Mayall; and Neil Wheedon Watkins Pye, the lentil-loving, suicidal hippie played by Nigel Planer.

Usually, Strict is a strictly one-off kind of toy/figure/sculptor, but this time he did create more than one of his Young Ones figures, sold at Toy-Con. It’s not clear how many Strict made, but what I can tell you is that it appears they were all, rather unsurprisingly, sold. However, that does not mean you are out of luck if this is exactly what your collectible collection is missing, as Strict does accept commissions. At Toy-Con, his Rik, Vyvyan, and Neil figures sold for $75 USD—something to keep in mind if you’re going to try to acquire one. Much of Strict’s work is dark and creepy (YAY!) and includes nods to horror films. So if you’ve ever wanted a play-set based on the 1973 film The Wicker Man starring Christopher Lee, then Strict is your man. Or, perhaps you’ve been pining away for a sculpted diorama of Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy, featuring their iconic image of a man in a hat caught in the crosshair of a weapons scope. Because, yeah, Strict made one of those in 2019.
 

Rick.
 

Neil and his everpresent pot of lentils.
 

 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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08.25.2021
05:55 am
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Fractured faces & deconstructed reality: The eerie decomposing sculptures of Yuichi Ikehata
07.23.2018
08:03 am
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A sculpture by Yuichi Ikehata.
 

“We live from moment to moment in a mix of truth and fiction that we consider to be reality. The distinction between reality and fiction is a relationship such that we require one in order to recognize the other, and at times they are so closely connected that we are unable to distinguish the two.”

—Artist Yuichi Ikehata

Born in 1975 in Chiba, Japan, Yuichi Ikehata is a talented sculptor and photographer with an affinity for creating three-dimensional renderings of people and their body parts. Since the late 90s, Ikehata’s profoundly moving work has received awards and citations in Japan, Italy, and Paris. For one of his long-term projects, “Fragment of Long-Term Memory” the artist sculpted a large assortment of human body parts held together by exposed wire and thread. As the word “fragment” suggests, the human sculptures in Ikehata’s LTM series are hopelessly tattered, much like our own inner-selves are in the real world. Ikehata then photographs his decaying subjects often in situations that inspire a wide-range of emotions from serenity to dread.

At this time it appears Ikehata is in the process of adding new work to LTM, and given the powerful images you are about to see from the series thus far, this is excellent news. It is exciting to think his best years may still be ahead of him. The following images are slightly NSFW.
 

 

 
Much more after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.23.2018
08:03 am
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Faux Bardot! Breathtaking life-sized sculpture/mannequin mashup of Brigitte Bardot
04.26.2018
04:18 pm
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Artist Terry Minella’s sculpture of Brigitte Bardot (pictured on the left) and a photo of the real Bardot in a very similar bikini. I’m as confused as you are.
 
I know very little about the artist responsible for the sculpture featured in this post of one of the most famous blondes in history, Brigitte Bardot, but here’s what I do know. Terry Minella is a self-educated artist living and working in France specializing in photography and sculpture. Minella also notes he has a deep affection for cinema—especially vintage decades such as the 1950s, which Bardot ruled along with blonde peers Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Grace Kelly. In photos at least, Minella’s Bardot is nearly impossible to differentiate from the real actress/model/and singer during her heyday.

From what I can ascertain, Minella created various life-sized busts of Bardot then matched them up with a mannequin’s body. Minella also uses highly-specialized fake eyes created by Tech-Optics Eyes made of resin, glass, acrylics, and polymers giving them an ultra-realistic look. Minella’s faux Bardot is spot-on perfection, much like the actress herself. You can see more of Minella’s sculpture/mannequin mashups over on his Flickr page. I’ve posted photos of Minella’s Bardot sculpture below—some are slightly NSFW.
 

Another side-by-side shot of Bardot and the faux-Bardot in the same outfit.
 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.26.2018
04:18 pm
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The Goblin King LIVES!: Impressive life-sized bust of David Bowie as Jareth from ‘Labyrinth’
03.27.2018
09:26 am
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A bust of David Bowie in character as Jareth the Goblin King from the 1986 film ‘Labyrinth.’
 
The artist responsible for this remarkable life-like bust of David Bowie in character for his role as Jareth, the baby-stealing Goblin King who rules Goblin City in Labyrinth, is Alejandra Montiel—a talented young special effects artist and sculptor based in Vigo, Spain. I mean, even on my best day, no way does my lip gloss look as good as it does on his bust of Jareth and I am a real person. However, since this is a realistic bust of David Bowie as Jareth, I never had a chance to win this lip gloss game—because nobody beats Bowie when it comes to giving good (or in the case of Bowie, great) face.

To achieve the “is that thing alive?” glow, Montiel used an airbrush to paint the bust and resin for Bowie’s famous eyes—one blue and one black. If you’ve never heard the story about his eyes, here’s the gist: In 1962 Bowie’s buddy George Underwood (a one-time member of the King Bees, who did the drawings for the Space Oddity/Man of Words/Man of Music back cover, and the cover art for Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, too) popped the Thin White Duke in the eye after finding out he was lusting for a girl he had set his sights set on. The fistfight led to Bowie’s post-punch diagnosis of anisocoria—a condition that causes one pupil to be larger than the other. In Bowie’s case, he was left with a permanently expanded left pupil which made it appear black in color.

Montiel’s excellent sculpture of Jareth will set you back $1,083.77 (USD), plus $104.55 shipping. It should be noted that it does not come with Jareth’s crystal ball and the white shirt pictured in the photo from Montiel’s Etsy shop may be slightly different than the one wrapped around the armless bust. If the bust’s pricetag is a bit out of your range, Montiel also makes a sweet sculpture of The Worm from Labyrinth that is nicely priced at $70.59. I’ve posted images of the Jareth sculpture and The Worm below.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.27.2018
09:26 am
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Frankenstein and his Bride get mind-melting makeovers


Frankenstein’s monster reimagined as Franken Berry (the General Mills cereal monster mascot) by Michael Burnett.
 
In 2011, 80 artists were invited to create their own version of Hollywood’s most famous monster of filmland—no, not Harvey Weinstein, but rather the creation of author Mary Shelley, James Whale and Boris Karloff, Frankenstein’s monster—for a charity art endeavor called the It’s Alive Project. For the show, the artists were simply required to utilize a bust of actor Boris Karloff in character as Frankenstein’s monster and do whatever they wanted. Over the next few years the It’s Alive Project would take on the monster’s better half, as famously portrayed by actress Elsa Lanchester in the 1935 film, Bride of Frankenstein. Updates to the monster’s made-to-order bride and her black and white look were quite imaginative—such as depicting Lanchester as a punk rocker with a dangerous looking blue mohawk or a sinister-looking version of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

The impressive life-sized busts were sold for equally impressive prices in various auctions—some going for several thousand dollars each. All proceeds from the sale of the various tricked-out monsters and his bride were donated to the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which provides cost-free treatment to children diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Some of the images that follow are slightly NSFW.
 

Frankenstein’s monster as Spock from ‘Star Trek.’
 

“The Bride of Oz” by John Allred.
 

“Punk Bride” by Barry S. Anderson. Other work by Anderson can be seen in the 1986 film ‘Day of the Dead,’ and 2001’s ‘Jeepers Creepers.’
 
More monsters after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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02.19.2018
09:23 am
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Disturbingly realistic sculptures of tattooed babies and devilish offspring
01.26.2018
11:48 am
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Israeli artist Ronit Baranga uses white clay and acrylic paint to create beautiful ceramics and sculptures of strange and unsettling things. You may have previously seen her sets of cups and saucers with weird sprouting fingers and blossoming lips that suggest these once passive objects are now seemingly active creations that can scuttle away and deny their original use. The juxtaposition of the functional with the surreal creates a troubling unease.

Baranga has developed her ideas from crockery to children with her recent series Tattooed Babies (2017), in which she made life-like sculptures of innocent sleeping babies whose delicate flesh has been decorated with elaborate tattoos. Baranga believes it is easier for the viewer “to relate to something figurative and beautiful, something sweet and peaceful. It’s easy for you to look at it and relate to it.” Then, on a second look, the viewer is aware that something is not quite right, something deeply unsettling about this beautiful creation. Her intention is to cause a conflict between “attraction and unease.”

I was interested in the gap between the tranquility and absolute lack of awareness on the one hand, and the domineering act that will leave a permanent mark on the other hand. The tattoo as a metaphor for perception, thoughts and understandings that we “insert under the skin” of our children. Content that will become part of their lives forever, even if they are not aware of it now. Content that our parents have tattooed on us.

Born in 1973, Baranga graduated in Psychology and Hebrew Literature from Haifa University in 1997. She then studied Art History at Tel-Aviv University before attending art school at Bet-Berl College, 2000-04. Baranga liked both painting and drawing but it was working with clay that she found the best means for expressing her ideas. Clay offered Baranga something tangible and malleable, something strong and fragile. After art school, she started exhibiting her ceramics in Italy, 2007, and since then has shown her work across the world. See more of Ronit Baranga’s work here or here.
 
See more of Ronit Baranga’s work and devilish babies, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.26.2018
11:48 am
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The subversive sculptures of husband and wife artist team Doubleparlour
01.22.2018
10:25 am
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A curious sculpture by San Francisco husband and wife team Ernie and Cassandra Velasco, aka Doubleparlour.
 
The husband and wife team of Doubleparlour (Ernie and Cassandra Velasco) merged their respective art careers a decade ago to focus on sculpture. Ernie is a talented self-taught artist with both realistic and cartoon-style skills, while Cassandra (who holds a B.A. in painting and photography), is more aligned with traditional artistic expression, with a connection to nature. Although their backgrounds and approaches to their individual work were quite different, they came together beautifully in their joint venture creating puzzling sculptures of odd humanoids and other “creatures” that often defy explanation. Fantastic.

The pair started off using clay as their medium but found it to be unreliable and far too fragile. They then settled on a product called Magic Sculpt which has the same consistency of clay but is much stronger. The figures are sculpted and then painted by hand, turning them into striking, slightly dangerous creations. Since 2007 their partnership has evolved into a thriving business accounting for close to 2000 sales of their surprisingly affordable works through their Etsy shop and their website. Images of the couples intriguing sculptures below; some are slightly NSFW.
 

 

 

 
Much more after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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01.22.2018
10:25 am
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Tiny doll heads in little jars become completely creepy pieces of jewelry
10.02.2017
12:53 pm
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A collection of tiny hand-made doll heads in jars by artist Polina Verbitskaya.
 
Ukrainian Artist Polina Verbitskaya is a self-described illustrator, dollmaker and “body artist” who lives and works in Kiev. Of all the oddities I found in Verbitskaya Etsy shop, I was instantly drawn to her macabre pendants made from little glass jars, each with a tiny hand-made doll head inside. Verbitskaya fills the jars with clear resin to make it appear as if the disembodied doll heads are floating in formaldehyde. Fantastic.

If these creepy charms don’t bring out your inner ghoul—I don’t know what will. Each single doll-head-in-a-jar necklace will run you $30 plus shipping from the Ukraine. I’ve posted images of Verbitskaya’s sinister doll-head jewelry below.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.02.2017
12:53 pm
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Hauntingly life-like sculpture of Sigourney Weaver in character from ‘Alien’
09.26.2017
09:04 am
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Artist Steve Scotts’ spooky sculpture of Sigourney Weaver as “Ellen Ripley” from ‘Alien’
 
Steve Scotts is the incredibly talented sculptor and FX specialist who created this mind-bogglingly realistic sculpture of actress Sigourney Weaver in character as the ass-kicking alien killer, “Ellen Ripley.” Weaver would make her first appearance as Ripley in director Ridley Scott’s horror film franchise, which started with 1979’s Alien. Scotts documented his work by capturing images of his blow-by-blow process—and the photographs that chronicle the making of his faux “Ellen Ripley” are as astounding as they are atmospherically unsettling.

In his bio, Scotts recalls the moment that he knew his destiny to pursue art had been sealed. It was 1993 and Scotts’ family had finally deemed that he was old enough to see a film by Steven Spielberg—specifically Jurassic Park. Scotts would refer to this event as a “life-defining 127 minutes” and credits the great FX master Stan Winston (the dinosaur wizard behind the special effects in the film and 1986’s Aliens) as a key creative inspiration for his work. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, Scotts’ sculpt of Sigourney as Ripley is so remarkably life-like it seems conceivable that she might blink or even breathe. Another reason Scotts’ sculpture of Ripley is a standout is the fact that he did it just by studying photos of Weaver in character from the film, then constructed it using foam, silicone, acrylic paint—and if I understand correctly real hair. I’m continually amazed by an artist who creates work that challenges grounded perceptions of reality—and Scotts’ sculpture of Ripley blurs the lines between what is real and what might be masquerading as such brilliantly.

Some images below are ever-so-slightly NSFW.
 

An eerie early shot of Scotts’ sculpt of Weaver as “Ripley.”
 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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09.26.2017
09:04 am
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Your worst nightmares: The macabre and disturbing sculptures of Emil Melmoth (NSFW)
09.05.2017
09:37 am
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Imagine someone sneaked into your bedroom when you were asleep, peeled back your eyelids and scooped out your very worst nightmares then turned them all into sculptures.

Well, that’s kinda like what Mexican artist Emil Melmoth has achieved with his gruesome, morbid, yet strangely compelling sculptures of deformed creatures and unnamed things that dwell in the night—he has made the terrors of darkness visible.

Melmoth takes his inspiration from religious iconography, medical anatomy, death culture, the circus, the freak show, and the downright macabre. His sculptures may look like expensive props for a deeply disturbing horror movie but they are intended to engage the viewer in some serious thinking. Fusing wax, ceramics, resin, nails, and bone, Melmoth creates meditations on the human condition that juxtapose “ideas of religious immortality and paradise with the reality of bodily imperfection, dissection, and truths of scientific knowledge.”

[His] wax, anatomical models revel in a dark and surreal environment, and where his depraved sculptures live in affliction: fragile beings in an eternally harrowing state of mind. Melmoth projects the sublime and ethereal concepts of death onto his creations, portraying pessimism, nihilism, existentialism, the question of transcendence beyond death, mental instability, and self-destruction, all ideas represented in his invigorating constructs.

An exhibition of his work is currently on show at the Last Rites Gallery (until September 9th) but if you can’t make that then you can follow Emil Melmoth on Instagram and Facebook.
 
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See more of Emil Melmoth’s nightmarish sculptures, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.05.2017
09:37 am
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Contemplating death & turning heads: The strange and disturbing sculptures of Yoshitoshi Kanemaki
08.28.2017
09:34 am
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Yoshitoshi Kanemaki sketches out his sculptures on paper before taking a large chunk of tree trunk and carving out his pencil-drawn designs. He uses camphor wood which is an evergreen tree that can grow up to one hundred feet in height. As he carves and chisels, he draws onto the wood to highlight the details he wants to bring out in each sculpture. He then paints the finished work in soft pastel colors.

And what do the resulting works look like?

Well, Kanemaki’s sculptures include large intricate skeletal momento mori which achieve just what their titles describe—figures gripped by the bones beneath the skin. He also carves strange figures with multiple heads which depict human indecision, ambiguity, the swinging change of mood daily wrought by life like a unmoored boat upon torturous seas. And then we have the split personalities or “glitches,” the two-head figures that capture “the hesitations or inconsistencies” that we can never answer.

“I think that such ‘ambivalent’ emotions can be embodied regardless of whether they are ‘surface’ or ‘deep’ layer by giving the effect of an irregular shape deviating from [the] human figure. The sculpture series created with these feelings is the projection of my own emotions — it may be your figure.”

Kanemaki was born in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan in 1972. He graduated from the Department of Sculpture, Tama Art University, Tokyo, in 1999. Since then he has exhibited his work in group and solo shows across the country, won several awards, and has work in various public collection. See more of Kanemaki’s work here or follow him on here.
 
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More of Kanemaki’s scupltures, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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08.28.2017
09:34 am
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‘The poetry of this strange world’: Dig the tormented sculptures of Olivier de Sagazan
07.31.2017
10:30 am
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A sculpture by French artist Oliver de Sagazan.
 
French artist Olivier de Sagazan has been using his own body to create disfigured clay sculptures for over two decades. His work has been displayed all over Europe as well as China and India.

Born in Africa, de Sagazan would travel back to his place of birth in his early 20s where he lived in Cameroon for two years after receiving his Master’s Degree in Biology. Once he returned to France, he found himself deeply inspired by tribal art and the relationship between the earth and the influence that elements play in shaping our planet. According to a 2015 interview, de Sagazan then locked himself away to work on a comic strip called Ipsul ou la rupture du cercle (“While breaking the circle”) and began his journey as a painter and sculptor.

Here’s more from de Sagazan on what drives him to create his tormented sculptures:

“Men live in a mask of collective hallucination. In oblivion: they arrive one day in the world, totally lost, and leave in a stupor on another day. On the rest, they go on focusing on daily tasks, perhaps forgetting the poetry of this strange world. Art can be a knife to open this mask and reveal the strangeness of being alive. “

Images from de Sagazan’s hellish sculptures below. Some are NSFW.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.31.2017
10:30 am
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Beautiful porcelain sculptures of women with animal heads
05.12.2017
09:04 am
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The artist Crystal Morey believes our species are at “a pivotal moment, faced with monumental questions leading to difficult, uncertain answers.”

As she writes in her artist’s statement:

​Humankind has become the driving influence and force behind natural evolution. We are able to alter life from a single cell all the way up to entire ecosystems. Intentionally or unintentionally, we are rapidly affecting changes to the environment that would have taken natural processes millennia. Through these actions we are leaving many vulnerable species and habitats frantic, facing disruptions and uncertain outcomes.

Morey investigates these issues through her beautiful, talismanic sculptures of women with animal heads, which she sculpts from “the silken white earth of porcelain.” These delicate, fragile figures show our interdependence with the animals and landscape around us. Morey’s animals are reminiscent of the magical creatures found in children’s tales—rabbits, owls, bears, and wolves.

Having spent part of her childhood in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Morey once believed that humans were subservient to nature. But when she moved to the city, Morey soon realized that “humans are the largest variable in the changing of our planet’s ecological and environmental outcome.”

Based in Oakland, California, Morey was educated at the city’s College of the Arts, where she earned a BFA with High Distinction in 2006. She went on to study for an MFA in spatial art, at the San José State University, CA. Morey has exhibited her work since 2010. Her most recent show Entangled Wonders was held at Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art, in Seattle, Washington, earlier this year.

Crystal hopes that the viewer will come away from her work “thinking and asking questions about our role as humans on the earth and our relationship to other living beings.”

Follow Crystal on Instagram and see more of her work here.
 
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See more of Crystal Morey’s beautiful work, after the jump…

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.12.2017
09:04 am
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Small World: Artist’s miniature models have BIG political message
04.20.2017
08:42 am
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Sometimes cliches are true. Strong medicine does often come in small bottles. We need only to look at the work of artist Isaac Cordal to apprecaite the truth of this adage. Cordal produces handcrafted minature cement scupltures which he then places in urban landscapes and photographs to make big and important statements.

His miniature sculptures—half-submerged in puddles, imprisoned in filing cabinets, or choking in dirt and rubble—critique modern life. Isaac describes his work as making “small interventions in the big city.” His figures depict the ruinous greed of corporations and politicians who devastate the world through their thoughtless actions. Cordal’s subject matter is climate change, the plight of refugees, and the destructive nature of capitalism.

Cordal’s artwork is powerful and eye-catching. He has exhibited these incredible tiny sculptures on sidewalks and public locations all across Europe. He’s like a movie director creating highly iconic and dramatic scenes which shock the passerby into questioning what it is they have just seen and thinking about how it reflects the world in which we all live. More of Isaac’s work can be seen here.

From such small acorns do mighty oaks grow.
 
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See more of Isaac Cordal’s minature marvels, after the jump…

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.20.2017
08:42 am
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A jarringly realistic life-sized sculpture of actor Robert Shaw as ‘Quint’ from ‘Jaws’
04.18.2017
08:51 am
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A close look at Nick Marra’s uncanny sculpture of ‘Quint’ played by actor Robert Shaw in ‘Jaws.’
 
While you may not know sculptor Nick Marra’s name, you have definitely seen his work in films like The Hateful Eight, Jurrasic Park and the television series American Horror Story. Marra has been involved in the business of making things appear to be real for over two decades. While I’d be foolish to say that the artist’s life-sized sculpture of actor Robert Shaw as “Quint” from Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws is the best thing he’s ever done, I would challenge you to disagree that the likeness is so uncanny it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the real, (late) Mr. Shaw, and Marra’s sculpture of Shaw in character for his role.

Marra’s sculpture made its debut at this year’s Monsterpalooza and it almost puts his previous eerily lifelike sculpture of Yul Brynner’s animatronic character of the “Gunslinger” from the 1973 film Westworld (which was recently, and quite wonderfully reprised by actor Ed Harris in the television adaptation of the film) to shame. Sculpture is an art form I have a deep reverence for and I have many, many favorites in the field such a Mike Hill and Jordu Schell. Marra’s mirror image of Quint is so desperately spot-on that it’s rendered me at a near loss for words. I mean, Marra’s faux Quint is crushing a beer can in his right hand and it’s so authentic that you can hear the tin cracking from the force of Quint’s shark-hating hands just looking at it. In other words, the fake Quint looks so much like the real Quint that I’m not even sure if I’m the real me anymore. Though I only have two photos to show you, I have also posted a short video of the remarkably talented Marra talking about his latest work in which you can see the sculpture in all its glory after the jump…
 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.18.2017
08:51 am
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