Art that is both beautiful and strange.

May 31, 2012 8:04 AM

Help me find more unconventional artwork that'll make me say, "Wow."

I've developed an appreciation lately for artists working in unusual media or using unorthodox techniques, creating pieces that are undeniably impressive. Examples include the book art of Su Blackwell and Brian Dettmer, the 3D sidewalk illusions of Julian Beever and Kurt Wenner (among others), Liu Bolin's invisible man displays, George Vlosic III's Etch A Sketch creations, and the sand art of Ilana Yahav. This thread is a good springboard, albeit a few years old.

Do you know of any others?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

posted by xenization to media & arts (11 answers total)

Colossal is all about this kind of stuff and regularly posts multiple times per day.
posted by theodolite at 8:09 AM on May 31, 2012 [6 favorites]

This was a FPP from the other day.
posted by Xurando at 8:13 AM on May 31, 2012

Ackroyd and Harvey use grass (turf) as an enormous photographic medium. They create giant portraits -http://www.ackroydandharvey.com/category/works/
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:58 AM on May 31, 2012

This current FPP will definitely make you say "wow." Make sure you stay until the end.
posted by jbickers at 9:32 AM on May 31, 2012

I have a total boner for art that repurposes existing stuff, so behold! Toilet Rolls! The Human body! Food! Abandoned Buildings! Stairs! Billboards! Pre-existing art! Cars! Bullet holes!

I also like projects where the cleverness of the art comes primarily from getting a new angle on something. Scale! Viewpoint! Dimensionality!
posted by the latin mouse at 9:50 AM on May 31, 2012

Dalton Ghetti's pencil carvings. (The link here is to purchase photographic cards of each work, but they are actual sculptures. I've seen many of them in a museum exhibit and they've blown me away.)

Scott Wade's windshield art.

Kevin van Aelst's photography.

Markus Reugels's splash photos.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:56 AM on May 31, 2012

Oh, I forgot Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds.

And Nathan Sawaya's Lego art.

And Matthew Albanese's model landscape photography.
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:04 AM on May 31, 2012

This artist Blu makes animated graffiti art.

Here is one called MUTO. I have never seen anything like it and it makes my mind melt every time I watch.
posted by iurodivii at 10:57 AM on May 31, 2012

Trying to post link. Hope it works. If not, google "The real art of street art"
posted by Jandoe at 9:29 PM on May 31, 2012

These are all fantastic, but Colossal may just be my new favorite thing. Thanks, everyone!
posted by xenization at 3:13 PM on June 1, 2012

I've linked before to it on AskMeFi, but Pokate may have some of what you're looking for.
posted by knile at 8:01 AM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]