Want to be an action figure?

A bizarre gift idea comes from this site who makes action figure dolls from photos. The doll head is hand made and sculpted by doll-artist Cyndi Safstrom and the clothing is tailor made based on people's individual choice.

 

  

  

  

www.be-a-doll.com 

Where to go, what to see this weekend

Last chance to see (events ending this weekend)

Real Design 
An exhibition of everyday objects that made a significant impact on our lives in the last ten years. There is a wide range of exhibits, from furniture and household products to technical and industrial innovations created by leading international designers and manufacturers.
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA
Ends  7 February
Admission: Free

Recent openings

Premiums 2010
The annual exhibition of contemporary painting, sculpture, video and photography by second year students of the Royal Academy Schools. Work in the exhibition are for sale.

Royal Academy of Arts, London
5-14 February
Admission: Free



Ongoing

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His LettersA landmark exhibition of the work of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890).  Over 35 original letters by the artist are on display, together with around 65 paintings and 30 drawings that express the principal themes to be found within the correspondence.  This is the first major Van Gogh exhibition in London for over 40 years.
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Until 18 April
Admission £12


The Empire Strikes Back - Indian Art Today
Contemporary painting, sculpture, multimedia and other works from the sub-continent.
The Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, SW3 4SQ
Until 7 May 2010
Free admission
 
1001 Inventions
Tracing the forgotten story of a thousand years of science from the Muslim world, from the 7th century onwards.  Featuring many interactive exhibits, displays and dramatisations, the exhibition explores the shared scientific heritage of diverse cultures and looks at how many modern inventions can trace their roots back to Muslim civilisation
The Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2DD
Until 25 April 2010
Free admission

Decode: Digital Design Sensations
Showcasing the latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small, screen-based, graphics to large-scale interactive installations.  The exhibition includes works by established international artists and designers and features both existing works and new commissions created especially for the exhibition.
Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
Until 11 April 2010
Admission £5

Fans: War & Peace
The Fan Museum is the only museum in the world devoted entirely to every aspect of fans and fan making.  This exhibition presents many rare, fascinating and resonant items whose design, imagery and provenance will provide visitors with important new insights into the depiction of warfare throughout the ages.
The Fan Museum, 12 Crooms Hill, Greenwich, SE10 8ER
Until 28 February 2010
Admission £4 (plus concessions)

The Conversation Piece – Scenes of Fashionable Life

The exhibition traces the roots of the Conversation Piece back to the Netherlands in the 17th century and to the work of artists such as Pieter de Hooch and Godfried Schalcken.  The exhibition includes outstanding paintings by the greatest exponents of the Conversation Piece, Johan Zoffany, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough.  The exhibition also shows examples of the genre acquired by members of the royal family over the past four centuries.
The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Until 14 February 201
Admission £5

An evocation of Amsterdam's Red Light District
The Hoerengracht’ (1983–8) is an installation artwork by American artists Ed and Nancy Kienholz, and a walk-through evocation of Amsterdam’s Red Light District.  It recreates the brick walls, glowing windows and mysterious doorways of Amsterdam’s claustrophobic streets.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN 
Until 21 February 2010
Free admission

It's a scream

The Wilhelm Scream sound effect has been entertaining us for many many years. From Tom & Jerry to Indiana Jones and the Batman. The scream is a cliché stock sound that is very popular with the film editors.

It was first used in a 1951 film called Distant Drums and became an in-joke after it was used in Star Wars and other blockbuster movies, video games and television programs.

The sound is named after a character in the western movie The Charge at Feather River where a character is shot with an arrow.

This YouTube video is a compilation of clips using the scream.

A brilliant idea and a clock with personality

This brilliant one man site, the human clock,  is measuring every minute of the day using photographs submitted by people like you and me. The site and photos are loads of fun and the collaborative effort is huge with thousands of images submitted and still counting.

The human clock can be adjusted to show the time in analog and digital format with a wide choice of images sourced from all around the world.

The human clock website is the creation of Craig Giffen who came up with the idea in 2001. Now the site is in it's third version and the concept has evolved to also accommodate the human calendar.

Chris Ofili art at Tate Britain

He is best known as the artist who paints using elephant dung, but Ofili is a Turner Prize winner, contemporary artist who gets his inspiration from ancient painted caves in Zimbabwe and comics to contemporary black music or porn magazines to create fun and colourful works of art.

Elephant dung, glitter, magazine cutouts, resin and paint is the medium mix for the 45 works on show, some presented to the British public for the first time. The collection covers paintings, pencil drawings, watercolours and illustrations created from the mid 1990 to present.

Tate Britain until 16 May 2010.
Admission: £10

Chris Ofili: full profile on Wikipedia

The art of body painting

The human body has been a realm of fascination for many artists throughout time. If the renaissance artists paid homage to the naked body in their sculptures and paints, the modern artists have gone one step further and made human body itself into a canvas.


Emma Hack is a body illustrator that takes the body art form to another level in her wallpaper collection. Her collection presents beautifully painted female forms that blend perfectly with the wallpaper patterns bringing her works of art to life. 

Hack's 20 years of body painting body painting started over 20 years ago when she was practicing as a hairstylist, painted children's faces or worked as make-up artist in Australian city Adelaide. Although her vision was still in it's infancy she began to see it gradually coming to life through face-paintings and high fashion make-up. 

In 1999, Emma Hack revealed her vision to the world by introducing a new form of live art, a highly stylized version of body painting combined with fine painting which brought her instant acclaim in the world of art.

Trendhunter magazine writes about Emma: ‘Artist Emma Hack, who lives in Australia, creates really gorgeous designs utilizing female models that she successfully blends in with their surroundings. The effect is beautifully crisp, vibrant, living three dimensional wallpaper.’ 



Visit Emma's website to purchase prints or to see her upcoming exhibitions and more of her body painting and photography artworks: www.emmahackartist.com

The Conversation Piece: Scenes of Fashionable Life

A fine selection of art pieces that are part of the Royal Collection is on display at the Queen's Gallery at the Buckingham Palace in London.

The exhibition has its roots in the 17th century Dutch paintings portraying high society sitters in informal situations giving a fascinating insight into the fashion, interiors and manners of the age. The English representatives of this genre include outstanding paintings by Pieter de Hooch and Godfried Schalcken with William Hogarth and George Stubbs in the 18th century and Sir Edwin Landseer in the 19th century.

The greatest exponent of the Conversation Piece, Johan Zoffany is represented by a remarkable series of works produced by the artist for his royal patron George III. 

Until 14 February 2010.