Doll Limb Art and Altered Barbies. The Wonderfully Weird Work of Deborah Colotti.

above: The Body Bureau by Deborah Colotti

above: A Lawn of Legs by Deborah Colotti

A few of my favorite textiles, installations, assemblages and altered Barbies by artist Deborah Colotti of Sebastopol.

Deborah describes herself and her assemblages as follows:
"I am angry. I am hopeful. I am cynical, yet full of humor. Whereas my working environment is surrounded by vast natural vistas for peaceful appreciation, my studio is loaded with objects and references gathered for their qualitative symbolism, as well as their emotive and aesthetic appeal. My mind roams around seeking connections between the absurd and the commonplace that I then pare down to essential personal and social symbols. As I arrange and rearrange the objects layered meanings are revealed and developed."

Assemblages/ Sculptures:

The Hunters:

A Slice of Boyhood:

Spinal(and detail):

A Tree of Limbs:


Installations:



above: wireframes with doll limbs for installations Lawn of Legs and Circle of Legs.

Circle of Legs:

Mannequin Territory:


Christie Tweet:

Christine Tweet (detail):

Jaws and Barbs:



For many years, she has toyed with the Barbie icon. In 1996, she began the ongoing series "the Barbs". To date, she have created over 150 interpretations of Barb in the real world. Here are some of my favorite from her Barbs collection:

The Barbs

A Gun of Barb's:

Barbie Virus 3:

Leggy Goggles:

Barbie Legs Mirror (straight):

Barbie Legs Mirror (bent):

Poop'd Barbie:

Harem Boy with Bra of Nails:

Barbie Trinity:


Her textile works integrate obsolete and broken items from her own household (especially toys), hand-me-rounds from her family, and discards from her friends.

Textiles

Ladies:

I Am An Animal:

Mom and Another Birthday Cake:

Conversations with father:

See more of her work at her website

Dream Big - Martin Luther King Jr. Mosaic Made With 4,242 Rubik's Cubes.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, I'd like to share with you this mosaic montage of MLK created with solved rubik's cubes by Pete Fecteau, shown below in front of his work.




Titled 'Dream Big', the mosaic is made of 4,242 officially licensed Rubik’s Cubes and measures just shy of 20 feet wide.

details:




above detail photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/bitsorf/

Pete at work on the mural:




Technical info:
It measures 19′ x 8’6″ x 2.25″ (5.8m x 2.6m x 5.7cm ). It weighs roughly 1000 pounds (454kg). Each cube has been “reversed solved” or twisted so that one of the faces maps it’s nine stickers into the total image, 38,178 stickers total.

The construction process took a little over 40 hours and the final installation to about five and a half hours with 6 volunteers helping. The cubes were rented through the You Can Do The Cube organization. The mosaic was on display during the 2010 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA from September 22nd to October 10th. There were roughly 30,000 people who came to view the mosaic during that time. “Dream Big” placed in the top 50 out of 1,700+ entries. The mosaic was left intact for a month after the competition in an attempt to sell it. The pending sale did not materialize and the mosaic was disassembled in late November and the cubes were shipped back to their originating points.

Costs:
The cubes themselves were rented for roughly $8,000 however the total cost of the project was approximately $9,000. A private donation was made for $4,000 and fundraising through special events and Kickstarter.com helped to raise the remainder.



About the Artist:
Pete Fecteau is a designer by day. He attended Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attained his BFA in Digital Media Design in 2007. His design portfolio can be seen at http://buttonpresser.com. He mainly works as an interactive designer and helps build online and mobile experiences. Pete also loves illustration, painting, and sculpture and finds time between work to create more traditional art aside for his Rubik’s Cube mosaics. His wife Caitlin and he were married on August 27th, 2011 in Brighton, Michigan they both relocated to San Francisco in January, 2011 were Pete had been awarded a fellowship with Code for America.

images courtesy of Pete Fecteau and additional photos courtesy of Uthink media

Ready, Aim... Frame. Bullet Casing Portraits of Lennon, Lincoln, Kennedy and Others.

above: Abraham Lincoln (detail), made with real used bullet casings

Another artist who has found a way to use ammunition in his work, David S. Palmer, joins the ranks of these talented folks about whom I've written; Al Farrow uses bullets in his amazing reliquaries, Unearthen makes stunning jewelry of bullet casings and gems, Jason Clay Lewis has a series of engraved bullets and artist Walt Creel uses bullet holes to create his artwork.

So what does David do with bullets? He uses spent bullet casings to create portraits of heroes, all of whom were actually felled by bullets, with the exception one: John Wayne.


above: David uses a torch to place the finishing touches on the Tupac portrait.

A contemporary artist, David S. Palmer was born in Knox, Indiana in 1953 and studied fine art at Ball State University. In 1976 moved to Laguna Beach, California where he is now represented by Lu Martin Galleries.

John Lennon:



above: John Lennon, "Peacemaker" 4ft x 4ft., mixed media/bullet casings

John F. Kennedy:

above: John F. Kennedy, "The Proud American" 41" x 31", mixed media/bullet casings

Abraham Lincoln:


above: Lincoln, "Dark Days, Dark Times", 38" x 38", mixed media/bullet casings

Tupac Shakur:



above: Tupac Shakur, "Angels With Broken Wings", 29" x 39", mixed media/bullet casings

John Wayne:

above: John Wayne, "The Duke" 36" x 36", mixed media/bullet casings

Images are all from the artist's site. Mr. Palmer, as talented as he is, could use some new photographs of his work and a much needed website redesign.

David is represented by Lu Martin Galleries, 372 North Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651