Art

Calamityware Dinner Plates / Don Moyer

The Willow pattern is both highly recognisable and also seeped in history. Still popular now, the (most commonly) blue and white floral style was inspired by the porcelain the English were importing from China in the 18th Century — and now graphic designer Don Moyer is creating his very own subversive version with Calamityware. Moyer’s deceptive designs seem — at first glance — like regular Willow plates, but upon closer inspection, all kinds of hell is breaking loose. From frightening sea monsters to swarms of flying monkeys, UFOs, pirates and giant robots, the plates’ tranquil scenes are being dramatically interrupted. While the first five plates in the project have been confirmed (some of which are already available for purchase), the final and sixth plate is still being considered; Moyer is tossing up between a volcano, Sasquatch, pterodactyls, bats, alligators and several other — unlikely and comical—invasions — via Cool Hunting

Art, Wildlife

Emerge / Brad Buckmaster

This little fox kit is no bigger than a house cat and is just as curious. It took a few minutes but her(?) curiosity compelled her to emerge from the shadows and see what all the clicking was about… — via Buckmaster Images

Art

Obituary: HR Giger

HR Giger, whose biomechnical artwork lent Ridley Scott’s film Alien much of its terror, has died aged 74 from injuries sustained in a fall on stairs, according to the Swiss press.

Following study in architecture and industrial design in Zurich, Giger began a successful career in art and interior design. He received an Academy Award as part of the visual effects team for Alien, after Scott saw his artwork Necronom IV and used it as the basis for the film’s murderous creatures. As well as the chest-bursting xenomorph that is the film’s central focus, Giger’s designs, characterised by dark sexuality and cyberpunk energy, also inspired the derelict spacecraft and the masked gunner discovered on it.

Giger also designed iconic and controversial record sleeves: on Debbie Harry’s Koo Koo the singer appears with spears cutting through her face, while the poster insert for the Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist prompted an obscenity trial. He also designed the cover for Emerson Lake & Palmer’s 1973 album Brain Salad Surgery — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Art

The Egg Painter / Titus-Armand Napirlica

The Egg Painter from Titus-Armand on Vimeo.

The Easter tradition of dying eggs is practiced by people all over the world, but in Ciocanesti, a small village in Romania’s northern region of Bukovina, this tradition has evolved into an art form. Exquisitely hand painted with intricate traditional designs, each of these eggs takes hours to create and is among the things the people here are most proud of. This docu-short offers a glimpse into the art and craft of egg painting.

A film by: Titus-Armand Napirlica
Egg Painter: Elena Craciunescu