Ektopia

If you’ve spent any time on the internet over the last year you’ll have almost definitely seen the sculptural work of Ron Mueck. It would be boring of me to go on about his over and under-sized pieces of anatomical and emotional beauty so I’ll just point you toward this video, which introduces him and his work and culminates in an astonishing example of how he goes about creating his pieces. Looks like there are loads of Ron Mueck booksavailable too…more shopping to do! [via]

Guillotine show us loads from the latest Obey Clothing lines here and here.

The roll up piano post has got to be the most commented post on Ektopia so when I saw this piano can I thought I better post a link to it. It’s like the roll up piano but it rolls up nice and tidily into its own can. [via]

Above has finally got a website sorted and it’s mighty fine and packed with Above goodness. Take a look - Go Above. Also, don’t miss the video where he shows us “all the machinery of modern war waiting to be shot into to the sky”. The Arrow machine!. [via]

I don’t know how long Joy Comes In The Morning has been floating about on the internet but it’s fantastic to see Joe Ledbetter’s characters coming to life.

Waste some time on this great little game called Gravity Pods. “The objective is simple: shoot a projectile at a target. Of course, there are some barriers, and naturally there is a way around those barriers. By strategically placing Gravity Pods around the screen, you can bend the path your projectile takes, so that it goes around walls, down halls, curves back on itself etc.” I remember playing something similar on and old BBC computer when I was a kid at school. I’m glad to see that this idea is still alive and well after all these years. [via]

Take a look at Work It Out. It’s Rjd2’s tune and features the talents of Bill Shannon. Shannon’s single take routine is pretty awe inspiring, especially the pseudo freeze-framed crash. [via]

The latest toys from Monsterism Island look pretty cool (better than the last ones, that’s for sure). Pets and Their Owners are Pete Fowlers latest creations and, as the name suggests, they are paired up sets of…pets and their owners! They come blind packed in a pet food can and just like in real life the the pets look just like their owners. There’s more info over at NotCot as well.

The old Polaroid camera goes large and squishy as the Plusharoid bean-bag. [via]

Ryan McGinness is another link that’s been sitting in my drafts section for absolutely ages. I had seen some of his work on the internet a few years ago and had taken note. More recently, I watched a fantastic piece about him on the excellent The Run Up DVD. His screen prints are fantastic (with their icon based content) and his technique shown on the DVD is really interesting. After seeing the DVD feature I rushed out to get his Installationview book and it’s not been far away from me for months. It’s packed with examples of his prints and gallery installations. The only negative thing I can say about it is that the true beauty of his work can only really be seen in the close up images (of which are out numbered by images of the full pieces) in Installationview. The imperfections and nuances are what change his pieces from looking like computer images to being unique works of art.