The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 and by the very next year it had several admirers in neighbors across the channel. Some saw the potential of a similar tower, a “Great Tower for London”. These illustrations are part of a catalog of competitive designs for the proposed tower released the following year. Some are hilariously derivative of the still brand new tower. Others, on the other hand, seem to belong to some sort of Victorian space-age. Regardless, in a strange way all of the designs seem to point to the importance and uniqueness of the original Eiffel tower, even at this very early age.
The Colorful Abstract Paintings of Guy Yanai
I’m a little bit in love with the work of Tel Aviv-based artist, Guy Yanai. He chooses to paint routine spaces and objects that range from his therapists office to potted plants. He then abstracts the images into simplistic bright colored shapes that leave you with a graphic imprint of the everyday. Check out more of his work after the jump.
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100 Painters Of Tomorrow Call For Submission And Publication
Painting is enjoying a remarkable creative renaissance in the 21st century, with many of the world’s leading artists now working in this most enduring and seductive of media. 100 Painters of Tomorrow is an ambitious new project, initiated by editor-curator Kurt Beers and the publishers Thames & Hudson, to find the 100 most exciting painters at work today. Culminating in a major publication that will introduce and present each artist and their work, creating a snapshot of the best new talent in painting from across the globe, submissions are invited from artists from now until March 15th 2013.
The open call submission is international and open to any artist who uses paint as their primary medium. There is no age limit for entry, but each of the selected artists will have gained professional recognition in the last five years (that is, since 2008/9) through their education, gallery representation or in the production of a significant body of work (see Guidelines). In addition, more than 100 of the world’s leading art schools have been directly invited to participate, nominating recent graduates to submit their applications.
Artists’ submissions will be judged by an international jury featuring some of the most prominent names in contemporary art, including the painter Cecily Brown, curators Sir Norman Rosenthal, Yuko Hasegawa, Gregor Muir and Suzanne Cotter, and writer-critics Suzanne Hudson, Philip Tinari, Tony Godfrey and Barry Schwabsky.
Brooklyn’s Buke & Gase Release Dizzying Video for their Catchy Single, Hiccup
New York’s Buke & Gase recently released their second LP, General Dome on Brassland to great reviews. Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez have once again succeeded in creating a unique sound based on their homemade instruments as well as Dyer’s amazing voice.
“Buke = (pronounced “Byook”) a self-modified six-string former baritone ukulele.”
“Gase = (pronounced “Gace”) a guitar-bass hybrid of Aron Sanchez’s own creation.”
They’re currently finishing up their North American tour with a stop tonight at the Echo in Los Angeles and also a show at the Casbah in San Diego tomorrow, February 20th before heading to Australia and Europe. Check out their new video for their very catchy single, Hiccup and grab a ticket to one of their last shows of the tour.
Studio Visit: Serena Cole’s Glittery Paintings Tap into our Dark Desires
As part of our ongoing partnership with In The Make, Beautiful/Decay is sharing a studio visit with artist Serena Cole. See the full studio visit and interview with Serena and other West Coast artists at www.inthemake.com.
Serena’s studio is in her Oakland apartment, a modest space that she has efficiently rigged to accommodate her needs. She’s set it up so that her studio takes up most of the apartment’s square footage, but she keeps things flexible with furnishings that are easily moved and rearranged. I’m always impressed with resourcefulness and am appreciative of the kind of ingenuity that comes out of necessity and that manages to circumvent a set of limitations. In fact, the idea of limitations kept coming up for me in thinking about Serena’s artwork because her pieces are very much visually dictated and confined by her reference material. Her work directly appropriates the fashion imagery of advertising campaigns and editorial spreads, highlighting the patterns and tropes used to elicit desire and encourage consumerism. In taking on this imagery, her work attempts to examine what is revealed about our collective psychology, the culture of consumption and escapism, and the complexity of fantasy. In our conversations, she acknowledged that she isn’t so much trying to create something new, but instead aims to deconstruct already existent imagery in the appropriation of it. But this is a slippery slope— in being so tightly tethered to the aesthetics of the fashion world, Serena’s work runs the risk of coming off as analogous instead of questioning. Serena is aware of this risk— in creating art within a framework already heavily loaded with well-established associations, value, and perimeters, she knows the trick is to get the viewer to recognize that there is actually a lot at stake amidst the glitz and glamour.
The Morbid Crystal Covered Sculptures of Nicola Bolla
The work of Nicola Bolla is arresting in its contrasts. The artist often fashions sculptures of straightforward (albeit morbid) objects that are then covered in sparkling crystals. The glamorous glitter of the crystal is juxtaposed against the utilitarian nature of many of the objects they cover. These are further contrasted in these images taken by photographer Sergio Alfredini. The dilapidated house provides a strangely ideal setting to emphasize these brightly dark sculptures.
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A Surreal Wonderland Captured in the Photography of Katerina Plotnikova

The photographs of Katerina Plotnikova are apparitions of fairytales. Female subjects are cradled by ghosts and smoke while narratives come through pops of color. The resulting composition is a dreamlike fashion editorial hinting at both the wistful and sinister. (via)
Rainbows and Carcasses in Chase Westfall’s Abstract Paintings
The paintings of Chase Westfall are pleasantly elusive. His work often toes the line between abstraction and figuration. He seems to often swing from sunny imagary such as flowers or rainbows to that of mutilated animal carcasses. However, he never gives it entirely away. The imagary often is obscured by a diamond grid work or its own abstraction. The viewers eyes constantly shifts between deciphering the images and inspecting the pattern, neither resolving the other. His oil paintings are executed on linen contrasting the soft surface with his hard edged geometric shapes.


















