Grace's Art Picks

Created using 300,000 candles.

“Like a 3-D take on Jackson Pollock, the latest work by Klimas begins with splatters of paint positioned on a scrim over the diaphragm of a speaker. Then the volume is turned up. For each image, Klimas selects music—typically something dynamic and percussive, like Stockhausen, Miles Davis or Kraftwerk—and the vibration of the speaker sends the paint aloft in patterns that reveal themselves through the lens of his camera.”

Yayoi Kusama constructed a large domestic environment, painting every wall, chair, table, piano, and household decoration a brilliant white, effectively serving as a giant white canvas. Over the course of two weeks, the museum’s smallest visitors were given thousands upon thousands of colored dot stickers and were invited to collaborate in the transformation of the space, turning the house into a vibrantly mottled explosion of color.

Chooo-San discovered her talent for body art during a gap year studying for university admission exams. While taking breaks from her studies, she would often draw eyes on her hands. Soon, her doodles started getting better and better, so she moved on to create even more bizarre body modifications. Using only acrylic paint, the young Japanese girl can turn herself into a creepy mutant with several pairs of eyes covering her face, or a robot with integrated batteries and LCD display.

Artificial Moon is a sculptural piece by Beijing-based artist Wang Yuyang constructed from hundreds of various compact fluorescent lightbulbs. At over 13 ft. wide (400cm) the piece is an imposing recreation of Earth’s moon, using strategically placed lights to mimic craters and other surface features. Its creation is also particularly poignant, as it was originally put on exhibit in Shanghai, a city that due to light pollution is often unable witness the actual moon moving through the night sky.

Street art in Paris by french artist Mademoiselle Maurice who creates stunning geometric figures on urban surfaces using rainbows of folded origami figures.

Stone Coin Purse by Hirotoshi Ito, Miu Miu and Eniko Mihalik for The Room Magazine

I went to Oxford yesterday which was amazing. I did an English afternoon and met some of the tutors from St Peter's College, and it's really inspired me to work super hard for university. I was quite intimidated at first - everyone seems so clever and the buildings are really old and big; amazing architecture everywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to do well enough to get into Oxford, but the afternoon made me realise that whichever university I go to, I'll enjoy an English and French course because I just love talking about and seeing all the different viewpoints and interpretations of literature.

From the Art Institute of Chicago:

Felix Gonzalez-Torres produced work of uncompromising beauty and simplicity, transforming the everyday into profound meditations on love and loss. “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is a representation of the artist’s partner, Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991. The installation is comprised of 175 pounds of candy, corresponding to Ross’s ideal body weight. Viewers are encouraged to take a piece of candy, and the diminishing amount parallels Ross’s weight loss and suffering prior to his death. Gonzalez-Torres stipulated that the pile should be continuously replenished, thus metaphorically granting perpetual life.

A fantastic mix of art and chemistry.