Objets d'art Intéressants (Interesting Art Objects)

[haiducii]

A statue at the Tapiola metro station

It's in Helsinki, Finnland and is meant to welcome travellers

 

[haiducii]

Madrid, Spain

To mark the 400th anniversary of Madrid's Plaza Mayor, urban artist SpY has installed a circular swath of grass in the middle of the square spanning a total of 3,500 square metres.

An aerial view sees the green dot stand in stark contrast to the orange tiles covering the roofs of buildings surrounding the square.

Usually, people move around and look at an installation but, instead, more than 100,000 were compelled to sit, play, and enjoy the plaza like never before.

SpY sought to offer a kind of sanctuary for the many city inhabitants by changing the context of the square, where people meet and gather, to a place where they can relax by occupying the floor.

 

[waistingmytime]

Photographer captures the beauty of Germany’s bowling alleys
From Lost At E Minor​

Munich-based photographer Robert Goetzfried has traveled all over Germany to doent the country’s beautiful bowling alleys – before they disappear.
The German version of bowling is called kegeln. It’s a nine-pin game held in festive alleys referred to as kegelbahnen. It’s a place where family and friends gather to play bowling, as well as have a rowdy, fun time.

For his series, Goetzfried went to various kegelbahnen, long after the crowds have left. “I like to show places in ways people don’t usually see them,’ Goetzfried said.

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It’s in this isolation that the photographer captures beauty hiding in plain sight. Alleys with stunning interiors, some rocking that vintage aesthetic, others redesigned to look like something that came from the future.

“Kegeln was a big deal when I was a child,” he added. “These days, the bowling alleys are becoming rare and traditional ones are about to die.”

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Goetzfried continues to capture these places before they completely disappear, hoping that his photos would one day remind future generations of what was lost.

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Are all bowling alleys essentially the same?
“There’s a slight difference between bowling alleys and Kegelbahnen. In Kegeln, there are only nine pins and the balls are smaller. They have to be a certain length and width. The pins have to be a certain kind of weight and make and so on. I actually didn’t do a deep dive here because I was more focused on the architecture of the places.”

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[W!nston]

Photographer captures the beauty of Germany’s bowling alleys
From Lost At E Minor​

Munich-based photographer Robert Goetzfried has traveled all over Germany to doent the country’s beautiful bowling alleys – before they disappear.
The German version of bowling is called kegeln. It’s a nine-pin game held in festive alleys referred to as kegelbahnen. It’s a place where family and friends gather to play bowling, as well as have a rowdy, fun time.

For his series, Goetzfried went to various kegelbahnen, long after the crowds have left. “I like to show places in ways people don’t usually see them,’ Goetzfried said.

​

It’s in this isolation that the photographer captures beauty hiding in plain sight. Alleys with stunning interiors, some rocking that vintage aesthetic, others redesigned to look like something that came from the future.

“Kegeln was a big deal when I was a child,” he added. “These days, the bowling alleys are becoming rare and traditional ones are about to die.”

​

Goetzfried continues to capture these places before they completely disappear, hoping that his photos would one day remind future generations of what was lost.

​

Are all bowling alleys essentially the same?
“There’s a slight difference between bowling alleys and Kegelbahnen. In Kegeln, there are only nine pins and the balls are smaller. They have to be a certain length and width. The pins have to be a certain kind of weight and make and so on. I actually didn’t do a deep dive here because I was more focused on the architecture of the places.”

​

Those are magnificent works of design and they are amazing! Thanks.

 

[W!nston]

 

[W!nston]

Malachite Stone

 

[trencherman]

I saw this humongous balustrade vase made of malachite in the Hermitage:

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Giant malachite vase, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

This vase ranks as one of the most attractive piece of polished stone on display in any museum. Malachite is a beautiful mineral, deep green and generally exhibiting parallel bands or circles of different shades. It is relatively soft and takes a beautiful polish.
*
Russia possesses some of the world's largest high-quality malachite deposits near the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains (this is also the place where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918). The mines no longer operate, but they did in the 18th century when the Winter Palace was being built in St. Petersburg. That Palace, which today is the Hermitage Museum, has a large number of exceptionally fine malachite pieces, such as the one shown here. Some of the structural elements in the palace, like columns, are made of malachite, but these can only be decorative because malachite is fragile and cannot support much weight. One room in the palace is called malachite room. It served as the drawing room for Princess Alexandra Fiodorovna, the wife of Nicholas I. It contains 16 malachite columns and several vases and pieces of furniture made of malachite.

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[trencherman]

Filipino artist, Gregory Halili, carves intricate skulls into mother of pearl shells.

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[trencherman]

Prickly prick.

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[RazzmaTazz]

This reminds me of a cartoon I saw a long time ago (probably from the New Yorker) of a visitor of a medieval stone carver in his workshop chockfull of finished gargoyles. Caption: Where do you get your ideas?

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I had to look this one up. It's actually on the Cologne City Hall and was sculpted by Konrad von Hochstaden.

 

[trencherman]

found in another German city, Düsseldorf

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[trencherman]

Live figure drawing class

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[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

 

[RazzmaTazz]

Is it a bar? A barber shop? Or a architectural designer?