--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <jflanegi@> > wrote: > <snip> > > These have always fascinated me because of their size, perfect > > design and complexity. The artist-engineer piece of my mind cannot > > concieve how these large designs can be made so quickly, > > apparently at night, with perfect proportions, by human beings. > > Astonishing. A true mystery. > > I just watched this one on YouTube: > > http://tinyurl.com/s67q8 > > They've gotten *way* more elaborate and refined since > the last time I paid any attention to them. Some of > the ones in this video are unbelievably complex, and > quite stunningly beautiful. > > Even if they *are* made by humans--and like Jim, I > have a hard time understanding how that can be the > case (although not from his engineering perspective)-- > they're absolutely remarkable, truly a new art form.
Speaking of new art forms, several years ago I was in an arty French village on the Riviera, and went into the tiny Picasso museum that they have there. It's more of a "He lived here once" museum than anything else, and doesn't have that much original art, but there was a photograph there that just charmed my socks off. The photographer had taken a portrait of the artist but using a long -- several seconds long -- exposure. While the shutter was open, Picasso had created a drawing of a bull in mid air, using a small penlight. The drawing was perfect. The following sites, for which I must thank my brother, display the work of young Japanese artists who create this same type of art, but in motion. Using nothing more than a *series* of still photographs created the same way, with a long exposure, they are able to draw *animated* figures in mid air, with using colored flashlights. I really *love* this stuff. Imagine the sense of *space* that the artists have to have to draw not only a single figure in mid air, but to draw a sequence of those figures in mid air, to give the impression of an animal walking, or a bird flying. I also love this stuff because it reminds me of a Japanese form of puppetry called bunraku. In bunraku, the puppets are very complex, often requiring the presence of three puppeteers per character to control them. The puppeteers are onstage at all times, dressed head to toe in black. What makes it an artform is that after about five minutes you no longer see them on the stage. All you see is the puppets. http://dslrblog.com/blog/chris-garrett/animated-long-exposure-photographs/ http://tochka.jp/pikapika/2006/06/report_pikapika_in_kitijoji.html To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
