Thursday, September 16, 2010 Gravity Defying Photographs of Li Wei

Chinese artist Li Wei’s work often depicts him in apparently gravity-defying situations. Li, who is from Beijing, started off his performance series ‘Mirroring’ and later on took off attention with his ‘Falls’ series which shows the artist with his head and chest embedded into the ground. His work is a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a sometimes dangerous reality. Li Wei states that these images are not computer montages and works with the help of props such as mirror, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics.

Designers Create World’s First Spray On Cloth

Extra tight, figure hugging clothes had just become easier to obtain. A Spanish fashion designer has developed the world's first spray-on clothing that can be worn, washed and worn again. Manel Torres joined forces with scientists at Imperial College London to invent the spray, which forms a seamless fabric on contact with the body.

Torres took 15 minutes to spray a T-shirt onto a male model in a demonstration today, ahead of his spring/summer collection at the Science in Style fashion show in London next week. The spray consists of short fibres that are mixed into a solvent, allowing it to be sprayed from a can or high-pressure spray gun. The fibres are mixed with polymers that bind them together to form a fabric. The texture of the fabric can be varied by using wool, linen or acrylic fibres. The fabric, which dries when it meets the skin, is very cold when it is sprayed on, a limitation that may frustrate hopes for spray-on trousers and other garments.


Torres teamed up with chemical engineer Paul Luckham to set up a spin-out company called Fabrican Ltd, which will explore other applications ranging from spray-on bandages, hygiene wipes and upholstery for cars and furniture.
"The fashion application of spray-on fabric is a great way of advertising the concept, but we are also keen to work on new applications for the medical, transport and chemical industries," said Luckham. "For example, the spray-on fabric may be produced and kept in a sterilized can, which could be perfect for providing spray-on bandages without applying any pressure for soothing burnt skin, or delivering medicines directly to a wound.”
Video demonstration of the process is available at BBC (on a female model) and at the Guardian (on a male model).

The Impossible Stone Balancing Art of Adrian Gray

Adrian Gray has been developing his art of stone balancing for many years. His ability to create almost impossible to believe compositions has created wonder and left witnesses in awe and mesmerized.
By very carefully feeling the balancing point of each rock he handles - a process that requires awesome skill and patience - Gray is able to arrange them in ways that seem incredible. 'The trick is putting together stones which look like they couldn't possibly sit on top of one another. Only then can you you make something extraordinary' , Gray explains.

All the stones in these pictures are balanced, strictly without the aid of adhesive, pins or computer manipulation. They remain in place through the natural force of gravity and friction. ‘Nature’s glue’ sustains them in these seemingly impossible positions and it is the capricious natural forces of wind or waves that returns them to obscurity amongst their fellow boulders.

 

China’s Overloaded Cycle Carriers

French photographer Alain Delorme became fascinated by the piles of stacked products migrant Chinese workers loaded into their bicycles. The precariously overloaded packages often assume unusual forms. His documentation of the packed bicycles forms a series of photographs entitled Totems, which are both aesthetically glorious and astoundingly indicative of daily life in China.
The images were captured during two art residencies in Shanghai throughout 2009 and 2010.