Munich-based David Hofman’s popular Box Doodle website features illustrated artwork that incorporates cardboard boxes. Planet Ark would be impressed, as writer Nat Liechti found out. Can you explain the concept behind the Box Doodle Project? ‘It just popped into my mind one day. I received a package and unpacked it, and a nice shape of a box smiled up at me. I couldn’t resist the smile, so I grabbed some markers and started to doodle. This was at the end of 2003. From that point on, when I found some free time and a nice shaped box, I doodled. But what to do with all the artworks? I decided to put it online, as an archive for me. And then it just started to grow. I didn’t even need to promote it’. If someone gets similarly inspired, can they get involved? ‘Of course. The rules are quite simple. Rearrange a box to make any kind of figure or object. And make the most of the least. My basic idea was a tangram puzzle — seeing objects from a new angle. Mostly I receive a doodled box with a nice artwork. But there are a few outstanding-shaped boxes without artwork. I’m still amazed how some shapes evolve into something like a face — even without a design. I get box doodles from around the planet. I keep every box doodle I get, and the best ones are displayed on the website. Creativity is global!’ What boxes tend to work best for an artist’s illustrations? ‘The box you use is definitely important. You have to find the right one. But the most important thing is what you discover. So every box works’. [photos from Pictoplasma 2006]
Also by ZOLTON
Sydney pop starlets, Teenagers in Tokyo, have just released a new remix of their track End it Now dolled up and throttled into shape by local DJ group, Bagraiders. It’s as fun as a triple shot expresso with a dash of laphroaig.
Yves Klein Blue’s Silence Is Distance video premiere
Brisbane band, Yves Klein Blue, as energetic a mash-up of styles and textures as you’re ever going to find, have a new video out. And it’s good. Fun.
Celia Marais’ Field Excursion was originally started as a study for the website for electronic musician Amon Tobin. It consists of “nine portraits of strange creatures made out of pieces of meat and fish, and given the names of existing or imaginary bacterias”. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Urban Retro Lifestyle - Art, Vinyl Toys, Video Games, Cartoons and Comics » David Hofman’s Box Doodle Project said | 24 November, 2006
[...] Yes that is the only 1 rule and that is what gives this project such a large scope. With a huge amount of artists taking part creating art pieces which are all truly unique, this is one of the best art projects I have seen in a while. It is great to see alternative mediums being used to create art especially when they are materials which would usually be thrown out in to the rubbish bin. Head over to the Box Doodle project website to see more box art. [link via lostateminor] Posted by Tahir on November 23rd, 2006 Categories: Urban Art | Trackback Permanlink [...]
d.edlen said | 11 April, 2008
Guys do you really think that people would write such things about their personal life? Don’t lie to yourself!
HAVE YOUR SAY
If ever there were an apt description of our time, it would be that we are the ‘mobile generation’, in every sense of the word. We are a people of movers, we are offered choice on so many levels. And, in this way, we are far removed — both in ideology and practice — from those generations before us, who were generally more static and certainly less transitory. Read more
The incendiary energy of Canadian quartet, Tokyo Police Club is electric. We caught up with keyboardist, Graham Wright. Read more
I’ve been a big fan of Michelle Vandermeer’s work since I came across her Mini Majellen zines at this year’s Sydney Writers Festival. Describing herself as a doer — as in one of those people who are always doing or making something — Michelle’s work, which includes book binding, illustration, jewelery making and her zines, stems from an internal creative springboard and a double degree in architecture and graphic design. Her work is smart and succinct. Read more
In my next life, I want to sing like Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. Oh, and grow a lush beard, so I can play in their band. Better start cracking.
The young architect Junya Ishigami is pushing the boundaries of the weightless aesthetic stream of architecture. Here, for the Kanagawa Institute of Technology, he has designed a glass and steel pavilion with a roof that floats on a sparse forest of thin steel columns or ‘flats’. Read more
A new idea has emerged in Norway that we think could be the precursor to things to come in the way our societies interact and develop. The general gradual demise of traditional gathering places such as town halls, community centers and churches has seemingly gone in hand with a generational shift and sharp increase in online virtual communities. However, humans still need to rub shoulders at some point to get things done, until, say, we perfect the sensitive hologram. Read more
The Virtual Shoe Museum was initiated by Liza Snook in 2004. Once the idea was born, a long search began for designers, photographers and publishers connected to shoes. New friendships developed and their mailbox filled with loads of material on fantastic shoes, art and design on shoes. The Shoe featured above is the Electric Light Shoe by Strawberry Frog.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Philip Toledano’s photo series, ‘Days with my Father’
Photographer Philip Toledano’s photo essay, Days with My Father, documents his 98-year-old father. Accompanied by some simple text, the images are intimate, heart-breaking, and ethereal, honestly depicting the nuances and tenderness of the photographer’s relationship with his subject. Read more
I was just recently introduced to the work of artist Misaki Kawai. I must say that my interest in her work has since become something of a creative obsession. Her trippy, child-like figures and animals, painted in the most expressive, perfectly satisfying candy colored hues, are more than enough to send me running for the bag of jelly beans and jolly ranchers hidden in my cupboard. Read more
A master of juxtaposition, Canadian photographer Liz Wolfe has updated her site with her newest series which focuses on characters and confection. The photos are never what they first seem, revealing something a little more macabre on closer inspection: a meat tree, a diseased dear, a melting icy pole dripping blood. It’s all presented in hyper-real candy colours.
The Howling Bells on their big Bell Hit
The first time I saw Howling Bells play was a blustery Sydney evening a few years back when I’d gotten the word from singer Juanita Stein’s brother — Ari — that an ‘event’ was going down and I was to do whatever it took to get in to see it. Tired and feeling unsociable, I scrubbed up nonetheless and made my way down a winding Oxford Street to a small club just before the red light district of Darlingurst. Read more
James Jean, a portrait of a young man as an artist
New York artist James Jean doesn’t need any introduction. But, just in case you haven’t seen his work yet, take a peek now. And forever be in awe. We caught up with him recently in his studio and asked him about the props for his daily inspiration: ‘Sometimes I’ll have my laptop setup next to my work station so that I can listen to audio books, the radio, or have videos playing in the background. But mostly inspiration comes from books and magazines’. Read more
Thanks to our friends at Universal Music, we have three Beck 7″ vinyl Chemtrails singles, off his new Modern Guilt album, to give away to randomly selected Australian subscribers. Read more
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Andy said | 22 November, 2006
Very nice… creativity, design and re-use… 3 of my favourite themes. Love it.