Aren’t these photographs by Toronto artist Barbara Cole amazing?  They remind me of one of my all-time favourite photos.  Seems I have a thing for underwater shots.

Kinnon has been working on a rad series of illustrations titled Toronto’s My Home… And I’ll Be Here All Weekend Long.  You can order 11 x 17″ prints from her for $45 each.  That’s an insane deal for some great-looking original art.  I’d love to frame and hang them gallery-style along my upstairs hallway.

Click here to see the whole series and contact Kinnon here.

Don’t you love this series of airplane drawings that Marc Johns did for a Newsweek article?

I’m sure you’ve heard of The Highline in New York (a public park built on a 1.45-mile-long elevated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side).  Phase 2 has recently opened, and the artists FriendsWithYou have provided an art installation called Rainbow City underneath the new section of The Highline.

“This happy city is made up of intensely colored balloon pieces, encouraging visitors to be active and explore the giant 16,000 square foot playground. Built for adults and children alike, the installation allows for interaction with each art object, making the experience unforgettable.”

If it looks a little familiar, that’s because the piece was originally commissioned for Luminato in Toronto – proof that we’re just as cool as New York.  Sometimes.

[images via CoolHunting]

The Museum of Modern Art in New York asked its visitors for some feedback.  Check out this great page on the MoMA website with some of the replies (I posted a bunch above, but there are so many more).  The best one has got to be this though:

[via Handmade Charlotte]

I love glass – especially blown glass.  I’m fascinated by how it can go from liquid to solid, and be morphed into different shapes, with beautiful colours.  So I’ve been a fan of glassmaster (is that a word?) Dale Chihuly for a while.  There’s a huge exhibit of his work on at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston right now through August.  I don’t think I’ll be going to Boston to see it, so instead I have to be satisfied by watching videos and browsing through photos online.  Or I can always visit the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in the Distillery – there’s gorgeous glass there too.

Now here’s an exhibit I have to see.  Dimensions of Design – 100 Classic Seats is on at the German Consulate in Toronto.  How fun is this?  Iconic designs, tiny things, and German flair… yes please.

I’ll explain.  The chair is the ultimate design object – a perfect pairing of form and function.  A retrospective of chair design is nothing new – museums do it all the time.  So what makes this exhibit different?  It’s an exhibit of iconic chair designs, but instead of displaying the actual chairs, it’s miniatures that are on display.

The Vitra Design Museum in Germany has been making miniature reproductions of chairs since 1992, and they have quite a cult following.  The Dimensions of Design – 100 Classic Seats exhibit features the tiny chairs, displayed at eye level so you can check out all their intricate details.

The exhibit is only on until March 9, so there’s not much time left.  And if you see a miniature that you love and just have to own, you can buy them online.  I’ll warn you – they’re not cheap.  But they really are tiny works of art.

[via Arren William's Design Lab]

Shinichi Maruyama makes the most gorgeous art out of throwing water and ink.  Yep, he throws liquids and takes pictures and video of the shapes they create.  Sounds kind of kooky, but the results are spectacular.  He calls them “Kusho” or “writing in the sky”.

I read about Maruyama and his work on Robert Krulwich’s “NPR sciencey blog”, and Krulwich says:

But if chemistry does the work, these shapes come from Maruyama. He sculpts them. He has an image in his head and some instinct, some deep knowledge of water, time, muscle tells him how to move so that these shapes can form, then hang momentarily in the air until the pull of the planet drags them (gently when viewed in this high speed camera) back to Earth.  Maruyama’s work is most beautiful when his forms begin to fall apart.

Isn’t that beautiful?  [the] work is most beautiful when it begins to fall apart. Lovely.

I love Marc Johns.  He’s an illustrator based in Victoria, BC and I just can’t seem to get enough of his work.  I have his illustrations on my business cards (which always elicit a response from prospective clients), I love flipping through his book, and I follow his work on his website/blog.

So I was pretty thrilled to see his contribution to the Twitter/Etsy Artist Series.  Entitled “The Pursuit of Radness”, Johns’ piece is available as a free download to save as wallpaper for your computer screen, iPhone, iPod, or iPad.  Apparently Johns thinks that’s what 2011 should be all about – the pursuit of the rad.  I like it.

[via DesignWorkLife]

On Saturday I went to see the Julian Schnabel exhibit at the AGO.  It was fantastic.  I haven’t enjoyed an art exhibit like this in a long time.  I think it was the scale of his paintings that really appealed to me – most of his pieces are over 20 feet tall!

The exhibit is on until January 2, 2011.  I recommend you check it out before it’s gone.