Created by South African artist Marco Cianfanelli, “Release” is a gorgeous monument to a true icon of peace: Nelson Mandela. To mark the 50th anniversary of Mandela’s capture by apartheid police in 1962, Cianfanelli created 50 columns of painted laser-cut steel in the South African town of Howick. Intriguing shapes up close, the pieces create a striking profile of Nelson from afar. Cianfanelli says, “the 50 columns represent the 50 years since his capture, but they also suggest the idea of many making the whole; of solidarity. It points to an irony as the political act of Mandela’s incarceration cemented his status as an icon of struggle, which helped ferment the groundswell of resistance, solidarity and uprising, bringing about political change and democracy.” Such a powerful and beautiful piece of work…

(photographs via designboom)  

Colour powder photography has been a popular trend in the art world lately but what about something slightly more opaque, vibrant and explosive? Enter the Paint Pigment Photographs series by Rob and Nick Carter. Inspired by Holi, the British husband-and-wife team captured these bursts of hue against a blue sky and the final result is, as designboom beautifully described, a unique kind of daytime firework show. While colourful powder is soft and dreamy, the use of paint pigment creates bold saturated colour with some pretty fabulous droplets. Oh how I love this series…

(photographs via rob and nick carter & designboom)  

The RGB Colorspace Atlas by artist Tauba Auerbach caught my attention earlier this year but after losing the link, I started to wonder if it was just a wonderful dream! In three 8″ x 8″ cubes, Auerbach showcases “all the colors in existence” and the entire RGB gradient across 3,632 pages. Each book is a different RGB scheme and each page is a frame of the colour palette (its creation aided by video animation). A digital offset print on paper, the striking cloth cover and page edges were airbrushed by Auerbach. The unique binding was co-designed by Auerbach and Daniel E. Kelm and bound by Kelm and Leah Hughes. I’m still trying to sort out how RGB colour would be printed accurately but regardless, the piece is a gorgeous piece of sculptural colour…

(photographs via daniel e. kelm, tauba auerbach and designboom)  

Brazilian artist Ana Dias Batista creates lovely sculptures from simple boxes of colourful chalk. I love the texture-filled pattern and typography that results. I hope Ana expands the series as I would love to see other colours and different size chalk boxes. The possibilities are endless. Yep, there is magic in the supply closet…

(spotted on present & correct)  

It’s no secret that I love perforated surfaces (particularly when light pours through the tiny holes in rather dreamy ways). In her photography series Daré alla Lucé, Canadian artist Amy Friend allows new light to pass through found vintage images by altering the surface with tiny pinholes. I am in love with the ethereal results and how a real sense of magic seems to infuse these images of years gone by…

(photographs via amy friend)

I love design that takes advantage of stair edges as they are a fabulous canvas for colour and pattern. Case in point? A beautiful staircase makeover by Dihzahyners, a team of artists and designers “aimed at creating initiatives to make Beirut brighter and more beautiful through colour”. It’s amazing what a vibrant pattern can do to a space…

(spotted on/photograph via street art utopia)   

I am a huge fan of the gorgeous thread installations created by Mexican artist Gabriel Dawe. The ornate layering and depth of colour created using just regular sewing thread is astounding. I love the many rainbow pieces in Gabriel’s “Plexus” series but find myself particularly drawn to the installations of three or five colours and especially the very high ones and those that wrap around staircases. What beautiful magic can be created with simple sewing supplies and a little insane dedication…

(photographs via gabriel dawe)

Photographer Joanna McClure has several series devoted to the dynamic structure of paper but her ‘Synesthesia’ collection has caught my eye for its abstract beauty and gorgeous use of colour. Are those strips of translucent paper interacting in a bed of water? I can’t completely tell but I am smitten with the juicy, gel-like textures and intersecting palettes created regardless…

(photographs via joanna mcclure)

I am a big fan of Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier and when I saw the photographs of his Les Boules Roses installation in Montreal, I almost immediately booked a ticket East. Created for the Aires Libres summer celebration which turns Sainte-Catherine Street East into an art-loving pedestrian zone, the piece features 200,000 resin balls in three sizes and five tones of pink. Using bracing wire, the rows of balls are laced through the trees in nine different suspension patterns and at varying heights. The final product is a magical canopy stretching over 1km between St. Hubert and Papineau streets. The different tones of pink and levels of suspension bring dimension-rich, joyful texture to the streetscape. You can see this gorgeous temporary rooftop from now until September 16th. The world needs more colourful street canopies methinks…

(photographs via claude cormier, archdaily and arthitectural)

Check out this extraordinary piece by shadow artist Kumi Yamashita created for the American Express office lobby in Tribeca, New York. Kumi asked American Express employees to take a photo of their profile and selected 22 images for the wall installation. Using carefully creased origami paper and a single light source, she effectively sculpted shadow to reveal the profiles on the wall. The power of light, colour and paper never ceases to astound me…

(spotted on my modern met)

Yes, I am a broken record of coloured smoke gushing (see here, here and here). I admit I am a tad obsessed. There is just something beautiful about an eyesore or neutral landscape suddenly bursting with colour. Until now, I have admired this mini-movement in still images only but then I spied this sublime video by New York based studio floto+warner (photography/director team Jeremy Floto and Cassandra Warner). The photographs are gorgeous but the video captures the dreamy way coloured smoke suddenly and vibrantly fills spaces while dancing and dispersing in the wind. I sure hope I see a fuchsia plume of smoke cross my path one day…

(photographs and video via floto+warner)

I saw Swedish designer Pernilla Jansson’s ‘A New Proposal’ for the first time yesterday and have completely fallen in love with it. Building on a desire to “disturb the established order”, Pernilla lets the standard office fluorescent light become a playful installation of beautiful neon. Simple and so very beautiful. I would love to see an office embrace this idea. One hanging over a reception desk or main studio table would certainly showcase a culture of breaking through the standard way of doing things…

(images via pernilla jansson and dezeen; spotted on rena tom’s pinterest)

Chalk pastels are one of my favourite art supplies. Sure, they’re messy but that’s the beauty of them! The different layers of colourful dust mixing across a box layered with vibrant sticks and shards of hue… There is a new palette each time you pull them out of your drawer. This shot by Elsie Larson highlights some mingling chalk pastel colours and brings a big dash of bright to a rather grey day.

(photograph by elsie larson)

I am mesmerized by ‘Bubblegum‘, a whimsical and colourful installation by Merijn Hos and Renée Reijnders. The piece features 50 balloons around one metre in diameter that “shine, float and bubble” across the large water expanse Weerwater in Almere, Netherlands. At night, LED lights are inserted into the balloons to create a magical hue-filled glow. I love that no photograph of this installation will ever be the same twice as the balloons dance across the water in a million different ways…

(photographs via merijn hos and renée reijnders)

Spanish photographer Lola Guerrera created her series ‘Nebula Humilis’ in the deserts of Mexico and I love the juxtaposition of harsh, neutral rock formations and soft, vibrant plumes of coloured smoke. The red image really feels like a magical volcano, don’t you think? (p.s. I am a huge fan of this coloured smoke movement in art. Take a look at my other two postings on the subject here and here).

(photographs via lola guerrera)

It may sound random but I have a thing for home art installations involving spools of thread. I have been enamoured with Douglas Coupland’s for quite some time (3rd image) as he made a pure white wall come alive with a tailor shop-inspired installation of industrial thread spools. I also love the old wooden sign full of small thread bundles at the home of Zoe Bissell and Bryan Buryk (top image). Last but not least, the wonderful apartment of architect Chau Truong which features a black wall of thin shelves holding vibrant spools of thread and varying lengths of thread. Truong says, “every time the door opens or closes, the motion causes these thread ends to swing uniformly like leaves in the wind.” Colourful, architectural, artful and very happy-making.

(photographs via new york times, design tripper and new york times)