Feb

On London Streets: Gum Globs Become Art

by Sheron Long on February 17, 2015

Street art showing a surreal figure smoking with cigarette butts and dropped gum littering the sidewalk in front. (Art © Otto Schade; photo © Sheron Long)

Cigarette butts and gum litter are the bane of London’s walkways. Is there a creative solution?
art © Otto Schade; photo © Sheron Long

Ben Wilson Gives Us Something to Chew On

Gum litter is a problem you step into quite unknowingly. It’s a worldwide issue, but when in London, where 3.5 billion pieces of gum end up as litter every year, chances are you’ll sense the problem up close and personal, like on your shoe.

When this happens, most of us utter an epithet, get out of the sticky situation, and go on our way. But Londoner Ben Wilson, an outsider artist, has a more creative reaction. He transforms the disgusting gum globs into tiny underfoot paintings—spots of color that delight the eye of passersby.

Sidewalk with several gum globs, one of which has been painted by Ben Wilson, a London street artist. (Art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long)

The prettiest gum glob on the block
art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long

Two gum splotches side by side, one of which has been painted by street artist Ben Wilson. (Art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long)

When painted, litter becomes art.
art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long

Wilson’s street art highlights the problem of gum litter by juxtaposing a thoughtless act with an act of beauty. Read more...

Sheron Long 1 Comment

Clever Ideas/England/The World's Art & Design

Feb

Paris Celebrates the Circus Arts of Tomorrow

by Meredith Mullins on February 2, 2015

Travel pleasure provided by Matthew Richardson, a circus performer with the cyr wheel, demonstrating circus arts at the Paris Circus of Tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

American Matthew Richardson suspended in his whirling cyr wheel at the Cirque de Demain
© Meredith Mullins

The Cirque de Demain is in Town: The Best of the World’s Young Circus Performers

Jugglers. Contortionists. Acrobats. Who doesn’t love the circus arts—graceful whirlers, sure-footed balancers, and people who fly through the air?

Performers spinning, hanging, tumbling, climbing, somersaulting, diving, stretching, and moving their bodies in mind-bending ways.

The Circus of Tomorrow is in town—the 36th annual Paris Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. There are no lions or tigers clawing the air, no elephants laboring to lift themselves toward the tent top, no cartoonish clowns emerging from tiny cars. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 10 Comments

France (Paris)/On the World Stage

Jan

Fashionable Generation Gap Revealed in Singapore

by Meredith Mullins on January 19, 2015

Malayasian grandfather and grandson swap clothes in a generation gap experiment of conceptual photography by Qozop (Photo © Qozop)

Qozop’s Conceptual Photography Features Creative Clothes Swapping

If our eyes are the windows to our souls, are our clothes the curtains?

Clothes have always held a certain fascination.

Children love to dress up in grown-up outfits.
Fans flock to the red carpets of the world for a glimpse of glamour and the answer to the inevitable designer question: “Who are you wearing?”
Halloween costumes release the inner actor that lurks in all of us.
Fashion Week in trend-setting cities influences the future of style and color.
Cultural traditions are revealed through clothes of the past and present.

While clothes don’t “make the person,” they are an important part of culture, giving clues to our identity and impacting how we feel about ourselves. Read more...

Meredith Mullins Comments

Clever Ideas/Singapore/Stereotypes/The World's Photography

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Creative World