Awesome Art & Design

Just in case you haven’t had a chance to catch the 2008 Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing: Boston.com has a fantastic collection of photographs here.

We generally think of smoke as the byproduct of some other process, but these photographs highlight the seemingly chaotic wisps and curls. The result is intimate, artistic, and awe-inspiring.

Boomboxes have been called many things, from ghetto blasters to jam boxes. We can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic as we view the photos in Lyle Owerko’s Boombox Project.

It’s tough not to like Christian Lorenz’s sci-fi and fantasy-themed art. The scenes are imaginative, colorful, and often thought provoking. Gallery Nucleus carries several of his prints.

Jeremy Mayer makes complex sculptures out of typewriter parts; the human figures in particular are anatomically correct (within reason). No soldering, welding or gluing; it’s all cold assembly.

Concept Ships is stuffed to the brim with spaceship and experimental aircraft art. Be warned: if you have even the slightest interest in future tech, you’ll easily waste hours here.

Michael Rea is like the boy that never grew up, and we envy him for that. He creates wood sculptures with a sci-fi/geeky twist, from Indiana Jones’ Lost Ark to giant samurai mecha.

Peter Callesen is an amazing paper artist; his latest “White Diary” is a human head filled with thought processes and stories. His works use nothing more than A4 or A5 paper, pencil and glue.

Graffiti doesn’t get much respect as an art form, but it looks pretty cool as furniture. These pieces are by industrial designer Luis Alicandu, who is also an editor at design blog MoCoLoCo.

Poster Boy is an NYC artist who vandalizes subway posters, largely with clever cutting and pasting. It’s screwball humor with a healthy dose of social commentary.

Earth 2584 is a gorgeous desktop wallpaper and print by German artist Tobias Roetsch (deviantART ID: taenaron), and depicts a future with Europe at war and Asia reigning supreme.

Photographer Troy Paiva’s book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, is a must read. Using a technique called light painting, he mixes flashlight with moonlight to produce otherworldly photos.