THE BEST Art

A pirate ship meets its ultimate nemesis with these wooden bookends from MokuShop. They’re perfect for housing books about adventures on the open seas. Each one is laser-engraved with intricate details engraved on its surface, and has a non-slip cork bottom.

When you see an old painting hanging on the wall at a museum, it often has had restoration work to preserve its original majesty. In this video from The Museum of Modern Art, conservator Diana Hartman shows us the painstaking work required to repair the fraying canvas of artist Paula Modersohn-Becker’s 1907 self portrait.

Artist Young-Sung Kim captured time-lapse footage over the course of ten months, as he painstakingly created a hyper-real oil painting of a fish. Everything looks so incredibly shiny, we just want to reach out and touch it. The painting is currently for sale from Saatchi Art.

Artist Scott Reinhard creates images of America’s national parks and other notable locations by rendering a topographic relief map onto a survey map, then printing them onto high quality photographic paper for a stunning 3D effect, despite being flat sheets of paper. Each one has lots of nifty geographic and geological details.

Mashable introduces us to Tomislav Topic and Thomas Granseuer of Quintessenz. The duo creates colorful and dynamic art installations by spray-painting flexible mesh material, then layering them into gradations of color. When set against real-world backdrops, they look almost like digital imagery.

A trio of classical musicians teamed up with interactive artists Ouchhh on this innovative performance art work for Ars Electronica, using sensors to measure data from its cellist’s Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma brainwave activity to generate real-time visuals influenced by emotion, focus, auditory, and other neural response.

Artist Simon Stålenhag is known for his incredible vision of dystopian, hyper-commercial worlds. Ilya Plotnikov
a fan of his, has brought a small slice of his work to life by animating images from the book The Electric State, accompanied by music composed by Stålenhag himself.

A fascinating work of kinetic art by Piotr Jędrzejewski. This endlessly moving creation uses a pair of gear-driven rotating spheres to constantly keep in off balance and in motion. The sculpture is on display in front of Poland’s Wrocław–Copernicus Airport.

Artist Jimmy Swift spent hours getting beat up by the waves and sand to paint this pointy rock off the coast of South Goa, India to look like an angry great white shark. It makes for amazing photo opps for visitors, though smacking into a rock might be just as dangerous as swimming with sharks.

Flying Dog Brewery teamed up with famed artist Ralph Steadman to produce this sweet limited-edition deck featuring 18 classic works in a style sure to be familiar to any fan of his good friend Hunter S. Thompson, who helped bring his surreal, splattered imagery to the forefront.

Artist Andy Warhol was known for his bold and colorful imagery of icons of pop culture, from celebrities to products. Now you can own some of his images, from the Campbell’s soup can, to the Brillo box, memorialized as plush pillows, thanks to the folks at kidrobot.

Jampacked with amazing visuals, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a must watch for any fan of animation, comic books, superheroes, or just good movies. Movies with Mikey provides an in-depth look at some of the art and animation techniques used to bring this masterpiece together.

Here in the US, cotton candy is typically just a big fluffy pillow of spun sugar, but in China, it’s often turned into amazing works of edible art by street vendors. Watch as this candy chef in Chongqing, China turns sugar into an intricate multi-color flower. Oh the humanity at 8:11!

Street artist DAKU’s overhead installation in Goa, India casts shadows of words onto the ground as the sun shines through its semi-transparent panels. When viewed in time-lapse, the design is particularly effective. (Thanks Richard!)

Art Insider introduces us to Perth, Australia-based graffiti artist Straker – known for his ability to replicate the glowing look of neon lights using spray paints. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think his canvases were connected to a high-voltage transformer.

You don’t have to speak a word of Spanish to get the fire and enthusiasm of artist Porfirio Jimenez, who creates wonderful pop art paintings using spray paint and stencils. He may have talent, but his real super power is not getting any paint on his white t-shirt.

Artist Kenny Sing of Turn Studio first mapped out a series of geometric patterns on his computer, then carefully cut them out from a ceramic bowl before firing it. Once completed, spinning the piece on a potter’s wheel creates the illusion of movement.

Alvaro Gracia Montoya of MetaBallStudios likes to demonstrate the relative sizes of various objects. In their latest video, they start out with a 1.4″ tall paleolithic statue all the way up to India’s colossal 787 foot-tall Statue of Unity. And here we thought Mount Rushmore was huge.

Looking for a unique geeky gift? Heartwood Editions makes intricate, limited-edition, laser-engraved wood wall art based on franchises like Overwatch, Street Fighter, and Starcraft. Each measures 11.5″ x 17.5″ x 1″ thick. Also sold as a discounted 3-piece bundle.

These small wooden birdhouses from OneManOne Garage are inspired by the look of classic Scotty campers. Each one comes flat-packed and ready to assemble without glue. Available fully-painted or unpainted if you want to do your own decodrating.

Artist Dino Tomic shows off a cool effect he achieved using a two pens – drawing one layer with permanent ink, and another with ink that disappears when heated. The result is a secondary image that reveals itself as the lighter passes over it.

SuckUK’s four-color pen comes loaded with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, so you can draw images in full color with a single pen by crosshatching. While it doesn’t let you adjust saturation levels, it’s still a nifty tool for sketching and belongs in every artist’s toolbox.

Artist Roman Booteen carves on coins and lighters. But some of his hobo nickels are not only incredibly detailed, they have a mechanical aspect as well. Some even work like a mini puzzle that you have to solve before you can activate the moving part.

Maker of woo-den things Bobby Duke Arts shows us how to make a real work of art using something as mundane as the pine 2x4s that are used as wall studs in construction. The result of his creative efforts is a pair of wings that make a sweet wall hanging.