Awesome Art

We’ve featured Tesla art before, but ArcAttack’s Dorkbot SXSWi performance puts a spring spark in our step; it uses two “singing” coils with 1/2 million Volt sparks and a Faraday suit.

Packed with more trivia than a Comic Con, this Periodic Table of Sci-Fi Film and TV Poster takes us back to the future and breaks down all things geeky into its basic (fifth) elements.

It’s not as tall the “real” Autobot leader, this 2.5 meter, 550 kg Optimus Prime statue can fight for freedom and toy licensing deals any day; it’s made with over 5,000 recycled steel parts.

Gabriel Cañas’ Tetris Chair has only been seen as a digital render, but he’s finally put the pieces together and created a prototype; it’ll be displayed at the Video Game Museum in Paris.

The Hardcore Gamer’s IQ Test will require all your 8-bit superhero powers; the result of 8 months of work, it packs in 375 games and more than 425 characters and is available as a poster.

Ji Yong-Ho’s Used Tire Sculptures breathe new, organic life into a “tired” substrate: he crafts stunning sharks, wild dogs, and other creatures from tires, steel, wood, and styrofoam.

Lamponi’s Lamps are high-end, lighthearted lights; one-of-a-kind and made from vintage pieces, his lamps include everything from repurposed scooters to aluminum aircraft.

Winner of 3 Oscars and over 250 other awards Richard Williams’ Animator’s Survival Kit is a must for artists young and old; the 2009 expanded edition includes an extra 30 pages.

Patrick Action is Lord of the Buildings: his Matchstick Minas Tirith was finished 2/16/10 after three years and consists of 420k matchsticks, 24k blocks, and 100s of structures. Thanks, Hutchison!

Vandalism is bad, kids, but we can’t help but chuckle at TrustoCorp’s Subversive Street Signs; none of them endanger the public welfare while maximizing (and befuddling) public mindshare.

We wish they were t-shirts, but our geek antennae are still tingling over Chop Shop’s trio of uber-nerdy prints; they include the Nerd Rider, The Craftsman, and The Squid and Robot.

Quentin Tarantino and 13 artists team up for The Lost Art of Inglourious Basterds show 2/18/10 in Los Angeles; limited to 6 prints each and signed by Quentin, proceeds go to Haiti.

At nearly 8 feet tall and weighing over 1,200 lbs, we’re not sure if we’d rather be stuck with this Alien Queen Sculpture or the real thing; it’s made from over 4,000 pieces of recycled steel.

Hollywood’s been robbing the sequel and reboot trains for years, but it could be much worse: Worth1000’s Mate A Movie is an unholy union of zombies, vampires, Vulcans, and Pandorans.

If you need a V-day card and are lucky enough to be married to a Jedi, James Stowe’s Star Wars Valentines are perfect for couples and friends alike; there are six cards, one per Episode.

Jamie Bell’s Brief History of Everything is by no means comprehensive, but it is epic: the flipbook video was drawn with biro pens and took 2,100 pages, 50 jotter books, and 3 weeks to make.

A treat for both stargazers and typesetters, Ross Berens’ Under the Milky Way collection gives all eight planets (and yes, Pluto) their own unique 13″x19″ poster with facts and figures.

Available 2/24/10: if your braaaain found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a bit too dense, this set of 30 postcards pictorially merges Victorian romance with ultraviolent zombie mayhem.

Popping an ollie is no problem for the TMNT, but Mario and Mega Man get in on the action with these Video Game Skateboard Decks by Logan Zawacki; they’re on display at I’M BOARD.

Sorry, Ash, you’re not the first to try and catch ’em all, and you won’t be the last: Squirtle and gang go really old school with this collection of Pokemon as traditional Japanese art.

He-Man was never the sharpest sword in the armory, which explains this Mr. Villains Class of 1983 “photo”; this fantastic retro poster by Christopher Lee is a must for MOTU fans.

Film the Blanks is an ongoing project to create abstract, minimalist versions of movie posters by blanking out text and reducing shapes and colors; see how many you can guess here.

Taking him four years to complete, Jens Gustafsson’s My MS Paint World is the Sistine Chapel of bitmaps; it’s 8883 x 7636 pixels large (8 feet x 8 feet) and takes up a 203 BMP file.