It’s no secret FWP loves outer space, the future, and all things reflective of the beautiful possibilities for mankind’s tomorrow. Anything that speaks to our penchant for the wispy, intricate, colorful and extraordinary is sure to be an instant favorite. Such is the case with San Fransicsco-based painter and sculptor Mario Martinez, a.k.a. Mars-1, who got his start doing graffiti in Fresno, Ca. His work is breathtaking and inspiring, the best thing to space-travel we’ve got until Virgin Galactic becomes somewhat affordable. Whether beholding one of his exotic paintings or lifelike sculptures, the looker is transported...

Francesca Woodman was a talented photographer whose life and career were cut short at a young age. Her work is powerful and evocative while remaining simple. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has organized the first ever comprehensive show of her work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Woodman was born in 1958 and began photography at the very young age of 13. She attended art school in Rhode Island and Rome in the 70′s. Her style, as it developed, often consisted of self-portraits that explore her own form. After school, she moved to New York City where she attempted to work in the field of fashion photography. She...

Sometimes in art, the simplest methods create the most striking images, and although “simple” is not the first word that comes to mind when viewing Kathryn Carr‘s paper cuttings, her basic methods leave us with images we can’t get out of our heads. Since 2008, Carr has been turning black sheets of paper into fantasy-scapes straight from the story book in her mind. Inspired by the German paper cutting artist Scherenschnitte, her work embodies the playful mystery of old fairy tales and far away imaginary lands. And she’s totally self-taught. “I turned my attention to this art form because I was drawn to the...

You know the platitude “The world is your playground?” Well, a group of artists in the Czech Republic are taking the statement quite literally by staging an urban intervention they call “Kolotoc.” The Prague-based artists in question are Vojtch Fröhlich, Ondej Mladý, Jan šimánek, and Vladmir Turner. Kolotoc translates to merry-go-round in English. Using nothing but ropes, climbing harnesses, wood planks and a massive rotating billboard on the side of a highway, they have created an urban amusement ride. Turning a giant eye-sore (the sole purpose of which was to advertise to the masses) into a joyous carnival...

Have you ever wanted to play on a seesaw in an abandoned hotel? The Greece-based architecture firm Infrared has you covered with their newest piece “313-315 Symbiosis.” It’s a seesaw spanning rooms 313, 314, and 315 of an abandoned-hotel-turned-gallery-space, hence the name. It is symbiotic because you can be sitting on it in room 315 and interacting with the inhabitants of room 313 and 314 but never actually see them. Though you’re interacting with someone far away, you could still be by yourself in the room. The seesaw is about 25 feet long. The two outer rooms (313 and 315 respectively) are painted white and...

http://vimeo.com/32312872 Sometimes, simple vandalism just isn’t enough. Why use one spray can when a robot can use 30? These thoughts propelled the Stockholm-based street artist Akay to create his Instruments of Mass Destruction (complicated technical solutions to aide in simple acts of vandalism.) I know of two devices that he’s made so far. Above you see the Rainbow Warrior. As the byline of the series says, it is a complicated device with a simple purpose. Rainbow Warrior consists of a vertical stand armed with 30 cans of spray paint in whatever color arrangement you want. The vandal rides his or her bike by a wall and...

This past week, Miami has been celebrating its 10th annual Art Basel, a week in which the entire city is taken over by various artists from all over the world and rich people hover in super yachts to buy their work. It’s an exciting time to be in Miami, and everywhere you look are cool exhibits and installations. One of the coolest and largest pieces on display took place on the face of the Tides Hotel of South Beach Friday and Saturday night, and it didn’t even cost anything to see! A three and a half minute 3D video presentation celebrating 8bit video games and hot cars, brought to us by Pearl Media and Hyundai, as part of...