'Made In China' Is A Soldier's Portrait Created With Over 5500 Plastic Toy Soldiers.

Artist Joe Black's Made In China was created using using more than 5,500 toy soldiers. The portrait is of a Chinese soldier boy taken by well-known photojournalist Robert Capa and appeared on the May, 1938 cover of LIFE magazine. The colored, molded plastic toy soldiers used in the project were manufactured in China, hence the title “Made in China”.



A closer look.
The portrait in full:

and as it appears when zooming in further and further:





Robert Capa's original photo:


And as it appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1938:


Made In China:


Joe Black

750 Pairs Of Socks Make A Portrait Of Chinese Film Director Zhang Yimou.

When Artist/Architect Hong Yi, who goes by the nickname "Red", first moved to Shanghai she was fascinated by how many people still dried their clothes in the traditional manner of hanging them on bamboo poles in alleys, despite being in a sophisticated urban city.



This inspired her to create a portrait of famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou in a similar manner, using 750 pairs of socks provided by HASSELL (shirts were too big and expensive). She found an interesting way to pin the socks together to hang them from the bamboo, creating diamond-shaped pieces of the "skin". As time passed during the day, the sun would cast shadows emphasizing different angles.


above: Chinese film director Zhang Yimou

She honored the director whose films include Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower (he was also the art director for the Beijing Olympics) because many of his movies reflect the beauty of the Chinese culture, through the use of bamboo and traditional costumes, making him an appropriate and worthy subject of her project.


The process:



The piece was surprisingly heavy to hang, friends assisted Red,





A time-lapse video of the project directed and shot by Jonathon Lim


Red creates several interesting portraits with unusual media such as coffee stains, books and teabags.

above: Red with her portrait of Jay Chou made of coffee cup stains

above: Red with her portrait of Mark Zuckerman make with booklets

Hong "Red" Yi

New York People, Places and Things Made With Cut Up Metro Cards by Nina Boesch.

As the name suggests, these "Metro Card Collages" are made from cut up pieces of used and expired MetroCards® (MTA cards or New York City subway tickets).


above: A New York Metro Card in use

Artist Nina Boesch uses the front of MetroCards® for color collages (yellow, orange, blue and black), and the back for grayscale collages (black and white). All artworks are one-of-a-kind and vary in size ranging from 5"x7" to 40"x30".




The collages depict anything from landmarks and objects to portraits and typography, and are almost always New York related.










While Nina tries to offer originals for sale on her website, Nina creates a lot of commissioned pieces and has little time to work on her own portfolio of collages. So if you are interested in a collage, please don't hesitate to contact Nina and ask her to create one for you!



About The Artist
Nina Boesch is a New York based interaction designer and artist from Germany. She graduated with honors from Rhode Island School of Design and is now a senior interaction designer at Ralph Appelbaum Associates, an exhibit design firm located in the financial district of Manhattan. Nina's work has been honored by the Art Directors Club, the Type Directors Club, Adobe, AIGA and others and has been featured in various publications such as the NY Times and HOW Magazine.

Nina has been creating collages from MetroCards® for over 10 years. Initially just for friends and family, and recently for a broader audience with exhibits in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Laguna Beach, California. While Nina sells her collages in New York only, some of her pieces have found new homes as far away as Scotland, France and Australia.

Nina Boesch

all images and info courtesy of Nina Boesch.

Custom Candy and Lego Letters Make For Some Sweet Wall Decor.

Letter Sweet framed wall art is a unique mixed media sculpture created with real LEGO® toy bricks and real candy.




Each artpiece is a custom, hand crafted work that will make a fun and colorful addition to any home.



If you prefer, you can select each letter's combination of LEGO® brick color and candy type. Artwork will be emailed to you within 48 hours for your approval.



Every letter tile is made with real LEGO® toy bricks and real candy, including Jelly Belly® jelly beans, Smarties®, Sweet Tarts®, and candy corn.




Each letter tile measures approximately 4" wide x 6" high. And each tile is completely sealed to prevent damage from moisture or pests.


The tiles are mounted to a lightweight yet rigid high-denisty PVC plastic, commonly used in the picture framing and museum industries.



Each Letter Sweet art piece is a unique, custom hand crafted, high quality, luxury heirloom. And every art piece is signed and numbered by the artist, and includes a "Guarantee of Originality" - no two pieces will ever be created alike.


Who's behind this?
Inspired by his love for toys and candy, Gary Doss created the first Letter Sweet artpiece in 2012. Gary has been the owner and curator of the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia since 1995, and the owner and curator of the Classic Toy Musuem since 2004.


above: Gary Doss

Gary started his career in 1972 as a professional enameler in San Francisco, CA. Clients included Macys, General Electric Medical, and Ziff-Davis publishing.

In 2008, Gary created the World's Largest Pez Dispensing Machine and received world wide attention when his artwork was recognized by the 2008 Guinness Book of World Records.

Gary's passion for creating fun, silly and unique items continues today with Letter Sweet.


Letter Sweet