Packing Foam Fashions Emulate 16th and 17th Dutch and Flemish Masters' Paintings.

In this ongoing series of quietly elegant photographs by Suzanne Jongmans, she explores textures of both the past and present. Using the foam materials from packaging and insulation, she has fashioned them into the collars, shawls and clothes commonly seen in the 16th and 17th century Dutch, Flemish and French portraits by the likes of Golden Age and Dutch Renaissance painters Vermeer, Franz Hals, and Francois Clouet.

Below are the photographs and foam sculptures by Suzanne Jongmans interspersed with paintings from The Golden Age so you can see the inspiration for her work.

Suzanne Jongmans:

Franz Hals, Portrait of a Woman, 1635:

Suzanne Jongmans:

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a balance, 1664:

Suzanne Jongmans:

Franz Hals, Portrait of a woman, 1630-1635:

Suzanne Jongmans:


Although Suzanne does not reference Spanish painter Diego Velazsquez in her explanation of the series, she clearly was inspired by his famous 1656 painting, Las Meninas, for this one:

detail from Velazquez' Las Meninas:


Some of these photographic prints are available for purchase through Saatchi Online here

Inspired by this post on Beautiful Decay

See more of Suzanne Jongmans work here.

The Disco Queen's Reign Has Ended. Donna Summer Has Danced Her Last Dance.

The Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, has died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer. Known for such pulsing anthems as "Last Dance," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls," Donna's songs became the soundtrack for a glittery age of sex, drugs, dance and flashy clothes.

Her family released a statement saying Summer died Thursday morning and that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."





Donna Summer Downloads, Albums and CDs

You will be missed. We loved to love you, baby.

Famous Faces and Frames Made With Sticks And Sunglasses.

A couple of months ago photographer Philip Karlberg came up with the idea of pin or stick art, a concept he'd had in mind for years. Only he didn't know exactly what it could be used for. However, after a test with sunglasses, that turned out to his liking, he sent the image to Plaza Magazine, and a week later he started shooting an editorial for them.



Karlberg says it was a real challenge to ”sculpture” the faces of these six well-known classic wearers of sunglasses (all shown in this post). It took him six days to shoot the six faces, and around 1,200 sticks were used.

Karl Lagerfeld:

Johnny Depp:

Lady Gaga:

John Belushi:

Jackie O (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis):

Steve McQueen:


Some images from the photoshoot:



all images courtesy of Philip Karlberg
Philip Karlberg

The Coolest Swimming Pool Slide Ever. The Carbon Fiber Silver Leafed Shoot Slide.

SplinterWorks, formed in 2009 by Miles Hartwell and Matt Withington, is a custom furniture company whose designs are more like functional art than traditional pieces of furniture. Their self described mission is to create functional sculpture that unites conceptual, visual and practical fundamentals to create engaging and inspiring pieces.

One of their pieces that stands out is Shoot, a slide for an indoor or outdoor swimming pool that puts all those hideous fiberglass ones to shame.




Starting as a thin burst and shooting up vertically from the ground, the large shining arc emulates the trajectory of water itself.



Made of carbon fiber coated with silver leaf, the sculptural piece curves inwards at the edges forming handrails and the steps are like artful pedestals that form the footholds for climbing to the top.



While it's beautiful to look at and undoubtedly fun to experience, I do not know how the slide keeps from getting too hot. Although I know that Carbon Fibre (or Carbon Fiber for us Americans) has a very high heat tolerance.

The piece, measuring 1800 mm high by 3800 mm long by 900 mm wide was created in an edition of three.

Based thirty minutes south of London in Guildford, SplinterWorks portfolio consists of pieces crafted from exceptional materials such as marble, concrete, jesomite, mirror polished stainless steel, laquers and exotic woods.

See more of SplinterWorks beautiful pieces here.