New Nathan Love Animated Thanksgiving Promo For NBC

The latest collaboration between illustrator/director Nathan Love and NBC to wish their viewing audience a Happy Thanksgiving holiday is this 30 second promo which starts airing today.



Client: NBC Artworks
Director: Nathan Love
Creative Director: Joe Burrascano
Art Director: Anca Risca
Animation Director: Ryan Moran
Rigging: Dan Vislocky, Frank Naranjo
FX Animation: Stieg Retlin
Sound Design & Music: Drew Skinner

Recent Realism Paintings Of Fabricated American Landscapes By Alex Roulette.

above: Alex Roulette, Airborne, Oil on Panel, 26"x 37", 2010

I first noticed Alex Roulette's impressive realism with his 2008 painting, Summer (shown below), which caught my eye because I have a thing for pool paintings.


above: Summer, Oil on Panel, 36"x48", 2008

This past year, Alex had a solo exhibition called Fabricated Realism at the George Billis Gallery in New York in which the 2010 paintings in this post were shown. His work continues to have great aesthetic appeal and in 2010, Alex played more with unusual light sources and effects in his work. Sun flares, reflections, snowflakes and other natural and fabricated lighting replaces the strong shadows prevalent in his 2007-2008 work.

At Swim, Oil on Panel, 28"x 42", 2010:

At the Lake, Oil on Panel, 20"x 21", 2010

Badlands, Oil on Panel, 30"x 38", 2010:

Chopping Wood, Oil on Panel, 24"x 34", 2010:

Jump, Oil on Panel, 24"x 38", 2010:

Swing Set, Oil on Panel, 15"x 15", 2010:

Parking Lot, Oil on Panel, 20"x 21":

Windmill, Oil on Panel, 30"x 44", 2010:

Unknown Lights, Oil on Panel, 45"x 36", 2010:


The above paintings are represented by George Billis Gallery, New York

The artists statement about his recent work: "Fabricated Realism"

My current series of paintings depict fabricated American landscapes. The invented landscapes arise from archetypal citations of past and present cultural influences. Placing figures into these landscapes is an attempt to take advantage of the viewer’s natural ability to extrapolate narratives. By creating the paintings using a conjuncture of various photographic references, I continue to explore the distinctions between photographic and painted space. The disjointed nature of the source images, contrasting with the way they are realistically unified, take on a contingent sense of reality.

Inventing landscapes allow memories of places and events to be fictionalized. Coalescing unrelated photographs is done in a way comparable to the process in which the mind synthesizes images when recollecting memories or imagining new images. As opposed to culling images from an abstract memory bank, I utilized tangible sources, many of which come from the vast image resources our contemporary culture offers. The current expanding abundance of accessible images is allowing the imagination to expand the ability to visualize unseen places.


gallery@georgebillis.com

Born in 1986, in Columbus, Ohio, Alex Roulette now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. To see his fabulous work from 2009 and before, visit his website

The Juvet Landscape Hotel. 7 Private Dwellings In The Norwegian Woods.

On a sheer river bank, amongst birch, aspen, pine and nature-sculpted boulders, lies Juvet, Europe’s first landscape hotel, conceived of by Knut Slinning.





Located in Burtigard, Gudbrandsjuvet, Norway and constructed by Jensen and Skoven Architects at first glance, the seven detached guest rooms seem modest and unassuming. But when you open the door and go in, it’s as if nature rushes in to greet you through the massive panoramic windows. You can almost feel the trees brushing against you, and the snow-white drops of spray from the river Valldøla on your face.







The Seven Individual Accommodations
Each room is a detached small independent house with one, or sometimes two of the walls constructed in glass. The landscape in which these rooms are placed is by most people considered spectacularly beautiful and varied and the topography allows a layout where no room looks at another. In this way every room gets its own surprising view of a dramatic piece of landscape, always changing with the weather and the time of the day and the season.












The Spa
According to legend, those who drink the water from Olavskjelda (St. Olav’s Spring) will remain healthy and young forever. Thus when enjoying their spa, you are practically bathing in holy water.






In addition to pampering yourself in the spa or relaxing in your secluded accommodations, activities in the area include all types of Winter sports, Hikes, Rafting, Wilderness camp and World heritage site.

Open March through October, the hotel offers peaceful, secluded and inspiring surroundings for both private individuals and companies who want to design their own arrangements – whether it’s a private event, a camp gathering or business meeting.

Client: Knut Slinning
Project Architects: JSA; Jan Olav Jensen, Børre Skodvin, Torunn Golberg Helge Lunder, Torstein Koch; Thomas Knigge
Landscape architect: Jensen & Skodvin
Static consultant: Siv. Ing. Finn Erik Nilsen
Year Planned: 2004 - 2007
Year Built: 2007 - 2009
Area: 800m2
Cost: 1 Million Euro





Juvet Landscape Hotel

most photos and info courtesy of Knut Bry and the Juvet Landscape Hotel, additional photos by Jiri Havran

Perverse Plush Toys: Meet Sanchez & Friends

 

 Sanchez & Friends is a new collection of perverse plush toys and accessories recently launched by Andy Tider of Brooklyn, NY and the first four products in the line are now available for purchase, just in time to make for fun shocking stocking stuffers.

World's Most Expensive Aquarium Made with 24k Gold, Mammoth Tusk & T-Rex Bone.

The Aquavista Dinosaur Gold - The only Aquarium with a 65 million year old history.

This is the world's rarest, most exclusive, most expensive - and undoubtedly the most bizarre- fish tank ever made. 
No surprise that it's a product of Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, maker of all things elite (with the world's most annoying and poorly designed website) who was commissioned by Aquavista UK of London to design something luxurious and unique.




The result is a wall mounted panoramic aquarium whose frame is made with a massive amount of pure solid 24ct gold in the form of 68 kilograms. Embedded in the frame are two side veneers made from real mammoth tusk with a unique piece of dinosaur bone from an actual T-REX diagonally shaved into the tusk.



The specifications:
• Low maintenance – designed to simplify your life, the Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquarium requires less 
than 15 minutes per month


• No daily care – complete with embedded Automatic Feeder, caring for your fish has never been easier. 
Just refill the feeder periodically and enjoy!


• Complete advanced aquarium system – the Aquavista Panoramic is pre-assembled with dual filtration 
system, heater, air pump, lighting, CO2 generator, and automatic feeder that is controlled by an easy to 
use programmable touch-screen control that simplifies all functions. Essential aquarium 
care accessories are included at no charge.




• Create an underwater garden – each unit comes with a Carbon Dioxide Generator that allows live plants to photosynthesize and 
flourish. Aquascaping is a new and growing hobby, and it has never been simpler.


• Space-saving design – Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquariums’ sleek wall-mounted design brighten up any wall to create a 
clutter-free environment.


The project took 4 months to complete in London where Aquavista UK is based. Installation by Aquavista UK
.

Available as a limited edition of only 3
Priced at $4.8 million or £3 million

Buy it here