Untitled, 2007. Erick Swenson. Polyurethane resin, acrylic paint, MDF, polystyrene 30″ X 181″ X 280″

Considering the numerous types of protest that will occur in Toronto over the next 48+ hours, here’s something that could be interpreted as stop BP and save the whales ‘climate activism’ art. Don’t be fooled by Erick Swenson’s hyper realistic polyurethane resin, polystyrene, MDF and acrylic sculptures. Check out Ne Plus Ultra, a decaying deer with a skeleton covered in a scrimshaw of ancient mariner charts. Who comes up with this stuff?! …Erick Swenson…

We first saw the Philips living Colours in 2006 when it was still a concept design and fell in love instantly. It looked fantastic and was such an exciting idea. A couple of years later in 2008 we saw the commercialized version and it looked a little grim. It had lost a lot of it’s initial charm and was a shadow of it’s former self. now another two years later in 2010 I’ve actually gotten my hands on one of the commercial units courtesy of Philips themselves and it’s become clear that I was both right and wrong. continue…

The Philadelphia Zoo has just opened a new exhibit featuring some animals … kindof. The difference is that the animals are made of Lego brand toy building blocks. Thirty Four endangered species have been built by Sean Kenney and placed in zoo enclosure habitats. The zoo has commissioned five more Lego-certified builders for future exhibits to be held this year as this one is already proving successful in drawing the crowds and raising both awareness and revenue.

[Creatures of Habitat]

This is the most x-treme confection conflation in the illustrious history of food and food-like products. Its organic sustainably farmed bacon and I know you’re already on board but wait, theres more. Its got a touch of Vermont maple syrup flavouring. But wait.  Theres more. It’s in convenient on-a-stick lollipop form. But wait! THERES MORE! It’s also double Caffeinated for that extra punch to the brain you’ve been looking for. Ambrosia is for peasants. This is truly the food of the gods.

[Lollyphile]

Santiago Calatrava bases a lot of his work on biology, fusing his engineering prowess and architectural sensibilities with bio-mimicry of naturalistic forms. Then he paints it all bone white. He makes no secret of this inspiration though some astute intellectuals would argue that nothing can be gained from attempting to mimic the beauty of a butterfly, for instance, since one can never succeed in actually coming out as the winner in such a comparison as one could never supersede or even match that beauty and elegance. Black + Blum did not seek inspiration from nature for their High + Dry dish rack though. They, more sensibly perhaps, looked to architecture for inspiration. Santiago Calatrava’s architecture. Ruh Roh. So now we have a dish rack based on a building based on a butterfly. Welcome to the future. It’s recyclable and folds completely flat for storage too. Too bad it’s made from plastic in the first place. Wood is recyclable too you know.