Category: sculpture

Helmut Smits

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Without Cabinet

Paddling Pool Fountain

Chandelier

Nature in the Netherlands


City Tree
Trophy Cabinet
1847m

I love simple things like this. So much clever!

Helmut Smits is an idea machine—or “multidisciplinary visual artist”—based in Rotterdam, Netherlands (which makes sense why I like it). I’m uncertain how I can across them, but the approach to art is delightful. Here are a few samples of their work, and be sure to mosey on over to their site to check out the rest!
xx
j

Seriously? Seriously.

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SCULPTURE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ME to learn to use tools, materials, and skills in a way not utilized in graphic design. I enjoy the possibilities within craftwork and the escape from the computer. It’s a rare opportunity for me to build with my hands rather than from pixels and vectors.

Last spring I began to further explore the notion of melding the two realms of sculpture and graphic design — handcraft and text. Previously text was something I’d only explored and manipulated in Illustrator. I created my first text-driven sculptural installation titled Love, Mom, a 9-foot sculpture of suspended paper cubes—”pixels”—in a pixelated rendering of my mom’s signature. This September I continued along the same path, opening the semester with Seriously, a handmade sign of a common expression.
A lot of detail goes into graphic design, and even more goes into translating graphics into three dimensional objects. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Seriously started on the computer, each letter enlarged and printed to size, hand cut with a nibbler and finished with a cutoff disk, sanded in order to preserve the structural quality and exactness of each letter, painted and sewed together. It was nothing short of a learning experience.
I installed Seriously in the student lounge where it could seriously make a statement, and photographed it this past week for my semester portfolio.
Seriously.

xx
j