THE PARACONCEPTUAL ART OF TOBIAS WONG

"In my day artists wanted to be outcasts, pariahs. Now they are all integrated into society". - Marcel Duchamp

PERFECT LOVERS (FOREVER) 2002

Two commercial clocks outfitted with atomic radio receivers which automatically synchronize to the U.S. Atomic Clock and tells time accurate to 1 second every million years.

In a field in which so many people want to be the next Philippe Starck, Donald Tobias Wong stood out as a designer who wanted to be the next Duchamp. Deeply influenced by subversive art movements like Dada and Fluxus, he graduated from the sculpture program at the Cooper Union and went on to produce an acclaimed and influential body of work that questioned concepts like luxury and consumerism in a business that was about promoting them. 

24hrs of PURE SILVER LEAF 1998  so your shit will sparkle 

Pure Silver passes straight through the body
and ends up in your stool - resulting in sparkly shit !

( who says everything has been designed?)

He was an artist, his objects statements and his work made the "public" think. Something surreal, something paranormal, something deeply touching. He conied the term "paraconceptual" to describe his work.

“You couldn’t not remark on his work,” someone said. “You couldn’t not have an opinion.”

That included legal opinions. Mr. Wong, famously, was the target of cease-and-desist actions by several companies whose work he cheekily appropriated and subverted, including the fashion designer Issey Miyake (whose Pleats Please dress he turned into a cover for a computer monitor) and McDonald’s (whose discontinued model of a coffee spoon, once popular with cocaine users, he plated in gold). 

 INDULGENCES

He had too many things to say, too many things he couldn't explain. He was a "paraconceptual" genius and in his work he left so many concepts that still waiting to be discovered. Also his death still a mystery, we only know he killed himself on May 30th 2010 at 35.

I was browsing his website. It's pretty sad but it seems he still around, behind the scenes. A strange but interesting feeling.

 KILLER RING

  Constructed of a razor sharp diamond set backwards in a durable yet comfortable setting, Wong’s engagement ring is to die for and to kill with. Outfitted with a single-karat rock, the ring functions as a serious weapon, but, as always, size matters and the bigger the bling, the deeper the cut.

From the website:

"In a dream i saw a way to survive and i was full of joy" .

I am sorry, but this site has not been updated forever... however, please do enjoy what's here and come back soon as i will be adding dozens of even more exciting projects  (or just GOOGLE me in the meantime for  latest projects and current exhibitions).     

 

JUST "SEND A CLOUD"

When you were a little child you must have been lying in the grass staring at the sky and watching the clouds go by. You must have felt that you would like to touch the cotton-candy-like clouds, you wanted to squeeze them and you wanted to shape them into different forms. You wanted to fly and you wanted to jump on them or maybe you just wanted to lay on them and float.   

The clouds making us think, bringing peace, disturbing, inspiring and sending messages.

The idea comes from a brilliant young mind, the founder is Istvàn Szucs.
"Send a cloud" is a project born from the need to communicate in a special and unique way.

It is out of the crowd and proposing new horizons. Stop you, take a break for a second and listen what you feeling. Express it!! 

Surprising someone with a present is not an easy thing to do. These unique and sewn little clouds are custom made and you can easily send a message with your own words.

From dream to reality, from reality to dream...the clouds are the best way to share feelings and moods.

For more info visit the website sendacloud.com

CRAZY CLOWN TIME-DAVID LYNCH

Composed, performed and directed by David Lynch, Crazy Clown Time is the last musical production of this visionary genius. Love it.

MEATYARD AND HIS GOTHIC AROMA

Dolls, children, abandoned houses, suburbs and masks, a lot. Heavy, realistic, grotesque scenery. Humorous, at times. The images are totally or partially blurred, highly emotional, sweating humanity.

Enigma and paradox of human behavior. Charming, comic and repulsive. Sometimes troubling. 

In the very process of destroying anonymity by denying particularity, the masks refuse to let us dismiss these figures as anonymous “other people.” They become instead effigies of ourselves.

 

 

 

It's a continuous celebration of paradox, an excursion into the metaphysical human territory with an ironic taste. Meatyard is a visionary, realist.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BIRDS: KOBI LEVI

"When I design a shoe I think about it as a sculpture to wear, an art piece you live with. You and your  body affect its look and it affects yours. Footwear should have its life with and without being on the feet, on the contrary to cloths that exist only when being worn". Kobi Levi

 

'bird series' uses well-known iconic appearance of some feathered friends, such as a mallard duck and swan, incorporating into footwear. the colors and shapes represent the color types of feathers, while the beaks become the heel.

 

Kobi Levi is not your average shoe maker; and his shoes are not your average shoe. Choosing to blur the lines between art and fashion, Bezalel academy of art & design graduate Kobi creates handmade “wearable sculptures” that entertain, challenge and perplex their audience. With the shoe as his canvas, Kobi uses humour and social satire to fashion absurdly original footwear that has been exhibited around the world. Having designed commercial footwear in Italy, China and Brazil, Kobi is currently collaborating with both Israeli and international companies to develop his own women’s shoe line.

YOKO ONO "EYE BLINK" FILM

Enchanted by this silent minute...

Camera: Peter Moore. Entry by George Maciunas: “High speed camera, 200fr./sec. view of one eyeblink.”

GAGA'S WORLD(S) AT BARNEYS

There’s always something special happening in NYC and no visit could ever be the same. This year alone there were several exhibits, including the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET which I had to miss due to timing, unfortunately.

I was in Ny last week, and for this Christmas the Barneys windows (and the store’s entire 5th floor) are designed by Lady Gaga and her team, which includes her Mom!

A take on Santa's iconic workshop, the project has been realized through the eyes of renowned creative talents: Lady Gaga, Nicola Formichetti, and Eli Sudbrack and avaf, in collaboration with Barneys' creative director Dennis Freedman.

Gaga's Budoir

Created in collaboration with renowned hairstylist Bob Recine, this window is a surrealist take on Lady Gaga’s own personal boudoir. Constructed entirely out of hair, the room is filled with iconic references to hair styles and fashions from Gaga’s past.

Gaga Crystal cave

 

This mysterious ice world is a light installation featuring a mermaid sculpture reminiscent of Gaga.

Gaga Machine

This window plays with the idea of Lady Gaga physically morphing into a gilded motorcycle.

Gaga Constellation

Q4, an NYC-based experiential digital agency, collaborated on this window, which features a film by director Tim Richardson and Nicola Formichetti. The interactive short film portrays Gaga as a series of evolving constellations.