Two sculptures

These sculptures were part of the open air exhibition  "Art Zuid 2013" last summer in the south part of Amsterdam and are made by British sculptor Laura Ford (1961).

 She has called them Rag and Bone with Bin and Bags. Laura works as a fairy tale story teller from a a social and political engagement. A real racoon searching in a bin for some food is fun but when blowing him up and dress him in clothes he becomes a homeless human. The "baglady" everybody will regognize as seen in many big cities. The fairy tale suddenly becomes bitter and cynical.

Skywatch Friday

At the art exhibition ARTZUID 2013 in Amsterdam this sculpture is made by Tony Cragg, (1949) born in the UK. He first worked as a lab technician before become an artist and now lives in Germany where he is teaching at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf. This sculpture is called "Mixed Feelings"  which is an appropriate name I think. See for more Skywatches here

Piggy

This piggy is at the open air exhibition ARTZUID 2013 in Amsterdam. He looked so sad at me in his glass box.

From aside he also had a glass belly. He is made by Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (1965), a conceptual artist who is known by his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project. I don't quite understand his statement and cannot explain this project but maybe you can by reading the link to his webpage.

I rather prefer to see these ones from New Zealand at our city farm "the Kemphaan" in Almere.

Walking feet

These feet belong to the exhibition ArtZuid 2013 in Amsterdam an art exhibition in the open air. They are made by Jems Robert Koko Bi from Ivory Coast Africa and is called Exodus II. When they were just placed in the water, a little drama happend when a mentaly ill man smashed them to pieces in the night. The remains were replaced.

But at another safer place in the exhibition there were more feet of the artist.

I have no idea why the ill man particular chose the feet to destroy. Something must have made him very angry

See for more Skywatches here

Mandela

At the art exhibition "ARTZUID 2013 in Amsterdam  this head made of wood I hadn't recognized as the image of Nelson Mandela at once. It is made by Jems Robert Koko Bi from the Ivory Coast in Africa.

The artist made the head of wooden pallet blocks to express his admiration for Nelson Mandela.

Skywatch Friday

When visiting the open air sculpture exhibition ARTZUID, we had  to go to a new built business centre of Amsterdam to find the start of the route. I passed these colorful flags at a square with benches to relax and thought it was put there as a tribute to the exhibition.

But shame on me, I now read it belongs to the exhibition and is an artwork made by "Pascale Marthine Tayou" from Cameroon. It consitsts 54 flags from countries of Africa. Each flag represents the national identity of a country but also belongs to the African continent as a total of cultures, people and communities.

We had a very blue sky that day, but that has gone now with lots of rain.

See for more Skywatches here.

Wellness Skull

The guests of the Hilton Hotel have a hard time this summer, besides an underpant they also have to look at a skull in front of the hotel. This "Wellness Skull" of dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, contains a wellness inside. 

With the stairs at the back you enter the wellness cabin with sauna, at the left is a shower hanging outside.

This is me entering the sauna photographed by SC of course.

And on the other side is also a hand shower.

It is not in use of course, but the artist wants to express the utopical expectations sport schools raise about health and beauty. It is a symbol of the irrevocably death.

Underwear

Sometimes art can surprise you, take your enlarged underwear and hang it in a tree, so did artist Kenichi Ogawa. The American guests of  the Hilton Hotel were not amused to have this one in front of their chic hotel and had complained about it. The management decided to move it a little further on along the art route exhibition of ARTZUID 2013.

But to my surprise I saw there is still hanging underwear  in a tree in front of the Hilton hotel, but this one is made of "gold" by Ghanese artist El Anatsui. He makes art of metal litter attached together with copper wire. This one is called "Drying towels and pants". He choose exact this place for his exhibition because it should be as if  the sculpture of Rodin "The Thinker" in the back had took out his clothes he said in an interview.
I haven't read about further complaints of the hotel guests yet...

Here a detail of his work, which must be a hell of a job.