Tag Archives: The Future
Big Eyed Dolls of the Zodiac by Maria Tiurina.
This is the most recent project by London based illustrator Maria Tiurina: a highly original and visually captivating take on the ancient practise of the Zodiac.
Thanks to her early sketches we are given a first hand view into the creation of her big eyed dolls, each one carefully rendered with the characteristics of a particular symbol.
See more Images via Reimagining the Zodiac › Illusion.
Dystopian Worlds by Michal Karcz, Poland.
Digital illustrations of dystopian worlds by Polish artist Michal Karcz.
Starting out as a painter and photographer, which helped him develop his own vision, he left the paintbrush and switch to digital tools “to generate unique realities that were impossible to create with ordinary dark room techniques.”
Karcz’s inspiration comes from listening to music and his visual interpretations of surreal worlds and a possible future leaves you with a feeling of fascination as well as dread.
Most of my work is like a journey to the places which don’t exist.
Places from my dreams, desire, imagination and fears. My inspiration comes from many artists and it doesn’t matter if they get through to me by the sense of vision or hearing.
I can tell that music has the biggest impact on my work. It’s an inseparable element with pictures in my mind, a kind of sound illustration to a visible scenery.
These two things hit me with the strongest intensity.
Read on via Dystopian Worlds by Michal Karcz
The Circular Runway designed to catapult planes Skywards, 1960.
The January 10, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s Sunday comic “Closer Than We Think” includes a curious invention that was supposed to literally catapult us into the Jet Age:
The circular runway.
From the Chicago Tribune:
The heart of tomorrow’s airfield may be a circular catapult-like mechanism for sending planes into the air. It would mean runways much smaller than those now required.
For military purposes, American Engineering Company has already designed a giant wheel that is turned with great force by jet power. Cables from this wheel serve as catapults for fighting aircraft.
The next step would be to use rocket power to catapult planes from a dish-shaped concrete wheel. One spin on such a “circle runway” would produce the same starting speed that now requires a thousand feet or more of conventional runway, and with much less fuel.
The Navy actually tested a similar circular runway concept in 1965. The big difference between the Navy’s tests and the runway envisioned by Radebaugh? The Navy’s was much, much larger and didn’t have that sci-fi “rocket power unit” to propel the plane.
According to the New York Times, the Navy pilots who tested their makeshift runway found that take-off and landing was “surprisingly easy.”
Landing is accomplished by approaching the runway in a 15 degree bank — that is, the wing facing the center of the circle is lowered 15 degrees from the horizontal. Once touchdown is accomplished, the runway seems to take care of the rest.
The plane finds its natural line on the runway, depending on its speed.
Read on via These Circular Runways Were Designed To Catapult Planes Skyward.
Dire Consequences for the Future by Kerbow.
Michael Kerbow is an artist based in San Francisco who works in a variety of mediums including painting, assemblage, drawing and digital photography.
Of particular note are his large oil and acrylic paintings that depict surreal and at times nightmarish visions of the future, where industry and human development has grown without regulation or care for the environment.
My work explores the way in which we engage with our surroundings and the possible consequences our actions have upon the world in which we live. Through my work I attempt to question the rationale of our choices, and try to reveal the dichotomy that may exist between what we desire and what we manifest.
Recently my work has focused upon the mechanisms that power our society and examines how they may influence the construct for a possible future.
See more Images via Paintings by Michael Kerbow Warn of Dire Consequences for Current Actions | Colossal.
Visions of a Post-Apocalyptic future.
During his time spent in Hong Kong, Thailand, and China, American painter Brian Mashburn observed a worryingly escalating urban condition: the growth of cities, industry, and urban populations are nearing out-of-control state, with potentially disastrous implications for both nature and human society.
Mashburn has channeled these feelings and concerns into his exquisite oil paintings depicting a post-apocalyptic future with natural and industrial elements together with a touch of sublime Romanticism, seemingly taking inspiration from 19th century German painter Caspar David Friedrich.
