Month: April 2016

Albert Einstein: “Science is Their Own Special Sport”

Artist Unknown, (Entry to the Temple)

“In the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell therein and the motives that have led them thither. Many take to science out of a joyful sense of superior intellectual power; science is their own special sport to which they look for vivid experience and the satisfaction of ambition; many others are to be found in the temple who have offered the products of their brains on this altar for purely utilitarian purposes. Were someone to drive all the people belonging to these two categories out of the temple, the assemblage would be seriously depleted, but there would still be some men, of both present and past times, left inside..”

― Albert Einstein

 

George Redhawk

Animated Gifs by George Redhawk, DarkAngelOne

Before losing his sight, Native American George  Redhawk (aka DarkAngelOne) worked in various areas of medicine, teaching on subjects such as x-ray technology and phlebotomy. When his sight began to diminish, he turned to the world of animated GIFs because he thought that this was an accurate way of illustrating what was happening to his sense of vision.

Redhawk uses images from some of his favorite artists and animates them using visual aides and morphing software. He started creating GIFs as a way of communicating the surreal effects of vision loss but his GIF art makes us see the world through his eyes and inspires people to pursue their passions despite obstacles.

My thanks to http://art-tension.tumblr.com

Leo Herrera

Leo Herrera, “Magnum”

Leo Herrera is a Mexican NYC-based visual artist, filmmaker and GLBT advocate. His viral clips, art films and music videos have gathered over half a million views  and his advocacy work has focused on PrEP, HIV criminalization, stigma and the preservation of gay history.

“Filmmaker, writer, advocate, and all-around virtuoso of queer culture, Leo Herrera is documenting and preserving the richness of a community’s history that is, more times than not, overlooked by the generation that’s achieved the ability to convey the most complex, equivocal human emotions in three emojis or less.

The New York City-based visual artist has garnered over a half million hits from his art films and music videos, and has appeared in a slew of publications like The Huffington Post, Out, and i-D Fashion. His collaborations range over a global spectrum, all culminating in his effort to educate and tell the story of a bright future that we’re working so hard to create in the present, and honor those who paved the way for us in the past” .-Greg Mania, Posture

Visit Leo Herrera’s site for images and short films: http://www.homochic.com

Beth Moon

Beth Moon, “Diamond Nights”, Series of Balboa Tree in the Makgadikgadi Pan

The Makgadikgadi Pan is a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi, which once covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up several thousand years ago.

http://www.bethmoon.com/index.html

Smith and Wesson Revolver

Tiffany and Company, Ornate Smith and Wesson New Model No. 3 Revolver, late 19th century

In 1885, the Smith & Wesson Company expanded their production program with the New Model No, 3, which introduced a variation of this revolver with a long cylinder capable of firing a .44 Winchester cartridge. Previously Colt had produced a revolver of this caliber which could be paired with the Winchester Lever Action Rifle. Smith & Wesson liked this idea; their factory eventually produced 2072 revolvers of this style.  

The sales of this revolver, however, did not meet expectations. In March of 1895, when the factory still had over half of the production unsold, Smith & Wesson transformed this model from the .44 caliber Winchester to the .44 caliber Smith & Wesson Russian. Retooling of the firearm was accomplished with a replacement cylinder. By 1896, forty percent of the inventory was retooled and sold to Takata & Company in Japan. In this way, the total number of New Model No. 3 was reduced to circa 1286 pieces.The company offered this model until 1908 when the revolver was replaced with the new Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector .44.

The Tiffany-crafted New Model No. 3 shown above is currently on display in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.