Posts by Jenny Zhang

Drawing
August 11, 2014

Powerful Self-Portraits Reveal Artist’s Descent Into Alzheimer’s Disease

In 1995, at the age of 61, American artist William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In response to the illness, the London-based artist immediately began to paint an ambitious series of self-portraits. From the time of his diagnosis to 2000, when he was admitted to a nursing home, Utermohlen created a powerful documentation of his painful descent into dementia as a way to try to better understand his condition.

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Design
August 7, 2014

Incredible Photographic Survey of Military Kits From 1066 to 2014

UK-based photographer Thom Atkinson's series Soldiers' Inventories is an incredibly extensive photographic survey of the military kits carried by British soldiers from 1066 to 2014. With the goal of exploring what he describes as “the mythology surrounding Britain's relationship with war,” Atkinson enlisted the help of reenactment groups, collectors, historians, and serving soldiers in order to assemble the components of each inventory.

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Nature
July 25, 2014

Amazingly Unique Tree Produces 40 Different Types of Fruit

Imagine a tree that produces not just one type of fruit, but a whole variety of them! Artist and Syracuse University art professor Sam Van Aken has brought that vision to life with the Tree of 40 Fruit, an ongoing series of hybridized fruit trees that grow over 40 types of stone fruit, including cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.

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Art
July 17, 2014

Incredibly Dynamic Steel Wire Fairy Sculptures Dance in the Wind

UK-based artist Robin Wight uses stainless steel wire to form stunning, dramatic sculptures of winged fairies dancing in the wind. The enchanting forms, which range in size from miniature to life-sized, seem to have a life of their own as they strike dynamic poses, contort their bodies, and hold onto windswept dandelions. To construct his ethereal sculptures, Wight first builds a sturdy skeleton out of thick steel wire.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.