This was an action packed week in the art world, ripe with everything from tornado-chasing photographers to secret drumming societies. Now that we have your attention, read on for details.
What would Charles Darwin or Jim Henson look like in color?
Thanks to Mads Madsen, an active Reddit and Facebook user with a knack for photo manipulation, we can find out what historical icons look like in color. The 18-year-old colorizes historical images, from close-ups of famed scientists Albert Einstein and Nikola Tessla to entertainment giants like Audrey Hepburn and Charlie Chaplin. He even throws in a few world leaders and military heroes into the mix for good measure. Click here for more photos.
At the end of the month the grunge capital of the United States will get a whole lot vainer when the Seattle Art Museum unveils its new mirrored facade by Doug Aitken.
"Mirror" continues the multi-disciplinary artist's explorations of space and time. A kaleidoscopic LED display will wrap around the museum's exterior, projecting images from snowy mountain caps to crowded city streets. The band of images dissolve upward into horizontal rows-- fluctuating, expanding and collapsing in relation to the energy of the surrounding city. Click here to read more.
This week, we celebrated the 90th birthday of one of our favorite photographers, Diane Arbus.
There's no denying that Arbus was born into a creative family. Her father would later become a painter while her sister a sculptor and her brother a United States Poet Laureate, but Diane Nemerov would make the biggest splash with her controversial career in photography. "Giving a camera to Diane Arbus," Norman Mailer once famously said, "is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child."
Indeed, Arbus' style became incendiary after finally leaving the world of fashion photography after years of being unsatisfied, photographing "freaks" and outsiders. Her signature square-cropped images were second in importance only to the way in which she dealt with her subjects. Arbus was known for establishing close relationships, even checking in from time to time and photographing people again later in life. Click here to learn more.
The Top Secret Drum Corps in Basel, Switzerland is renown for its members precision and dexterity. The Corps consists of 25 young male drummers and colorguard members who hold day jobs but believe in the power of the beat.
Coordinated military drumming dates back to the Middle Ages, when Swiss mercenaries would march into battle with drums strapped to their bodies. Now, however, the Corps incorporates Scottish and American styles into their repertoire, and even include juggling and light displays, their website proclaims. Click here to read more.
Martin Rietze, the photographer behind the website Alien Landscapes on Planet Earth, is willing to do whatever it takes to get a great photo -- even if that means inching towards a volcanic explosion while scalding lava spews into the air and lightning strikes from dark clouds above.
Rietze is a "volcano-chaser," according to the Daily Mail, a particular breed of photographer who takes big risks for big shots. He was able to capture destructive and beautiful forces of nature at work on a trip to Japan in February. His photos show the Sakurajima Volcano, an active volcanic who's record-breaking 1914 eruption sent lava flows across the island. Click here to read more.
Volcanic Lightning Photographs By Martin Rietze
Correction: An earlier headline of this article referenced tornado hunting instead of volcano hunting. We regret the error.