Roxy Paine...I dig.....

Roxy Paine was born in 1966 in New York and studied at both the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York. Since 1990, his work has been internationally exhibited and is included in major collections such as De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. His tree sculptures can be found at various museums and foundations including the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, WA; Wanas Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden; Montenmedio Arte Contemporaneo NMAC, Cadiz, Spain; and the St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO. Roxy Paine lives and works in Brooklyn and Treadwell, NY.

Urban/Street Furniture

By Hoogte Twee Architects - found on Design Dautore - Check out their Facebook Page!

Fossils4Africa

I blogged about these guys before and they now have their own website - check it out - www.fossils4africa.co.za

no comment from the couch.....

.....but do have a brilliant weekend!

2 of my fave things.......

I was lucky enough to spot one of these babies down and under construction, near Safal Steel(www.safalsteel.co.za) in Cato Ridge, South Africa. You generally spot them upright, carrying high voltage cables.....Managed to capture two of my favourite things at once, Hot Dip Galvanizing & my car...how shallow am I..... :-)

Sometimes lunch can be interesting....

.....and not only for the food, which by the way was delish! Bellevue Cafe in Kloof, Durban, South Africa. Love the Hot Dip Galvanized accents and the vivid green. Bellevue Cafe 031 717 7280

Cheviot Court

Nothing to do with Hot Dip Galvanizing, but this has to be one of my favourite Durban buildings. Cheviot Court on Musgrave Road, Durban South Africa. I have dreams of one day occupying an entire floor once the kids have left home. Just me, my cats and my laptop – writing all day long whilst savouring the views.
Durban has many Art Deco buildings, but sadly many of them have fallen into disrepair and neglect. What a pity…..

Gratitude

Anni Ramkisson, great friend, mentor and industry role player is on the mend after a serious medical condition. I am filled with joy and gratitude. Get better soon Anniroodh!

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I threw this one in, because it reminds me of you :-)

Desiring Machine - Simeon Nelson

This stunning work of art was a head’s up from a friend in Australia – thank you Woody for the link!

Desiring Machine – Simeon Nelson – also see http://www.simeon-nelson.com/

Desiring Machine is a fallen tree/tower lying by the roadway. It is a crashed relic of machine-age desire putting down new roots into the earth and unfurling tendrils from it's architectonic radii and sections. To motorists speeding past it is an indeterminate blur, a silhouetted filigree that might be a decaying windmill or other piece of obsolete agricultural machinery - a relic of the struggle of humans to co-exist with nature.
The cause of this optical confusion is a vegetal motif, a floral border from a 19th century pattern book that has been adapted to form the base unit of the modular system of this sculpture which is composed of three repeated modular units generated from the 'original' pattern. Desiring Machine's recursive plant-like structure unfolds from a single stem five units long that branches into four stems, three units long which in turn branches into nine stems, two units long and finally branches into sixteen stems, each one unit long.
It is too mechanical and perfectly symmetrical to be a tree and it is too ornate to be an industrial artefact. In Desiring Machine a collision of abstraction and ornamentation is played out. It appears vaguely utilitarian, logical; it could have been left behind by the road builders or be a collapsed electricity pylon. If so, its structural logic is obscured by intense ornament as if it had been infected by net curtain, lace doily or other item of domestic frippery. These stereotypical oppositions are a playful critique of various forms of techno-industrialism that have objectified nature as passive and mechanical, a 'thing'to be controlled and made useful.
Paradoxically, Desiring Machine suggests a pre-modern, Aristotelian conception of nature as an animate plurality filled with purpose and desire.

Gateway Hotel - I LOIKE

New Gateway Hotel in Durban, South Africa.....Drove past, saw, came to a screeching halt, whipped the camera out and started shooting. Painted metal panels - so so beaut!

Rob Vosper Architects

Durban architect Rob Vosper "had me" at the gate of his house. I knew what lay beyong had to be special and I was not disappointed....he allowed me to take pics, before I even introduced myself formally! How stunning is this, with the Hot Dip Galvanized accents? Rob Vosper can be contacted on vosper@iafrica.com

This is such a SAD photo

If you've been reading my blog, you'll know why...... Andries Botha, Durban Elephants.....in stark contrast to the triumphant homecoming of Nomkhubulwane....

Some more Bettye Hamblin Turner

I posted some Bettye Hamblin Turner at the end of last year – so more from this uber talented artist…I think the way that she has captured the muscle tone of the horses is absolutely spectacular. All duplex coated (Hot Dip Galvanized and painted). Thanks for the pics Bettye!

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Nomkhubulwane comes back home to Durban!

While Andries Botha's three elephant sculpture still lies neglected and covered in Durban, the sculpture Nomkhubulwane, that has toured North America to rave reviews, since October 2009 triumphantly arrived back at the place where she was built in Durban - Premat - a factory that has made items from recycled truck tyres since 1958.

Some political parties need to GROW up!!! This is a shame.

Dennis Guichard Photography

I had the incredible privilege of attending the opening of the Dennis Guichard Architecture Photography Exhibition, currently on at KZNIA. Incredible! This man can make steel pipes; nuts and bolts look sexy – right up my alley! I was very taken by his images of Moyo Pier – one of my favourite buildings in Durban, South Africa. For the record, the steel structure was duplex coated (Hot Dip Galvanized and then painted). Thanks to Michael for being my date. X
Check out his blog on: http://dennisguichard.wordpress.com/

Signal by Ralph Helmick

Steel tubes have never looked this good. I present Signal by American artist Ralph Helmick. Signal was commisioned by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. It is situated in front of the Biomedical Engineering Building at Rudger University, NJ. The artwork was fabricated out of Hot Dip Galvanized tubing, which was epoxy coated.

Signal is a collision of stasis and movement
Signal is distinctively non-kinetic
Signal relies on perspective and expectation
Signal is mostly air
Signal's non-air parts aggressively catch light and harvest shadow

The work's title derives from the engineering term "signal-to-noise" ratio.

Moroccan Grand Prix

I worked on this project three years ago! What a challenge due to the timeframe and requirements! We delivered (we = Phoenix Galvanizing) and loved the professionalism from the client – Steelcom Engineering – Alan Smith and Wes. Stunning pics from Morroco. Project also won the Export Category in HDGASA in 2009. Check out www.hdgasa.org,za

Worked on this project three years ago and it was such a rush due to the timeframe. We did what we could(we=Phoenix Galvanizing) and managed to pull it off. What a stunning project! What professionalsim from Alan Smith, Wesley and team of Steelcom Engineering. Winner of an Export Award at the Hot Dip Galvanizers Association of Southern Africa - www.hdgasa.org.za