999th post giveaway - the results

First of all I want to thank everyone who commented on my post. It was so wonderful to see multiple retweets and even a few mentions on blogs and websites. Heartwarming! 

I must admit I was a bit scared only a few people would leave a comment. I'm so happy to realise more than a few did so!

Finally, the results. I gave everyone a number, depending on the gift they were aiming for. I used the random generator to pick a number in each category:

7 entries for the Djeco stickers and Hiskia won! Congrats!

7 entries for the vintage memory game as well, Maike won! Congrats!

15 entries for the collected doodle print. Aukje won, congrats!

And finally, the black and white doodle was the most popular one. (Which I actually didn't expect)

20 entries and Judy won!

I know all of you through Twitter, so I'll send you a message and ask for your addresses.

Thanks again, everyone, for joining in and spreading the news, hope you enjoy the next 999 posts. Hope to see you back here at Turning Pages or at My absent mind once in a while! 

PS: unfortunately nobody entered the competition for the birthday calender so I'll save that one for another time.

Clement Valla - Seed drawings

Clement Valla is an artist and programmer interested in processes that produce unfamiliar artifacts and skew reality. Valla works within systems, applying a ‘programmed brain’ that pushes problem-solving logic to irrational ends. His recent work examines copies, repetition and reproduction markets – from Chinese ‘Oil-Painting Factories’ to drawings on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This work explores the tension between individual creativity and the influence of systems and networks on the individual.

Each Seed Drawing is an aggregate of many smaller drawings, all produced as copies of one another.

Over a 3 month period, thousands of individuals were solicited to copy small simple line drawings, through an online labor marketplace called Amazon Mechanical Turk. As each copy was completed, it in turn was replicated by other Mechanical Turk workers. Each drawing is produced by a single individual with no knowledge of the overall forms and structure within the larger drawing.
The iterative process of copying produces growth-like structures in which different patterns of influence and large-scale structures emerge. These larger drawing characteristics are purely the result of local interactions; beyond the writing of the algorithm, no single individual is making larger decisions for the group.

Encyclopedic glaciers, icebergs and the Alps

Flipje and a rabbit

I bought this small, rather damaged, figurine at a fleamarket. He holds a prominent place in my printers' tray because he brings back a lot of memories. In an earlier post I've already shown the books I used to read about this little raspberry guy.

Furthermore I bought this plastic rabbit, this collection is rapidly growing... 

However I restrained myself from buying these ones:

Wolfgang Laib

I got familiar with Wolfgang Laib's work in Art College. We were given an assignment to design a poster for an exhibition of his work. I went to Museum de Pont and was immediately infatuated with his work.

His work may be grouped with Land Art and he shows influences of Minimalism. He employs natural materials, such as beeswax and rice. Most notable is his use of large quantities of intense, yellow pollen that he collects by hand, then spreads over large areas of floor or piles to conical heaps. He also became famous for his so-called 'milk stones': big blocks of marble into which very shallow depressions are sanded, then filled with milk. Laib performs the first act of pouring the milk when the piece is displayed, but after this initial gesture, the collector or museum staff must clean and refill the stone each day it is on view.

Ritual plays a central role in all of Laib's highly reductive art. He lives in a remote region of Germany's Black Forest. During the spring and summer months he collects pollen, including dandelion, hazelnut, pine, buttercup, and moss varieties, from the fields surrounding his home. He displays this laboriously gathered material in simple glass jars or sifts it through sheets of muslin directly onto the floor to create large, square fields of spectacular color. 

This is the poster design I did in Art College, back in 1993:

PS: Don't forget about my giveaway!

Vintage Lotto

But first things first! Don't forget about my giveaway which I'm hosting for my 999th blogpost. It runs until next week. Make sure to leave a comment!

I bought this game a little while ago at a fleamarket in Antwerp. I have a few more of these travel games from the same series, a domino game, checkers and chess. The plastic game box wasn't worth showing this time, but the rest is! I just love these vintage lotto playing cards, it's typographic eyecandy!

Days before Christmas

Vintage magazines are always great to browse through. This Panorama Christmas edition is from 1935. It has the most beautiful full colour ads, a real gem!

PS: Don't forget about the giveaway I'm doing! It runs until Wednesday 13th of December at 8 pm, CET