Multidisciplinary designer Richard Clarkson experiments with products, lights, and furniture in time split between his New York and New Zealand studios. One of his most elegant creations is Cloud, an interactive light shaped like a cumulus cloud that simulates a thunderstorm both in light and sound based on external input (either from a remote control, or from motion sensors). From Clarkson’s website:

The Cloud is an interactive lamp and speaker system, designed to mimic a thundercloud in both appearance and entertainment. Using motion sensors the cloud detects a user’s presence and creates a unique lightning and thunder show dictated by their movement. The system features a powerful speaker system from which the user can stream music via any Bluetooth compatible device. Using color-changing lights the cloud is able to adapt to the desired lighting color and brightness. The cloud also has alternative modes such as a nightlight and music reactive mode.

Watch the video above to see how it works, and see the different variations in his online store. (via Really Sh*t!)

Waves of Grain is a two minute strata-cut animation by filmmaker Keith Skretch who planed a block of wood in tiny increments and took photographs along the way. The final video reveals a strange sense of motion as the camera moves effortlessly through the block revealing the the sinuous curves of wood grain that appears to ripple like water. If you liked this also check out these fruit and vegetable MRIs from Andy Ellison. (via Colossal Submissions)

All photos by Chuck Choi courtesy Studio KCA

If you’ve visited Governor’s Island in New York recently you’ve most certainly seen the billowing, cloud-like structure that sits in the middle of the lawn. And if you’re anything like my kids you probably dashed up to it to see exactly what thing was. But it’s not until you get up close that you realize it’s made from many, many plastic bottles stringed together. “53,780 used plastic bottles,” says designer Jason Klimoski, “the number thrown away in NYC in just 1 hour.” Klimoski and his team at STUDIO KCA collected the bottles – a combination of milk jugs and water bottles – and lashed them together to create “Head in the Clouds,” a pavilion people can walk into, sit inside, and contemplate just how much plastic is thrown away every day.

The structure, however, is temporary and the team is looking for its next home. If you’re interested in having this in your back yard get in touch with the designers.

Based in the old industrial town of St. Etienne, France, street artist oakoak (previously) relies on a keen sense of observation to create his humorous interventions on walls, streets, and sidewalks. Cracks and crumbling infrastructure become the backdrop for superheroes and other pop culture characters who interact with their surrounds in unexpected ways. He shares with Bulkka:

Since I come from Saint Etienne, an old industrial city which is now in reconversion, I have the need to make my city less “grey” and at the same time, funnier. Humor is really important to me. It’s definitely the most important element in what I do.

My main interest is giving importance to places and objects that people don’t notice anymore. I walk a lot every day and that’s how I get to find new attractive places with urban elements such as broken walls for example. When I see something interesting during my walks, I measure it and study it, and I come back later to make the collage. I prefer to prepare the drawings and drafts at home.

Included here are several works from the last 6 months or so, but you can see many more pieces on his Facebook page.

Photographer Brendan Fitzpatrick whose floral x-rays we first featured back in 2012, just released three new collections of x-ray photos including toys, creatures, and a new set of flowers, as part of his Invisible Light series. The photos are created with the help of a standard x-ray machine, but are artificially colored to help distinguish different materials. Prints of almost all of the images are available through Behance.

Here on Colossal we’ve seen an artist who collaborated with her 4-year-old daughter, transforming her random sketches and scribbles into fully realized artworks. With another take on the child/adult collaborative art genre, Dutch muralist Telmo Pieper did something similar, instead collaborating with his 4-year-old self in his series called Kiddie Arts. The artist took old childhood sketches which he then recreated as digital illustrations by applying realistic light, color, and texture to the hilariously deformed shapes he imagined in his youth.

You can see much more of Pieper’s work on his website and Tumblr. He also collaborates with artist Miel Krutzmann as part of Telmo Miel out of Rotterdam. (via Bored Panda, Laughing Squid)

L’assistente di volo di Brian Finke.

Photos by Wayne Lawrence. Brooklyn, New York. See more below.

View the whole post: Photographer Wayne Lawrence over on BOOOOOOOM!.

Here’s another great skate film from the REDirect collaboration between Red Digital Cinema and The Berrics. Director Russell Houghten brilliantly removes all of the Los Angeles traffic to great effect here. Watch “Urban Isolation” below!

View the whole post: Red and The Berrics: “Urban Isolation” over on BOOOOOOOM!.