found art – Page 6

Hidden Treasures: Just Zoom In!

January 31, 2017 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Detail, wheel well, 1949 Dodge pickup, Ojai California. Photo by Josh Kaplan.

Take the time to look beyond the obvious.

One could argue that the classic lines of this 1949 Dodge pickup are a work of art in themselves (Pic #3) — but looking closer allows us to celebrate its life: twenty coats of contrasting paint, decades of willy-nilly scratches, and a funked-out patina you couldn’t create if you tried. To me, it’s pure beauty — unexpected layers of abstract art — and a reason to document every little unanticipated wound.

(Pic #2) Alternate view: Detail, wheel well, 1949 Dodge.

We were driving valium down the back roads of Ojai when we stumbled upon “Donald’s Mexican Food” truck — near a pen of friendly goats and a gorgeous Olive and Oak tree-lined street. It was quaint and quirky on its own, but when we got home and started playing with images in Adobe’s Lightroom, we saw the stunning “paintings” all over both rear wheel wells. That’s always my favorite kind of discovery: unexpected and bleeding with history. Boom.

(Pic #3) Rear view, Donald’s Mexican Food truck. Photo by Josh Kaplan.

(Pic #4) Wide shot, Donald’s 1949 Dodge Mexican Food truck. Photo by Josh Kaplan.

So What Does My Smog Check Have In Common With Michelangelo?

November 30, 2016 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Detail, Creation of Adam, ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome, 1508-1512. Fresco by Michelangelo. Or is it?

Notice anything odd about the iconic Renaissance painting above?

Hey history buffs: Is it possible Italian master sculptor/painter Michelangelo stopped in to get his car smog checked just before he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? I mean, is it at all conceivable? Hear me out.

On my own recent mandatory visit to the Smog Shop, I found myself so hateful of having to be there, and stay there, that I took out my camera to “play” in the waiting room. My eyes fixated on these beautiful patterns and marks in the old painted, cracked, cement floor. All these gorgeous textures and colors — I was mesmerized. (Pics #2, #3, #4, #5). I suddenly realized why they were so meaningful to me: they were (unplanned) modern day recreations of background (sky) images in famous tramadol historical “frescoes” like those of Michelangelo.

So for the fun of it, with the help of Photoshop, I replaced the original crumbling sky in the “Creation of Adam” panel (Pic #6) with a shot of the Smog Shop floor. (Pic #2). So Pic #1 is a fraud.

I hope Michelangelo doesn’t mind my messing with his masterpiece — I suspect he’s cool with it — cuz after all, he’s the one who famously said, “I’m not a painter, I’m a sculptor.”

P.S. – Big fan of his in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

(Pic #2) Detail, smog shop floor, waiting room.

(Pic #3 and #4) Detail, smog shop floor, cashier line. Yes, those are my toes.

(Pic #5) Detail, smog shop floor, restroom.

(Pic #6) Original image, authentic background, Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel.

(Pic #7) Smog shop in Westlake, California.

Art Underfoot

April 30, 2016 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Gorgeous stained cement walkway spotted in Ventura, California. Photo by Josh Kaplan

One more argument against walking while texting: the beauty below.

While Fort Lee New Jersey has already passed a law banning texting while walking, other towns are considering the move, in an effort to make streets safer. I applaud it — but for a slightly different reason. Just look what you miss. If your face is buried in the small screen, chances are pretty pharmacy no rx slim you’d see the art beneath your feet just waiting to be discovered.

I grabbed the pictures below with my iPhone while on a walk on the streets of Calabasas. I swore off texting while walking on this day, and feel the universe rewarded me with these.

(Pic #2) Quirky geometric “sidewalk sketches” in Calabasas, California.

(Pic #3) An insecure start to a game of Tic-Tack-Toe, carved into the sidewalk in Calabasas, California.