WPA Dioramas

WPA diorama of General George Washington, probably at Valley Forge.

Here are some cool finds.  In the 1930's the Works Progress Administration put  people to work in a variety of work.  Some got the fun job of making dioramas for education and to document an aspect of American history.   If you google WPA art or projects you will see that there are many great works out there.   These, all marked with the WPA symbol are a great series of dioramas on early American history. 

Michael Jackson's Peter Pan Diorama

This diorama belonged to Michael Jackson.  It was custom made for him by the Walt Disney Company.  

I saw it listed at liveauctioneers.com:

June 1st Update

Here are a few more pieces from Jackson's Disney collection that were up for auction:

Here's another diorama (Pinocchio) custom made for Michael. If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see that the Disney artists included a little Michael Jackson, sort of hidden.

This is a custom Peter Pan installation built into one of the roofs at Neverland.

Three Fab Cardboard Models

These three pieces, Untitled Vaudeville Models (2006), were constructed by Annie MacDonnell and Rob Shostak. They show three Vaudeville theaters from Toronto as they were at the turn century.  Many Vaudeville era theaters were turned into movie theaters when cinema displaced live theater.  I think these models are very well done.  You can read more about the exhibit here and here.   

Abbey Road from a different angle

Here's a digitally created image of the iconic scene from Abbey Road, the Beatles' 11th studio album release.  The stock agency wants to get across its message "see the unseen".  Clever idea.  Below (in case anyone has been on another planet and  hasn't seen it) is the original album cover, followed by  several parodies.  If you google "Abbey Road Spoof" there are many more spoof and imitation versions of this scene.

Part of the fascination with this album cover had to do with the Paul is Dead Conspiracy rumors.  It was just one more chance for conspiracy theorist fans to get excited. 

The Simpsons

Peanuts

Volkswagens

Lego Beatles

 Reggae Tribute

Paul's own take off, used for the cover of his 1993 tour album, "Paul Is Live"

Fantastick Paper Sculptures - New York City

Saw this amazing paper sculpture on Designboom

'1/100 architectural model accessories series no.6 new york' by terada mokei

Japanese paper artist terada mokei has developed '1/100 architectural model accessories series no.6 new york'. the work is an entirely constructed-from-parchment representation of a bustling new york city subway station created at a 1:100 scale. 'no.6' is sent flat by the artist to be built by the person receiving his work with the size of the rectangular kit measuring 104mm x 148mm. each component is removed from the rectangular frame and glued into place. this functional art piece may be constructed in the context of an architectural model, enhancing the environment of the potential building, or as a miniature model of one of the world's major metropolitan zones for display in his/her home. the scale paper model series contains animals such as squirrels and dogs, food typical to the streets of new york city such as hot-dogs and pretzels, pedestrian, cyclist and skateboard traffic, a police officer on horseback, and the necessary structures of a subway station such as an entrance, garbage cans, barricades, US mailbox, and people of various sizes.

(Text and pictures from Designboom)