‘Sculpture by the Sea’ returns to Sydney‘s beautiful Bondi Beach, featuring awesome open-air art exhibits by over 130 artists from 21 countries.

Now celebrating its 22nd year on the brilliant white sands of Bondi Beach, “Sculpture by the Sea” still has the power to bemuse, bewilder and beguile beach-goers Down Under.

It’s not just that some of the exhibits are larger than life. Pieces like “Cool Shit” (above) by notorious and provocative modern artist Damian Hirst are guaranteed to trigger a wide range of emotions that may differ between individuals – even between different viewings.

Art of the Surreal

Sculpture by the Sea began as a volunteer initiative in 1997 and over the years has grown to a three-week event drawing large and appreciative crowds to beautiful Bondi Beach. Remaining true to its roots, Sculpture by the Sea is a not-for-profit organization though it does receive just under 20% of its revenue via government funding.

That’s Just How He Rolls

The event’s popularity has surged over its 22-year run and not only visitors are impressed – artists from beyond Australia have taken notice. This year, the roughly 70 participating Australian sculptors have been joined by eight Chinese artists from Beijing’s prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts. One of the Chinese contingent’s more er, notorious exhibits is “Bank” (above), by Mu Boyan. Does this beach backdrop make me look fat?

Wheel Be Seeing You

Flickr member Ian Sanderson (iansand) visited Sydney in October of 2018 and came back with a wealth of brilliant photos, and probably a lousy t-shirt to boot. Sanderson’s images of Sculpture by the Sea, posted under an international Creative Commons license, benefit from the famously clear and sunny weather of a typical New South Wales spring. Weather of not, though, artist Cao Hui’s sculpture titled “A Bicycle Covered by Snow” was designed to be cool no matter how hot it got.

Oh Say Cairn You See

Italian-Australian artist Alessandra Rossi created “Cairn” as an homage to ancient megalithic sites found worldwide which evoke a certain common humanity displayed by our species dating back to prehistoric times. “The abstraction and simplification of form contains the light and colors of the landscape in which it is placed,” explains Rossi, “exposing the hidden and the imaginary, in a balancing act between fragility and impermanence.”

Layers Not Lawyers

The 2018 edition of Sculpture by the Sea ends today (November 4th) so consider yourself lucky if you’ve been able to enjoy the many sculptures spread along over a mile of Bondi Beach’s exquisite white sand coastline. Besides the artworks themselves, the event featured guided tours, free artist talks, an indoor sculpture exhibition in case of inclement weather, and last but not least a “sculpture conference” at the Sydney Opera House. The somewhat disturbingly organic sculpture above, by the way, is “Layers” by artist Charlie Trivers.

Making Great Strides

Artists who participate in Sculpture by the Sea do so for a variety of reasons, one being the Aqualand Sculpture Award presented to the “winner” near the end of the event. As art’s appeal varies depending on the beholder, who can really state which artwork is best? Nevertheless, every year one artist walks off with a cash prize of A$70,000 (just over $50,000) while their sculpture is gifted to the Harbour Trust and displayed permanently at George Head in Headland Park. Wei Wang’s “Walking” (above) won’t step up to claim the prize but the artist (and his sculpture) can still stand tall regardless.

The Art Institute of Chicago has brought one of the most famous paintings of Vincent Van Gogh to life like never before: a complete replica realized in three dimensions and available as a rental to art fans in for a night of surrealistic immersion. The details, furniture and decor have been painstakingly drawn from the image, right down to crooked chairs, suspended paintings and heavily brush-stroked colors.

For rent on AirBNB, the project is part of a larger exhibition around Van Gogh’s various bedroom paintings made in the late 1880s, one of which was made during a stay at an asylum. The recreated room is located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, next to one of the AIC’s campuses.

At just $10 a night, this place is likely to rent out entirely if it has not already. For whatever reason, the space also comes with a television and internet connection, though authentic experience-seekers may want to skip those, turn down the lights and just enjoy a night living inside of a classic work of art. The exhibit runs through early May and features over 30 of the master’s works.

More from the AIC: “Van Gogh’s life was short and nomadic. By the time he died, at the age of 37, he had lived in 37 separate residences across 24 cities, mostly as a boarder or a guest dependent on the hospitality of family or friends. In 1888, he finally moved into the only home he truly considered his own: his beloved ‘Yellow House’ in Arles.”

“Of his many bedrooms, Van Gogh immortalized only the one from the Yellow House—three times in fact. He first painted the room in 1888 shortly after his move to the Arles and then painted the composition twice more in 1889: once to record the first version that had been damaged when his home flooded and then again as a gift for his mother and sister.”

A study in opposites, paper architecture renders what is normally solid and durable in delicate, temporary form, whether recreating intricate silhouettes of miniature cities or building full-scale pavilions, tunnels and other installations. Spires, translucent windows, infinite staircases and undulating ceilings come to life in these 27 works of paper cut sculpture.

Irori Pavilion by Kengo Kuma

Best known for innovative timber structures, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma applies his signature blend of traditional joinery and modern shapes to a new material for Milan Design Week 2015. Kumar collaborated with Kitchenhouse to create ‘Irori,’ a paper pavilion arching over a contemporary kitchen space. Envisioned as a white cocoon, the structure is made of vulcanized paper, which has more strength than regular paper but maintains its softness.

Paper Miniatures of Modernist Architecture by Zupagrafika

Polish design collective Zupagrafika creates paper cut-outs of modernist buildings found in the city of Poznan and Warsaw as well as London’s divisive concrete Brutalist architecture. Rendered in minute detail down to the graffiti that was found on the buildings at the time of study, the cutouts come in flat form so you can put them together yourself and create little cities. Individual cut-outs are under 5 Euros each.

Intricate 3D Paper Architecture by Ingrid Siliakus

Master paper artist Ingrid Siliakus creates fantasy cities replete with mirror-image towers, arches, spires, stacks upon stacks of skyscrapers and stairs that go nowhere in particular. The Amsterdam-based artist creates an incredible 20-30 prototypes before completing each piece, adding one layer after another of cut and folded paper to the finished product until she deems it done.

Stockholm Pavilion by Kustaa Saksi and Gert Wingårdh

Built for the 2013 Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, the Stockholm Pavilion by artist Kustaa Saksi and architect Gert Wingårdh is made up of 11,000 illustrated sheets of paper. From the sides, the installation looks like it’s solid white, but step under it and look up to see the colorful patterns emerge.

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Ephemeral Architecture 27 Paper Buildings Pavilions

Where Architects Live, a special exhibit scheduled for Milan Design Week 2014, features a rare glimpse into the residences of leading designers including Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind,  Mario Bellini, David chipperfield, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Marcio Kogan, and Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai.

Seeing what architects do to their own domiciles can provide a unique window into their work as well – for some designers, their own spaces become places of experimentation and discovery. These homes are where they have full artistic liberty – the only time they are their own clients. In some cases, like Frank Gehry’s wild residential remodel in Santa Monica (shown above), these projects can even be professionally pivotal – turning points for entire careers.

Famous for his light-touch, site-specific architecture of paper and cardboard, there is a contextual delicacy to Ban’s forest home in Japan. It is bright and open, and was designed specifically to avoid the need to cut down trees already on the property.

The abstract art and physical curves found in the home of Hadid should come as no surprise to those familiar with her work, which is also prominently on display in drawings and models around the house.

The home of Libeskind features an eclectic mix of furniture and objects, from conventional modern chairs art materials – nothing so aggressively angular as his typical architectural projects, but perhaps suggestive hints to be found in the relationship of chaos and order.

Bellini loves books, and it shows in the incredible multi-story scaffolding he has built in order to be able to climb up and interact with his huge personal library.

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Sneak Peak Inside The Homes Of 8 World Famous Architects

Like so many secret spaces of New York City, this one-room exhibit space (hidden inside an abandoned elevator) is not exactly on the beaten path.

This pop-up project is naturally camouflaged, set behind a pair of rusted metal doors along an inconspicuous alley between a pair of dull gray block walls. Only a few small rectangular punched openings suggest that something might lurk beyond the black steel.

Behind its unmarked entry lies a surprisingly pristine white room lined with red-padded shelves. These in turn support an array of contents, many of which city dwellers may find strangely familiar.

The Elevator Museum‘s collection sports a sampling of everyday urban objects, from discarded coffee cups and potato chip bags to tip jars, found dollar bills and losing lottery tickets.

The exhibits rotate, however, between temporary pieces and a permanent collection featuring some seriously unique and one-off objects. The latter includes the shoe infamously thrown at President George W. Bush during a televised 2008 press conference.

The museum founders Alex Kalman, and brothers Benny and Josh Safdie “want [the] museum to relay the intimate stories behind strange, colloquial items, finding beauty in absurdity.” To construct their secret museum, “the team gutted the shaftway [at the ground floor] and renovated it to include lighting and shelving.”

It has operating hours, but like most things in NYC, it is worth dropping by any time of the day or night: “Glass peepholes at the door allow passersby to marvel at the collectibles 24/7, and for those visitors who miss the museum’s opening hours, a toll free hotline has been developed that relays information about each exhibited artifact via phone. The 60 square-foot, free museum also accommodates a cafe and shop. It is a fitting microcosm of the essence of New York City, an unusual myriad of characters, quirks, and curiosities congregating in extremely small spaces.”