Collisions in the Real

As we move out of the noughts and into the 10s or the teens, 'the now' seems to be developing a few definitive character traits. One of which that is emerging is the invasion of childhood fantasies into the real - whether it's life imitating art or vice versa.

While religious fundamentalism, terrorism, natural disasters, the oil panic, and the food shortage crisis are dominating socio-polit-economic concerns, a remarkable number of people/artists are transforming their real worlds into fantastic ones that hearken back to their childhoods.

In an era where superhero movies like The Dark Knight and Hancock go to great lengths to make the division between fantasy and reality seamless, there is some kind of need out there to invest in magic and make believe having a place in our physical world. It's no surprise then either, that the biggest literary phenomenon of the last decade is the Harry Potter series, which cast its spell on adults as much as children. [Read Rachel Abromowitz's article in the LA Times for more dissection of the current superhero trend in film.]

Lately I've noticed a bunch of art-work floating around the internet that speaks to this psych-aesthetic. I've collected a few examples below:

Retro Video Games Invade the Physical World
Retronoob, aka Lee Vidal, merges such classics as Street Fighter and Mario Kart into natural landscape photography.



Kids Drawings as Photographs
Photographer Yeonjoo Dung creates elaborate, posed photos based on children's crayon drawings. Via boingboing



Kids Animal Drawings as Stuffed Toys
Lizette Greco and family "create sewn art and artifacts based on the drawings of our two children using only thrifted and recycled materials." Via Drawn!