How cool is this sun-dial sculpture?

Solstice sun-dial sculpture, Jean Salins, 1980

Click to find out why it’s so cool at APOD, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day!

Artist: Daniel Wurtzel

Daniel Wurtzel is a kinetic sculptor who has been doing frankly amazing things with air.  I never thought you could “sculpt” air.  His explorations into the interaction of wind and gossamer films — often plastic films — give me a new appreciation for the profound beauty of what I used to dismiss as just “trash blowing around a parking lot”.  One of the best functions of art is to do just that — to take an everyday thing and show us the beauty it has that we’ve been missing or have learned to ignore or dismiss.   Have you ever seen a plastic bag blowing in the wind and just thought ‘meh’?  I certainly never will again!  This is amazing stuff — I think you’ll want to watch these full screen.

Ballet de Plastique:

 

Magic Carpet:

 

And then there’s packing foam.  Wow.

Snow:

 

Read what he says about his art here, then check out his other cool stuff!