Paul Villinski

Look. Up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s New York artist Paul Villinski. The glider-flying sculpture artist makes it no secret that flying is at the heart of his work. Whether it’s the fragile beer can butterflies that he creates using the city’s numerous ‘dead soldiers,’ or DaVinci inspired flying machines, Villinski makes them all seem fantastically weightless. One of his pieces is currently on display through April 27, 2008 at The Museum of Arts and Design in the ‘Pricked: Extreme Embroidery.’ Do you remember the music video for R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion? There was the weird cupid guy with an arrowed taped to his heart, Michael Stipe flailing his arms around in an empty room, and the blacksmith’s that made the Icarus wings? Well, tada. His piece ‘Lament’ was probably not modeled after Tarsem’s video, but these hand-stitched wings certainly remind us of it. What? Out of Time is a fantastic album. It’s a compliment.