Artist creates Amazing and Awesome images of iconic landmarks as you have never seen them before

An artist who has a new view of the world has created awe-inspiring tiny 'planets' from our most iconic landmarks.

Alexandre Duret-Lutz took a series of stunning photographs of some of the world's most famous buildings and made them into montages of miniature worlds.

Suspended in space, the tiny spheres make our most loved landmarks look even more impressive, with tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum towering over the minions below.

Awesome 12ft model of Eiffel Tower made entirely of chocolate

A 12ft-high model of the Eiffel Tower made entirely out of chocolate gave busy commuters a glimpse but not a taste of Paris today.

The mouthwatering version of the famous landmark attracted hungry-looking glances when it appeared at St Pancras railway station, from which the Eurostar departs for the French capital.

But passers-by hoping for a taste were out of luck as the tower was constructed to mark the launch of a new range of Thorntons European city-chic inspired chocolates and will be touring stores throughout the country over the coming weeks.
The Continental City Boxes are themed around either Paris, which features milk chocolates, or Milan, which is for dark chocolate lovers, and are designed to reflect the traditional flavours and style found in each city.

The boxes feature five new chocolates, including a gingerbread and hazelnut number called Pain D'Epices, alongside the favourites that consumers will already know from the Continental range.

Keith Hurdman, Thorntons' Master Chocolatier, says: 'This is an exciting addition to the incredibly successful Continental range, and is sure to surprise and delight both our existing Continental lovers and those who have not tried it before.

'Our chocolatiers have travelled Europe to bring back the best flavours that it has to offer, and we've used them as the inspiration behind these new chocolates to give our customers that little taste of European luxury.'

But chocolate lovers face bitter news as the price of their favourite confectionary looks set to soar.

Cocoa prices have hit a 24-year high as the market faces its biggest shortage for 40 years.

The price rise has been sparked by poor harvests of cocoa beans on the Ivory Coast, which grows 40 per cent of the world's cocoa.

The El Nino weather phenomenon has also hit supplies from Indonesia, the world's third largest producer.

Top 10 Craziest and Beautiful Artworks

Rotating Wall Art

Richard Wilson, one of Britain's best known sculptures is drawing inspiration for the world of construction and engineering with his latest art called Turning the Place Over. The art is a section cut out from a building and rotates itself on a pivot with a cost of £450,000. It is described as one of the most daring piece of public art ever commissioned in the UK. It will be launched on June 20th 2007 and will run till the end of the year.

House Tunnel Art

This extraordinary structure on Montrose Boulevard took motorists by surprise. A pair of artists, Dan Havel and Dean Ruck was responsible for this house installation. The two wooden buildings were to be replaced by a new built project so the few months before the demolition, they made this into an architectonic installation.

Elevator Art

Going into this elevator would certainly makes one nervous. A sign at the entrance cautions the people that goes in about work in progress. A more detailed look shows that the floor has been painted with an illusion that there is no floor.

Photo Realistic Painting

Alright, what's so interesting about 3 guys standing beside a photo? Except that the photo is actually a painting! This is a photo realistic painting of Tica by Dru Blair, the guy in the center.

£50m Diamond Studded Skull

The skull which is covered with 8,601 flawless diamonds and a £50 million price tag, this piece of expensive artwork is made by Damien Hirst. Critics dismissed it as a publicity stunt by the multi-millionaire artist who took 18 months to make this skull studded with diamonds worth £12 million. He dreams of seeing the skull on display among the ancient treasures at the British Museum.

Driftwood Horse Art

These are driftwood horse sculptures by Heather Jansch who live and work in Westcountry of England. Its amazing how she managed to put those branches together to form such an art.

3D Perspective Street Drawings

A set of 3D perspective street drawings similar to the ones by Julian Beever, an Englsh artist famous for his virtual 3D street art. These drawings gives out a three dimensional effect when viewed at the right angle.

Latte Art

Latte art are designs created on top of espresso based drinks. The popularity has also spawned competitions all around the world to enable practitioners to show off their skills. Taste is still the most important thing though since the art is just the visual presentation.

Beer Can Art

These amazing beer can sculptures includes airplane, bike, trumpet, cello, truck, castle and others. Great for home decorations and showing off to your friends.

Words Art

The artist behind it is Thomas Broom.

Awesome Yin and Yang crop Art

Is this an amazing work of art, or of something from science-fiction?

The neat, intricate pattern does pose the question - how on earth was it made?

The huge crop circle sculpted in a sea of barley seems to be based on the Yin and Yang theme, and appeared near an ancient British burial mound beneath Windmill Hill near Devizes, Wiltshire on 25 May.

The ancient area of Wiltshire close to Silbury Hill, Windmill Hill and the Sanctuary is a hot spot for crop circles.

At around 350ft in length, it is hard to explain its creation - indeed, the mystery of how crop circles are made has never been solved.

Cynics have claimed the patterns are the work of computer scientists using teams of volunteers - but crop circle enthusiasts argue there are not enough hours of darkness in summer to allow them to be completed by humans.

Wiltshire is a hot spot for these field-based phenomenons - its green and golden fields have spawned an array of patterns in the past that have fascinated those who seek them out.

Enthusiasts and experienced crop pattern hunters have often spotted formations appearing close to these sacred sites.


The crop circle season - from April to harvesting in September - is believed to be worth millions of pounds to the local economy.

This example is an elaborate aul formation consisting of a centre circle with two large and two small arcs extended and connected by circles of decreasing size.

Windmill Hill is thought be date back to the Early Neolithic period some 5,000 years ago, constructed as a causeway enclosure, and it is thought the camp housed a large farming community during a relatively peaceful and prosperous time before the Romans invaded Britain - evidence of their presence is provided by a villa on the western slopes of the mound.

Parkour: Poetry in Motion

It seems like only yesterday every film to hit the big screen contained a compulsory parkour sequence. Maybe now, though, the French-born art of movement (l’art du déplacement) is going back where it belongs – to its roots, to the streets. But there’s a reason why parkour became such a craze so quickly. With stripped-down simplicity, and no props necessary, it’s the ultimate activity for rewarding a heightened awareness of the spaces and environments we inhabit. Or not, as the case may be.

When it’s executed well, parkour is like the archetypal poetry in motion, its practitioners exercising sublime balance and athleticism as they overcome obstacles with efficient ease. On the other hand, when it goes wrong it shows us up for the supremely bungling apes we are. Now, we sincerely hope for the sake of the guy performing a face plant here that this video is a stunt – and parkour traceurs may contest that it’s very bad example of their art – but sometimes you’ve just got to marvel at the folly of urban life.

The Irony of Hope

What is this? Get a graffiti artist week? In the space of seven days, one of the world’s most famous street artists has been in various brushes with the law. Late last week, Shepard Fairey, creator of the ‘Hope’ portrait of Barack Obama that showed up everywhere in the election campaign, was arrested in Boston. The charges of vandalism relate to Fairey’s earlier, equally iconic work, the ubiquitous ‘Obey’ street art campaign. The arrest came just days after Fairey was in the headlines for allegedly illegally using a photo of Obama owned by the Associated Press.

Not keeping the peace: ‘Obey’-based Fairey piece in Boston
Fairey was arrested on the graffiti charges while on his way to Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art
for the opening night of his first major museum exhibition in the US last Friday. He is suspected of damaging property with graffiti derived from the ‘Obey’ street art imagery, and one of the warrants dates back to 2000.

From street art campaigns…
Stickers and stencils of the ‘Obey’ design, which show an image of famed professional wrestler Andre the Giant, began to appear in major cities in the US and beyond in the 80s and 90s. With no clear political message, ‘Obey’ was nevertheless, as Robert L. Pincus pointed out, “suggestively antiauthoritarian”. The propaganda-like sloganeering and wink towards corporate commercialism resonated with a generation of young people.

…To election campaigns

Obey’ seems a far cry from the more mainstream and explicitly political ‘Hope’, which some say was a powerful enough symbol to be instrumental in Obama’s election success. The stylised portrait, which appeared on thousands of posters and t-shirts and now hangs in the US National Portrait Gallery, drew a personal note of thanks to Fairey from the now President.

Spot the difference: the AP original and the new ‘Hope’
But this was no help to Fairey as earlier last week the Associated Press demanded compensation for alleged copyright infringement. The AP claims that because the original photo of Obama was theirs, Fairey needed permission to use it. Fairey’s lawyers have countersued, saying that the use of the image falls under ‘fair use’, whereby the public can copy work without permission for purposes such as parody or education.

Institutionalised? Fairey in the Institute of Contemporary Art
Whatever the outcome of this legal wrangling, it doesn’t seem to have been Fairey’s week – and people could be forgiven for seeing this as more than mere coincidence. The arrest in particular has led to speculation that there are those in Boston’s establishment who aren’t best pleased that a known purveyor of graffiti should be getting the cultural acclaim of his own exhibition in their city. But Fairey – who has had countless run-ins with the police, and also has a track record as a guerrilla marketer – must by now be used to getting it in the neck for his activities.

No Protection? Orr’s take on the giant image

Fairey is not without his less conventional opponents either. Other artists have criticised him for being something of a magpie who simply appropriates the work of others without adding enough to make his pieces original. Ironic, then, that last year Fairey threatened his own legal action against designer Baxter Orr for using ‘Obey’ in a parody called ‘Protect’, in which the graphic of the giant is covered with a respiratory mask.
It’s difficult to tell who’s right and who’s wrong while people appear to rip images off like so many layers of wheatpasted posters. One thing seems sure, though: when street art goes mainstream, the knives come out from one place or another.

Controversial St Pancras frieze scrapped after train suicide image sparked fury from victims' families

Artwork showing a skeleton driving a train and a commuter appearing to fall on to the tracks has been pulled from its planned rail station exhibition amid fierce criticism.

The image was one of many featured on a frieze for a controversial sculpture planned for St Pancras in London.

However train drivers and families of suicide victims condemned the parts of the controversial frieze because its insensitivity to those who have died on the rail network.

It was due to be installed at the foot of The Meeting Place - the 30ft sculpture of a couple embracing - which was unveiled at the station last year.
But the chief executive of London & Continental Railways - which owns St Pancras - has issued instructions for work to be stopped on the basis that the image was 'completely unsuitable'.

Rob Holden is said to have been shocked at the sculpture's concept, having only discovered what was planned over the weekend.

A spokesman for the company said: 'The frieze as originally suggested will not go ahead and work on it has stopped.'

He added that the particular image could be replaced with something else to enable the frieze to go ahead in an amended form, but that no decision had been made.
grim reaper

Other images featured on the frieze include soldiers going to war and emergency workers dealing with the 7/7 bombings - an attempt to depict real-life on the railways through art.

London & Continental Railways commissioned the work and discussed the plans with sculptor Paul Day.

The 41-year-old sculptor said he hoped for a solution because the artwork would be incomplete until the frieze was added.

He said: 'I sent drawings to LCR in July and have had meetings with people at the level below Mr Holden to talk about the reasons for the images. I welcomed constructive criticism to make my work more appropriate and powerful.

'I am disappointed that Mr Holden appears to have been kept out of the loop.

'I have always been open, honest and transparent. I am not an artist who seeks to shock.

Mr Day, who is based in France, said the image was created in a tragi-comic style meant to be a metaphor for the way people's imaginations ran wild.

He added: 'The imagination and real life are often intermingled.

'It's a work of art with a joyful composition, like a ballet, albeit with a subject matter that on face value is tragic.

'Tragedy in art is about creating hope out of drama - through the beauty of the image but also by going beyond the image.'
Mr Day said his current St Pancras sculpture - the embracing couple in The Meeting Place - represented the ideal, while the images planned for the frieze depicted the counter-balance of emotions and experiences of real-life and people's imaginations.

He added that it was meant to be thought-provoking and uplifting.

He said: ''The whole relief is about railways, people and journeys.

'Any separation makes us aware of the value of what we are losing and puts things into perspective.

'I trust the public to be intelligent enough to appreciate the way in which the images were intended.'

Pictured: The amazing portraits of TV favourites made entirely from food

Artwork celebrating some of the nation's favourite television programmes was unveiled today - with the exhibits made entirely from food.

Artist Prudence Emma Staite has swapped oils and pastels for sausages and tomatoes to create the TV Dinners display, which includes a depiction of presenter Anne Robinson made entirely from cakes and biscuits, and a life-sized Doctor Who Dalek made from spaghetti bolognese.

The Have I Got News for You team, including London Mayor and former guest presenter Boris Johnson, have been immortalised with a TV dinner of curry, rice and naan bread.

The edible exhibition also sees the famous EastEnders title scene recreated with sausages and mashed potato, and the Top Gear presenters represented using beans on toast.

The works were commissioned by Virgin Media to celebrate the launch of BBC iPlayer on its on-demand television service.

In a survey conducted earlier this month, Virgin Media found that over a quarter of people in the UK eat their evening meal in front of the television every night.

The research also found that sandwiches were the most common food eaten while on the sofa, followed by pizza and spaghetti bolognese.

The TV Dinners exhibition will be going on display next month at Virgin Media headquarters in Hook, Hampshire.