In an ongoing series entitled Dancing With Costică, Australian artist and photographer Jane Long colorizes old black and white photos and adds a surreal twist to them.

The original portraits were taken by Costică Acsinte, whose incredible archive of nearly 7,400 photographs are available on Flickr Commons (Cezar Popescu, who is responsible for digitizing much of the archive, also deserves a shoutout).

In an interview with Fstoppers, Long explains:

“I wanted there to be some ambiguity about the images. Things that are almost real or not quite right. That’s why I like to place them in a slightly surreal context. But I think it should be up to the viewer to determine if the characters in my images are good or bad, light or dark…
 
After finding the Costică Acsinte Archive on Flickr I became fascinated with the images and their subjects. I wanted to bring them to life. But more than that I wanted to give them a story. I will probably never know the real stories of these people but in my mind they became characters in tales of my own invention.”

You can see the entire series at the links below. If you’re interested in prints, they are available through Jane’s website. Long has also published some BTS videos that show timelapse sequences of her artistic process on her YouTube channel.

[via Fstoppers]

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Jason Secoda (Airheads Entertainment) is an artist and entertainer that uses balloons as his medium. Based in Philadelphia, the artist has been making balloon art for over 15 years. On his Facebook page, he describes his philosophy:

“My philosophy on balloon art tries to shatter the ideas that balloon art is cheesy and that it’s only for kids. I’m very detail-oriented, and as a result, my work is layered and complex. During events, I often find just as many adults enthralled with my work as children are. In short, I make quality, upscale work for all types, and all ages of clientele.”

Below is a small collection of Jason’s fantastic work. To see more be sure to check out his Facebook page.

[via oPHILcial]

Collaboration with Dennis Scott, Dylan Gilenas and Jack Mattson. Inspired by Angkor Wat in Cambodia. 15,000 balloons, over 16 ft tall and 225 sq. ft.

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