Weekend Diversion: a new twist on the art of balloon animals

With no tape, markers or adhesives, these accurately modeled animals are a true work of art.

“Laughs don’t come in barrels. They come from inside you as your body’s response to delight.” –Pinkie Pie

There’s something special about setting up a restrictive set of rules for yourself that often allows you to create something more spectacular than what you would’ve made otherwise. This is true in art, in music, and even in the realm of science, where the restrictive “rules” of nature have brought about a diversity and variety of creations far greater than what any of us could’ve concocted. Have a listen to Keller Williams’ song, Slo Mo Balloon,

while you consider an artform that’s only rarely explored: that of balloon animals.

While you’ll often see a lot of creativity out there as far as using balloons to compose caricatures of various common animals — penguins, ducks, cows, giraffes, alligators, dogs and more — these are normally limited in two very common ways:

1. If you want to get any sort of detail work done, you need to use a non-balloon component, like markers, stickers, tape or other adhesives.
2. They still wind up looking like cartoonish versions of animals, rather than anatomically accurate models.

You might think it’s too much to hope for, using a medium like balloons and nothing else, to create true-to-life animals.

But one balloon artist —Masayoshi Matsumoto, known as isopresso on tumblr — would beg to differ.

From insects,

to fish,

to megafaunal mammals,

to reptiles,

to magnificent birds,

to undersea creatures,

to plants and flowers,

to humans,

and even to semi-fictional monsters,

these are truly a collection of amazing balloon sculptures.

Go check them all out on tumblr, and thanks to a whole slew of sources, including Twisted Sifter and Creative Spotting for putting this onto my radar. Hope you enjoyed it, and hope you have a great (what’s left of) your weekend! See you back here for more joys and wonders of the Universe tomorrow!

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