“It seems like an easy way to send money up in smoke. But a fireworks exhibit that took place in broad daylight in Doha, Qatar has impressed art lovers. Black Ceremony is the work of Cai Guo-Qiang, a Chinese national based in New York City and the world’s foremost gunpowder artist. It kicked off his new exhibit at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in the Qatari capital. And while a daytime fireworks display may seem an odd choice, the use of pastel-colored and black smoke made it a stand-out performance.” w/ photos + video

“Music for insane emos.” — Essefen

“Roman legionnaires bustle through the busy streets of Rome as a triumphant Emperor Constantine is welcomed back from victory against the usurper Maxentius. No it’s not a scene from a Gladiator sequel, this reenactment of 4th century Rome is in fact part of the world’s largest 360-degree panorama. Created by the artist Yadegar Asisi, the 71ft by 321ft painting transports visitors at the Panometer in Dresden, Germany, to the middle of Rome in late antiquity.” w/ photos

“Callahan replaced the ink pads of the typewriter with colored paint pads and the letters with color markers, to create a painting machine he calls a Chromatic Typewriter. So instead of creating paintings with brushes, he types them with his unique typewriter. While it would take a while getting used to, and although it will probably never yield the detailed results of a brush, I have no doubt this thing could produce some pretty awesome artworks.” w/ photos

“What do you get when you combine fishing line with buttons? Sculptures! That’s what Miami-based artist Augusto Esquivel is doing. He basically arranges different lengths of fishing line in a grid, then carefully strings-in sewing buttons in a variety of different colors to create shapes.” w/ photos

“The patient artist is painstakingly working on his one million coffee beans mosaic in Tirana, Albania, and plans on completing the project on December 12. When finished, his unique artwork will measure 82 square meters and weigh 390 pounds. As with his other impressive mosaic, Saimir Strati will most likely set a new Guinness record with his coffee bean project.” w/ photos

“An artist has been dubbed ‘Pic-cars-so’ after using toy cars covered in paint to create amazing artworks. 28-year-old Ian Cook from Birmingham drives the toys across the canvas, spreading the paint to produce motoring-focused images. While Cook has a degree in fine art, he says wanted to find a way of combining his love for painting with that of motor sport. And the bizarre idea came to him after being given a radio controlled car as a Christmas present and told not to get paint on it.” w/ photos

“Now to get it all back into the original 4 piles before mom and dad get back home.”

“Using shock absorbers, springs, steering rods, clutches, chains and various parts from soviet era cars like UAZ, Moskvich and Lada, Roman and his father managed to create a life-size metal bison, in three months. Roman and his father got all the parts they needed from their neighbors’ garages and from the local scrapyard, and welded them together using a photo for reference. Although the young boy, whose family arrived to Belarus from Armenia, has never seen a real bison, he did a fine job recreating one from metal parts.” w/ photos

“Joel Brochu was fascinated by the use of everyday objects in art. He first experimented with M&Ms to create images, but their size was a major hurdle. Brochu found that he had to stand several feet away from the completed image to actually view it as a whole. He then happened to notice sprinkles. Sprinkles, otherwise known as nonpareils, are tiny colored balls of compressed sugar. They are used in the decoration of cakes, cupcakes and other confectioner’s items. Brochu immediately chose these as his medium, to create a beautiful work of art.” w/ photos