Brands are tapping into the art space and we are noticing some pretty awesome art installations as a result. It is a precarious feat for a brand to produce art installations because it can easily go wrong and have the exact opposite of the desired effect. A branded piece of art can be viewed as too promotional, too gaudy, too imposing and an intrusion into “public space.”  However, when done right, this kind of branded experience can work wonders for a brand and achieve the desired kind of street cred. We’ve gathered some examples of  both branded and non-branded cool public (and private) art.

credit: thecoolhutner.net

More images after the jump.

Nike’s 20-meter-high, 4.75-ton Ball Man made of 5,500 Brazilian Skill Balls was a huge hit during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It was the centerpiece of a Nike installation Carlton Mall Atrium in Johannesburg. Leicester-based Ratcliffe Fowler Design created using a 3d image of Carloz Tevez. The Man was designed so that the balls remained virtually intact and can be donated to the community after the closing of the exhibition in August.

Also at World Cup, Coca Cola took advantage of the Crate Man craze and installed 54-foot CrateFan in Johannesburg’s fan park in Newtown. It was built of 2,500 Coke bottle crates and weighed 25 tons.

At the BMW Museum in Munich, the Kinetic Sculpture of 714 metal orbs seems to float in space. The orbs hang from thin steel wires attached to individually controlled motors. The orbs animate a 7-minute “mechatronic narrative,” starting from chaotic and settling at the end into the six square-meter “flying carpet.” The installation, developed by Berlin-based ART+ COM is to be “metaphorical translation of the process of form-finding in art and design.”

Louis Vuitton have paired up with French artist Andre for the opening of their St. Tropez store. Commissioning the artist to create a limited edition postcard set with images capturing the essence of what makes Cote d’Azur so memorable. Limited to 30 numbered copies signed by the artist, each package contains 10 unique designs and is currently available at Louis Vuitton Saint-Tropez as well as the Paris, London, Hong Kong and Taipei flagship stores.

More pictures after the jump.

The stunning elegance of Jeff Nishinaka’s paper art calls for a new definition of paper. His meticulous sculptural 3D work appears to have been created from marble or extremely fine sand or vanilla ice cream or thick foam — definitely of something other than “just” paper. The Los Angeles-born artist works mainly with white, which makes the exquisite play of light and shadow a large part of the appeal of his work.

He has a prolific career working in advertising, fashion and fine art, and also creating some larger installations. His commercial work includes commissions for fashion catalogues for Bloomingdales and Galeries Lafayette, advertising work for Visa, Coca Cola, Playboy, American Airlines, Toyota and Mattel. Even the colourful characters of Disney’s Lion King — Pumbaa, Timon, Rafiki et.al. — look absolutely stunning in Nishinaka’s white paper world (image below). If you want to see a lot of Nishinaka’s work in one place, you need to talk to his personal friend, actor Jackie Chan, the owner of the largest Nishinaka collection. -Tuija Seipell

Françoise Nielly’s massive, colorful portraits are delicious to look at.  Born in Marseille, brought up near Cannes and Saint-Tropez, and now living in Paris, Nielly is at home among bold contrast and dazzling light. In a beautiful video posted on her site, she, in her confident, strong hand, wields her painting knife shaped like a miniature garden trowel, and makes painting look easy like cake frosting. She paints her vivid, passionate canvases from black-and-white photos, further proof of her unfailing ability to interpret light, shadow, hue and tone by applying brilliant colors and daring strokes.

Cartoon ‘Darcel’, of ‘Darcel Disappoints‘, by artist Craig Redman, now takes us via his world through the newly opened Bond Street and Clifford Street located Louis Vuitton London Maison. Showing off the space with cartoon drawings of walls adorned in paintings from collaborative artists with the brand such as Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami and Gilbert & George, Darcel experiences product, customers, the red carpet and window displays from the luxury brand Louis Vuitton.

Enjoy the images below!

Saturday, May 1st, 2010, Deitch Projects will present ‘May Day,’ the newest set of work from contemporary art legend, Shepard Fairey, aka OBEY. The work’s inspiration lies in the revolutionary minds of the past that have drastically changed the mainstream of culture.

“Deitch Projects is pleased to present May Day, an exhibition of new work by Shepard Fairey, as its final project. Titled not only in reference to the day of the exhibition’s opening, the multiple meanings of May Day resonate throughout the artist’s new body of work. Originally a celebration of spring and the rebirth it represents, May Day is also observed in many countries as International Worker’s Day or Labor Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations coordinated by unions and socialist groups. “Mayday” is also the distress signal used by pilots, police and firefighters in times of emergency.”

Check out the preview video for the installation and additional samples of his work after the jump.

Did the founding fathers pictured on American currency get facelifts? If you take a close look at the differences between old denominations of American money and new ones, you can notice that the portraits have been retouched to hide flaws, like Lincoln’s nose, Jackson’s laugh lines, and Hamilton’s jawline. Newsweek asked a plastic surgeon to break down just how he would make the same changes to a real person.

Check out Dr. Hildago’s assessment of our founding father’s after the jump.