Don Kenn draws delightfully spooky little illustrations, very reminiscent of Edward Gorey (I do love some good old cross hatching!).
I really enjoy the creatures he creates, and his composition. He strikes that rare balance of dark and FUN.
He makes expert use of negative space…
See more here.
Oh wow…someone has come with the perfect accessory for people like me who adore being out in nature, but also crave wonderful squishy comfort.
It must be blissful to lie down on these (or line up a FEW of them for true decadence). Also: perfect for fort building. Back in my day, I had to put down layers upon layers of every spare blanket in the house to achieve this kind of thing.
Someone tell me this is a bad idea. It looks positively delicious. Perfect size for syrup dunking…
I believe I’ve mentioned how any artwork that destroys books leaves me feeling slightly conflicted (anachronistically attached to the printed word as I am). But I give much credit to Alicia Martin for undertaking these large installations, consisting of nearly 5,000 books each.
Of all possible favorite things to rain from the sky and out of buildings, books would probably hurt the most…but I’d love to ba around to weed through the aftermath of the spill.
Paradise on this earth…where books are projectile vomited from windows and spilling through doorways (if one is careful about bruises and paper cuts).
I wish such treasures were bursting from my walls, providing they are decent books of course.
I’ve been a fan of Greg “Craola” Simkins for many years. I’m hoping I can make it to his new solo show at the Joshua Liner Gallery before the end of the month.
From the show intro:
Simkins alternates between the unsettling and the sentimental—in his finely rendered work, the grotesque can turn sweet and vice versa. Fanged caterpillars become sad-eyed clowns, grow machine parts, or inflate into bulbous balloons that sprout other bizarre creatures and beings. Simkins’ vision weaves together influences as diverse as contemporary pop culture, twentieth- entury fantasy novels, old master paintings, carnival kitsch, and cyborgian amalgams of technology and nature.
See more here.
I’d like to introduce you to the Pacific Pinball Museum.
I’m about to reveal two things that show me in a decidedly unromantic light. Aside from thinking “Wow! I’d love to see the artwork and design on these machines,” my other two initial impressions were:
1) I don’t even want to imagine the noise when this place gets crowded.
2) I would have to play at least 60 pinball games to equal the cost of admission (which includes unlimited games)
Of course, it’s a museum, so calculating game cost is irrelevant. It’s simply the way my mind works sometimes. The place actually looks pretty cool.
Check out the site here.
I rarely make text-based posts, but My Ghoul Friday just posted something I feel is very worth sharing. I’m going to intersperse the text with a deviantart.com image odyssey using the word “death.”
And So We Grieve…
(by bentolman)
Death is always sad, but the reasons for this sadness vary from person to person. And sometimes the sadness comes from an unexpected place.
The tears shed for someone much loved is easier to explain. Obvious, even.
But what about a life spent in bitterness? In pettiness?
We grieve for what could have been.
(by bp-girl)
We weep for the love withheld, and the anger – not joy – heard in a laugh or hidden just beneath a toothy smile. We ponder how cold a life must have been for a person who hid their love away from those who sought it.
We grieve for what could have been. What should have been.
Today I ask you – how will people grieve for you? Will it be because there is now a void in their life that was filled with the love you gave? Will you be remembered for the kindness you showed to others?
(by Lyekka)
Or will people grieve for the life and energy wasted on shallowness. On selfishness. On racism. On elitism.
The last of my living grandparents has left us. And her legacy is one of spite and manipulation.
If there is a heaven, and she manages to talk her way in, I hope she is filled with a blinding love ten times as luminous as the pockets of black she left here on earth.
And so I ask you: How will people grieve for you?
(by liiga)
Withholding love or even a simple kindness from those around you – be it kin, neighbour or stranger – is the same as spreading hate. And no amount of pious, self-righteous reasoning changes that fact.
I mourn any loss of life that brings with it a silent, guilt-ridden sigh of relief from the lips of someone left behind.
I grieve for what could have been.
But my grief will be fleeting.
(by Redjuice)
I hope that as time goes by, the laugh lines on my face will run deep. And when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I will leave a legacy of kindness and compassion. May this world somehow be slightly better because I was in it.
“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
-Horace Mann
Throwing Chicken created a series of futuristic fossils: Creatures of the Mechazoic Era
These wonderful sci-fi inspired sculptures speak of a future we have not yet known…buried in the past.
See more here.
Found on Neatorama
A favorite art collective and a favorite gallery…boy do i wish I were in LA to see this exhibit. Metamorphosis is now showing at the Copro Gallery.
What a collection of dark, delicious surreality! Catch it in person if you can…
See many more from the exhibit here.
Hmmm…I am intrigued by this painted walrus toy prototype, coming to Cardboard Spaceship this summer.
What’s his story? Is he simply intoxicated at a party? Or is it something…more?
Anyone want to take a stab at what this disheveled guy is going through? How did he get paint on him? What’s with his little outift?
SheWalksSoftly 