Dutch photographer Koen Hauser blows my mind with his ability to use digital manipulation with a rare subtlety. Many of his subjects are ever so slightly alien, but one is never certain how much or how little Hauser has done to doctor the photo.
Some transport me into dreamscapes…
And I adore his strange creatures.
Here is a great set of anatomical images and scary babies. Examples:
And another favorite:
See more here.
I’ve been meaning to post about Greg Brotherton’s sculptures for months. The first one I saw was the Migraine Machine, and I was hooked.
In this steel gyroscope, precision bearings allow the base and sphere to spin in one direction as the pilot spins in the other. He looks appropriately peeved.
3 Prisoners is another favorite of mine:
Three steel cages occupied by iron prisoners hang from a central pressure gauge box.
One of Brotherton’s more well known sculptures is The Rise of Dischord; a mechanical representation of Eris, the Greek goddess of strife.
See more of these wonderful creations here.
Bouncing Red Ball has an incredible collection of night time factory photographs. One look, and I’m transported into some kind of gorgeous, glowing dystopia.
The the right light, there is intense beauty in these industrial monsters.
See the rest here.
Rudy Fig is one talented 20 year old! This girl has got a very bright future in painting her naughty confections. Her images seem to maintain a sparkly, pastel innocence (despite the fact that some are NSFW).
Mmm…I always take my sundaes with pearls, time pieces and mollusks…
Of course I must include the Doctorpuss!
There is a wistful and precocious nature to many of her characters, which appeals to me greatly.
I obviously feel a striking connection to the following image. Aside from the fact that she looks eerily like me, much of the symbolism is frighteningly applicable. I may have to ask for permission to use this image in certain projects, to her credit.
A doll-like girl with a lock-and-key heart, decorated in treats and shiny things…an artfully adorned medical mask…a watery colorful world (double fish- Pisces symbol!)…
I think I have bonded with the stories behind her eyes. Ms. Fig, did you paint this for me? 🙂
See more on her myspace page or flickr sets.
I have a strange fascination with dead sciences; the so-called discoveries, championed by experts for years and subsequently discarded as nonsense. Of course, we are by no means past our tendency to espouse a theory wholeheartedly until something comes along to disprove it.
Phrenology was a rather popular (now defunct) science in the nineteenth century, purporting that mental faculties and personality traits corresponded with cranial bone formation.
I love the old charts and models (I’ve used some of these images in jewelry, clothing and other craft designs)…
Equipment included measuring devices and even electric “testing helmets:”
Should you want your own model, you can purchase a Dr. Willarton Phrenology Head
Or a L.N. Fowler Phrenology Head
People seem surprised that I don’t already own one of these. In time…in time…
And look at this fantastic set of miniature head models, made by William Bally in 1831:
Although disproved long before, 1931 saw the advent of the Robot Phrenologist:
I must hand it to the phrenologists for being the first to roughly conceive cognitive localization.
Modern imaging technology presents a weighty issue when it comes to brain scans. Although certain connections can be made between activity, thought and specific brain regions, there are definitely limits of cognitive function localization.
There is a book
Some have postulated that there are more connections in the human brain than atoms in the known universe. Whether or not there’s any validity to this statement, it is clear that neuroscience can’t transform raw data into complex thought patterns. We’ve yet to uncover exactly where “identity” is located.
Image: Lost Identity
Even as an avid student of mind-body medicine and neuroscience, I like that human beings can’t be relegated to a series of bits and bumps.
Note: while posting this I kept thinking of the Simpsons.
Smithers: Sir, phrenology was dismissed as quackery 160 years ago.
Mr. Burns: You WOULD say that! You have the brain pan of a stage coach tilter!
As much as I dislike posting images that crop up on numerous other blogs, I happen to enjoy this one very much.
That is all.
(Apologies for the lack of specific source…I’ve seen it all over)
On my to-do list: get to this exhibit ASAP! I’ve sung praises for the inimitable Elizabeth McGrath before…and I’ll do it again.
Ms McGrath is back, with a brand new solo show at NYC’s Sloan Fine Art Gallery.
I can’t get enough of her creations; mildly terrifying yet somehow endearing…like a tooth decaying from too much candy.
From the Sloan Fine Art site:
McGrath creates tragic yet endearing creatures from a wide range of materials – including resin, foam, wood, ceramic, cloth, paint and found objects – often layering her narratives by hiding tiny objects and dioramas within her sculptures. Each piece becomes an undeniable statement about the condition of our environment, the ruthlessness of our behavior and the shamefulness of our accountability, cloaked in the charm and beauty of a lovingly crafted – and lovable – object.
Her attention to details makes every inch of her pieces worth exploring. I can’t wait to be totally engrossed in these creations up close.
Gallery website.
What a beautiful example of the worlds beyond the grasp of the naked human eye. Discovery has a wonderful little gallery.
Prismatic mineral fragments, microscopic coral pieces, tiny organisms, shells…what appears at a distance to be a mass of miniature brown rocks hosts a surprising array of shapes, colors and patters.
Under a microscope, these grains of sand reveal much about the biological and geological history of the local environment. Volcanic eruptions, eroded mountains, even remnants of decaying man-made structures.
See the rest of the gallery.
I’ve seen this Dan Beckemeyer piece pop up in a few of my favorite places, and I have to site it as another fantastic inspiration to learn the craft of needle felting.
Beckemeyer gets major innovation points for making this a multimedia project. I’ve yet to see needle felting blend seamlessly with print media.
I would love to see him do more work of this type. Perhaps a triptych of anatomical pieces.
It’s a perfect day to share my little photo collection of antique medical leech jars. I originally set out on a google image odyssey for the word exsanguination, but it turned out to be very uninteresting.
So I give you these receptacles of a bygone era, used to house the slimy little agents of bloodletting.
I think this one is my favorite:
En Francais!
No frills…
And here’s a lovely vintage leech chart:
Personally, my body does not like being without its blood. Bad things happen.
SheWalksSoftly 