Tuesday 29 March 2011

Haunted paintings

Certain portraits have eyes that seem to follow you around the room, but thankfully, that's usually the limit of their creepy behaviour; there aren’t many that will take the trouble to leave their frames...
 
For a long time (possibly since watching Ghostbusters 2!) I’ve been fascinated by the idea of paintings that take on a life of their own. Just to be clear, I am very sceptical about the idea that a painting could actually be cursed or haunted, but it’s a fascinating idea and makes for some great stories and urban legends.
 
“The Hands Resist him” 



This painting was listed on eBay in 2000 with a description that claimed that the two figures would move about during the night, and that they would sometimes even leave the painting. Included with the listing were photographs that apparently depicted an incident in which the female doll figure had held a gun to the figure of the young boy. (If you look closely at the painting you can see that the ‘gun’ could be a combination of the window frame behind the doll and the small object she is holding- a dry cell battery and a tangle of wires according to the artist)
 
News of the ‘haunted’ painting spread quickly around the Internet and there were reports of people fainting or becoming ill, and children screaming upon viewing it. I can understand why children would find the painting scary, it’s exactly the kind of thing I would have been terrified of a child. There is something very unsettling about those dark hollow eyes...
 
The artist Bill Stoneham, later added his own contribution, stating on his website thatBoth the owner of the Gallery where 'Hands' was displayed and the Los Angeles Times art critic who reviewed my show were dead within a year of the show.”
 
Sources & further reading
 
“The crying boy”

image from www.cryingboyfanclub.nl
This legend isn’t actually about a single painting but a mass-produced print of a painting by Spanish painter Bruno Amadio (also known as Giovanni Bragolin). There are several versions, all depicting a tearful child and all apparently cursed.
 
In 1985 the Sun newspaper reported that a fireman from Rotherham had claimed there had been several instances of house fires where the crying boy print was left undamaged despite everything around it having been completely destroyed.
 
 
“The Anguished Man”
 
I'm not quite sure what to say about this, apart from I wouldn't have this painting in my house... http://www.perception9.com/ghosts-and-hauntings/ghost-experience.php?article=A%20Haunted%20Painting&item=00000180

Monday 28 March 2011

Sunday 27 March 2011

Vintage pics New York City!


























Here are some great pictures of New York.

Click here for more on NY architecture & buildings at Skyscraper city.





Monday 21 March 2011

Love Spy - Mike Maureen (hardcore mix) Italo disco


This is another post modern music video I made today. But this time it's for Italo Disco legend Mike Maureen's love spy. I try and make videos in 2-3 hours maximum, as I have a low attention span to anything after 3 mins.  This one was given the working title ' Spring' (Robbie was 'Winter') . I love film noir, so decided to make a detective / crime video. It  features a deadly femme fatale or ' love spy', I'm not sure which. The footage is a remaster of 'This is hardcore' by pulp. I'm sure Jarvis Cocker will not mind as I listen to his show every Sunday!!

Lighting - Skream (Robbie mix)


I have wanted to make a music video for ages so made this one yesterday. I ran out of glass cutting wheels, so this is what i'll do when that happens again (make videos, not shake my ass in jeans). The quality is not great as I have loaded it up in low res. I'll stick the high res one on you tube for any one who is interested. The track is Lightning by Skream & the video has some old favourites as well as some not so familiar favourites.

Sunday 20 March 2011

Ancient queen

Hello!

I am having a rather unproductive weekend as I am full of a nasty cold. I am currently wrapped in a blanket drinking tea and watching the Ipcress File.

In the meantime here is my latest creative effort, which I cut and printed earlier this week:


She's a mysterious, possibly mythical (actually, definately mythical!) queen of the ancient world.

Now time for more tea!

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Masquerade

 
Jakob Rousseau "Masked Ball in the Hoftheater, Bonn"

 Lady at a Masked Ball with Two Roses on Her Dress NYC 1967
by Diane Arbus
 Illustration by Harry Clarke for Edgar Allen Poe's Mask of the Red Death






My latest print 'Arriving at the masked ball' is available here

Sunday 13 March 2011

Saturday 5 March 2011

Early anime discovered


Chibisuke Monogatari
Issun-boshi: Chibisuke Monogatari (Tiny Chibisuke’s Big Adventure) (1935) © Digital Meme


The National Film Center, Toyko, has announced the discovery of two anime films from the silent era. Given the fact that less than 4% of Japanese films made before 1945 still exist, any such discovery, as brief as these titles are, is heartening news.

Anime might be thought of as a modern phenomenon, but the history of Japanese film animation stretches back to the early silent era. Soon after American and European animation films were first seen in Japan, around 1914, Japanese filmmakers were imitating them and coming up with their own distinctive native style.
The two films that have been uncovered (they were found in good condition in an Osaka antique store) are Junichi Kouichi’s Nakamura Katana (1917), a two-minute tale of a samurai tricked into buying a dull-edged sword; and Seitaro Kitayama’s Urashima Taro (1918), based on a folk tale in which a fisherman is transported to a fantastic underwater world on the back of a turtle

Too much work stole my head!

At the begining of the week I was feeling tired and drained from too much work and not enough sleep. One evening when I was feeling particularly numb of brain I made this print, a sad spirit going for a midnight stroll probably lamenting the headless situation she finds herself in...



Luckily I am now feeling less like this poor soul, and am busy working on some new ideas!

(btw, she's in my Etsy shop now)

Thursday 3 March 2011

Dancing Queens

I love vintage pin ups and their clothing (or lack of in this case) and this is a tribute to some of the less well known risque performers of the 40's. The latin root for burlesque means ' to laugh & make fun of' & burlesque aimed to introduce risque themes into theatre through women who radiated self-confident sex appeal.  burlesque queen lantern

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Outsider art: George Plumb's Bottle Castle

Who says you need an art degree or a degree in architecture to make a really amazing thing?

This is one of my first post's on the inspiration that is 'outsider art'.

In 1962, George Plumb, a retired carpenter, bought a one acre site in Duncan (Canada). He had decided to build a Castle and Taj Mahal out of bottles. A donation of 3,000 bottles from a local dairy got him started. He added soft-drink, whiskey, wine, and antique bottles (even a few television sets) to the outsides of his buildings.

Five thousand bottles went into the Bottle Castle (also known as the Glass Castle) which was a small five-room house completed in 1963.

Over the years, he used 200,000 bottles. Plumb collected bottles from local industries and others were donated by neighbors and visitors. The structures around the main building included a Leaning Tower of Pisa, a well and a giant Coke bottle – all made with bottles and cement. Around the buildings were animals sculptures, some made from concrete and others carved in stone. In the gardens, there were paths between low walls that led past flower beds to a small waterfall, water lily and fish ponds, a totem pole and a small studio.

The building & sculptures were bulldozed in the 1990's for highway expansion.








Tuesday 1 March 2011

The wild pursuit



The wild hunt, galloping across the skies in pursuit of.. something or other..
In my etsy shop now!