Westpakete - Heaven And Hell Machine in a box

I finally finished my Art Care Package today: Heaven And Hell Machine in a box :)
For the project "Westpakete" - initiated by friends of mine, the artist group "Microwesten" - 50 artists were asked to create their own version of an Art Care Package"/"Art West Package". This is mine: A (much) smaller version of my recent installation "Heaven And Hell Machine".

Here you can also see a little slight show of all the different packages.

Nice trick or great work?

I came across these cool portraits by Gium Tió Zarraluki and I think they are really cool. They have a lot of expression and a weird feel to them. I only noticed after a while that they are painted on magazinecovers and parts of the faces are leftovers from the underlying phtographs. This partly makes them so weird, but it also makes the works less special I think. On one hand I like the idea of distorting the 'perfect' portraits on glossy magazines, on the other hand by doing it over and over again it might become a trick. I wonder if the works are created from a certain feeling or from the posibilities the original image offers. Probably both. But i'd like to see what happens if those characters would be recomposed, interact together and become more than a funny portrait. Still very inspiring work all together! Here's lots of 'm!

Weekend WTF: Ittma Hohah

Ok, here's a Swedish classic from 1947 (edit: the song is from '47, this film clip is from 1956)... Povel Ramel in yellowface performing his song about Ittma Hohah Om Butn Baba, self-tormentor. I put it under the WTF header especially for those of you who don't speak Swedish, for whom it must be quite the incomprehensible mindfuck... but I couldn't resist providing a (rough, flawed and 'liberty-taking') translation of the lyrics below. Enjoy!

Wherever my skinny body is shipped,
it does not need protection,
I can withstand all of life's pains

Of all the people I know,
nasty neighbours and enemies,
no one can torment me like I can.

For I am Ittma Hohah Om Butn Baba, self-tormentor
and I come all the way from Chitn Potn Bah,
just south of Potn Chitn Buh, in India

It would take several days to list all I can suffer
Every saturday I burn myself at the stake
I eat glass and I love soup made out of nails
In my breakfast sandwich I put arsenic

For I am Ittma Hohah Om Butn Baba, self-tormentor
and I like it better here than in Chitn Potn Bah,
just south of Potn Chitn Buh, in India

I was going to show you two or three of my favourite tricks
but at the moment my cobra, who bites, has a cold
my fire breathing technique is very refined
but at the moment my throat is ruined from hard liquor

So you won't get to see any tricks today, cause I'm not feeling well
But if you doubt me, then you can all go to Chitn Potn Bah,
just south of Potn Chitn Buh, in India

Botlek

Meet illustrator par excellence Daan Botlek. He studied in Rotterdam too, a few years before me, and you'd meet him every now and then at the bars, always with his sketchbook ready, no matter how late or drunk. He never felt comfortable in the 'classic' illustration business, he was more of an autonomous illustrator and over the years he has devellopped a very unique and recognisable style. His drawings look simple, but are extremely complex. The clear lines and subtle use of shading, combined with a great sence of composition reveal a huge knowledge of form and shape. He can be funny in a slapstickish way, but also graphicly intelligent like Escher. Who knows one day he will be the next Escher. Or the first worldfamous Botlek maybe? He has tons of work on his flickr, his website doesn't seem to work right now. Enjoy!






click to enlarge!

Nice cover

I like it.

Weekend WTF: Maruosa

The WTF to end all WTFs. (Warning: make sure to turn down the volume a bit first)

Awfully funny or funnily awful

I almost thought this was satirical comedy at first. Am I the only one who thinks this looks just like a very well made parody of sentimental Hollywood Oscar-flirting cheesiness? Am I just getting old and cynical?

Trailer here.

Google Image Search Improved

Hey, good news, you are now able to search Google with images instead of words. This is great news for anyone who found an interesting image somewhere but can't find any information about it... this is bound to open up new areas of interesting inspiration and research. Just go to Google image search, then drag-and-drop an image in the search field, and behold... Nice!

Adolescence and transgression

This is a fascinating full length documentary about the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, which, beside the actual music, is a scene of church burnings, suicide, murder and prison sentences. What fascinates me most about all this is what can happen to a person during adolescence, this window of time in a person's development where he or she is not quite a child and not quite an adult, but still has the characteristics and abilities of both, and the possibilities to take life into any of millions of radical and transgressive directions.

For most people, this is a 'phase' that runs its course and then they enter the 'normality' of adult conformity. But some people stay there, way into their teens, their twenties, sometimes their whole life. I am fascinated by these people. These are the people who have the potential to become great artists -- or, just as easily, cult leaders, conspiracy theorists and mass murderers.

At the moment I kind of see adolescence as the transgressive and 'magical' (for better or worse) period in one's development where all windows and possibilities are open, when values are questioned and new values formed, when everything is possible and anything can happen. It is what drove two adolescent girls (portrayed in Peter Jackson's wonderful 1994 docudrama Heavenly Creatures) to both experience the most magical aspects of life but also to commit the horrible crime they did. I also think it is what transforms some well-off, well-bred Norwegian boys into what they become, as shown in this documentary.

Or maybe I'm just full of it. In any case, if you have the 90 minutes, this is an interesting documentary to watch.

via Coilhouse.

GAME & WATCH

The sounds - blip-blop, the beautiful design, the frustration and joy these little gadgets brought to me as a kid! All these memories are brought back on the this wonderful site with a nice collection of handheld electronic games:

http://www.pica-pic.com/

Above is the one I remember most - Donkey Kong. Didn't use the "watch" part of it, but I sure played the game a lot...

My mix on Fluid Radio

I was recently asked by Fluid Radio to compile a playlist of music for their website -- if you're looking for some 90 minutes of weird and wonderful music, head on over here!

Weekend WTF: Charlie White

WTF?