Fantastic Artwork is Fantastic
Date: July 24th, 2010
In the past month or so I’ve discovered some visual artists whose work I really love. I thought I would share.
Laura Wächter
M. Hutter
Lee Harvey Roswell
William Basso
Tattoos Don’t Scare Me – Usually
Date: June 16th, 2010Tattoos are maybe not quite as scary as they once were. Now that nearly everyone has at least a little flower on some corner of his or her body the danger factor has be reduced nearly to zero. But some tattoos are still scary.
Pet Tattoos – Scary
Eye Tattoos – Really Scary
Full Face Tattoos – creep me out
Annoying comedy slogan on head – extra scary
Scary and wrong in so many ways
Not scary – best tattoo ever!
The Seven Deadly Sins Trading Cards
Date: June 3rd, 2010Illustrators throughout history have been fascinated by Christianity’s Seven Deadly Sins. Jacques Callot created an especially interesting set of drawing that would make excellent trading cards. Although, if I had depicted the majority of sins as female I would have made the effort to make Ira – Wrath a woman as well.
Luxuria – Lust
Invidia – Jealousy
Avaritia – Greed
Gula – Gluttony
Pigritia – Laziness, Sloth
Ira – Wrath
Superbia – Vanity
Bloody Mary
Date: May 14th, 2010
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
Nursery Rhymes are frequently based on unspeakable historical horrors. Children, I fear, may be essentially evil. They regularly and with much glee recite little rhymes filled with subject matter that would give pause to even the most graphic horror writer.
“Mary, Mary Quite Contrary” the familiar English rhyme is a choice example. The rhyme alludes to Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary.
The daughter of Henry VII was a staunch Catholic responsible for a repressive policy against practitioners of the Protestant faith. Her ‘garden’ referred to in the rhyme was a euphemism for the graveyards which, under her harsh supervision, filled up quickly with Protestant martyrs.
Silver bells and cockle shells were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. ’Silver bells’ were thumbscrews. This simple vice with protruding studs or spikes on the interior surfaces was placed on the victim’s thumbs and slowly tightened until the victim gave a confession. The ‘cockleshells’ were supposedly instruments which were attached to the genitals and tightened in much the same way.
Beheading in Bloody Mary’s time was problematic. The one who was to be beheaded frequently refused to cooperate and had to be chased around the scaffold. Often, multiple blows were needed to sever the head. Simple executions turned into drawn out and complicated public spectacles. The guillotine solved these problems. A common nickname for the the guillotine was the maiden. The ‘pretty maids all in a row’ refers to the collection of guillotines used to get rid of the troublesome Protestants.
Mary was indeed contrary. In spite of that, children have, for generations, embraced her and sung her praises. Doesn’t this seem suspicious? I suspect those cute little cherubs are actually monsters waiting for us to drop our vigilance for just one second.
You’ve been warned.
*** Thank you to Amanda Spaid for permission to use her stunning art work. You can check out her website here
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis ; Art is Long, Life is short
Date: February 23rd, 2010Anke Merzbach
Kate O’Brien
Gottfried Helnwein
Saturno Butto
