Other Hagiographies

The word hagiography makes me think of Robertson Davies. It is the study of saints. These are saints of a different sort.

First, Steve Seeley's woodland sort of hagiography.






{psst... you really should also check out his extensive portfolio... it's not all sainted animals, sometimes it's superheroes, aliens, antlers, rainbows, creative anatomy and more, via je voudrai que}.

If robots and aliens are more you style, io9 has an entire gallery of Star Wars Saints.

Empire by Scott Erickson


Imperial Saints by Patrick King


Pope Yoda from La Nuova Figurazione Italiana

These remind me of a photo I took at Nuit Blanche in Toronto 2007 of the modern day pièta with E.T. and animatronic Yoda:

Insect Fantasia

This reminds me of The Artificial Kingdom: On the Kitsch Experience by Celeste Olalquiaga, a fascinating book tracing the history of kitsch and linking it to a sense of loss. In a sense, it's all about death. It seems to me that this installation is about loss of these insects and their habitat, loss of childhood wonder, and loss of Victorian 'innocence' (if such a thing existed).

{via bioephemera}

Brontosaurus adrift and twittering

Check out New Hampshire illustrator Katie Vernon. There is a lot of understated humour in her layered and textured work. She can not resist illustrating puns and sayings. Here is her calendar for June ("if april showers bring may flowers, what to may flowers bring?")


and a flowered hedgehog


from her blog.

But this project is genius: she is illustrating 'tweets' (if you haven't fallen into the twitterverse blackhole, or steadfastly ignore the twee naming scheme, a 'tweet' is a maximum 140 character posting on one's twitter blog). These can be found on tweets illustrated.





This really appeals to my love of typography!

Some of her illustrations from her site:

Tree Destroyers - a veritable wunderkammer of hazards to trees.

Bye-Bye Brontosaurus

She also has an etsy shop called ChipmunkCheeks

{More or less via Blossem}

Soundsuits

I discovered the other Nick Cave, artist and fashion professor in Chicago, via The Rag & Bone blog. He creates magnificent and fantastical 'sound suits' - items somewhere between sculpture, costume, textile art, haute couture, musical instrument and fetish. He explains their genesis below. Inspired by traditional African costumes, he notes also that the suits conceal, "the identity, race, and gender, of those who wear his suits. Rendering them faceless and anonymous the suits help these individuals transcend the political realm in order to enter the realm of dreams and fantasy." Really, you need to look at them- they cannot be described adequately in words.


Soundsuit,2009
Mixed Media
97 x 26 x 20 inches


Soundsuit,2008
Mixed Media
98 x 27 x 14 inches


Soundsuit, 2009
Mixed Media


Soundsuit,2008
Vintage hats, found materials
98 x 32 x 28 inches


Soundsuit, 2008
Mixed Media
102 x 36 x 28 inches


Soundsuit, 2009
Mixed Media