Tag: art

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Music of the trees

People talk about harmony in nature. Artist and engineer, Bartholomaus Traubeck, took this quite literally with his unusual creation that turns the rings on a tree into music.

The device looks very much like a vinyl DJ station. A slice of tree is put on a turntable and an arm with a sensor tracks the rings, converting them to piano notes. The music is unlike anything that you’ve ever heard. Here is a video of one tree’s song that he calls “Years.” It begins at the center of the tree, the youngest part, and then works its way out to the edges. It’s fascinating to hear everything become more complex as the tree ages.

The scientific study of tree rings is called Dendrochronology. There is currently no word for someone who creates music from them. Is he a composer? The music is in the trees; he is using technology to find and interpret it. Perhaps some things don’t need a classification. That’s why they’re wonderfully weird.

Traubeck provides more detail about his motivations and methods in this Huffington Post interview. You can hear more tree music and purchase albums through his web site.

Do you know of more music from nature? Tell us about it!

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Artist creates bizarre crocheted skeletal remains

We have some bizarre art for sale at the Lucky Lizard. But we also have to tip our hats to people who create amazingly bizarre works. Caitlin T. McCormack is one such artist. Using string, Caitlin creates intricate animal skeletons that will cause a double-take. Here is a video with some startling examples. (Warning: the funky music might need to be turned down in your environment.)

https://youtu.be/4MVSNMeacI4

You can see a fuller portfolio on her web site. For those who appreciate the intricate architecture of the skeleton, they are beautiful to behold. Unfortunately, as of this writing, she appears to be sold out of everything, or we might find a way to include one in the Museum.

We are in, awe, however. It is all amazingly done and we are grateful to have the chance to see them virtually.

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The Copenhagen Nose Memorial

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen features a number of Greek and Roman portrait busts and statues. These are very fragile and a number of them ended up with broken noses. In the 19th century there was a restoration trend, where museums attempted to restore classical art. New noses were fashioned out of marble or plaster and affixed to the statues to make them whole. In the 20th century, this idea was revisited and they decided that the works should be shown in their natural state, brokenness and all.

Nasothek-2
Diagram Lajard derivative work: Hic et nunc (Nasothek.JPG) [Public Domain, CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
During this “de-restoration,” a strange collection of noses and other parts was assembled. Rather than throw them away they were used to create a new piece of art called Nasothek. The purpose of the exhibit is to call to mind the sins of artistic curators of the past so that we may never be tempted to do such a thing again.

One might wish that Steven Spielberg or George Lucas had been given the opportunity to see this monument before they were tempted to revise their own art.

Steve Spielberg infamously used CGI to replace any appearance of a gun in E. T. with a walkie-talkie (Kids, that’s a device used to communicate by radio before everyone had a mobile phone). Spielberg ultimately admitted regret for this decision.

George Lucas made numerous alterations to his Star Wars films, but the most notorious was the “Han shot first” controversy. This is where the later release of Star Wars was altered to make it look as though Han Solo shot a bounty hunter in self defense rather than preemptively. Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in the the films, settled the matter once and for all by posting a picture from his shooting script on Facebook. Lucas also saw the light and released the original edit in 2006.

No matter what your art, Nasothek is a reminder that art can and should stand on its own. Imperfections or politically incorrect elements cannot be washed away without wiping the original purpose of the art. We have some of the weirdest art in the land for sale at the Lucky Lizard. We wouldn’t change a bit of it.

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Don’t know what this says about the marriage

Forget the controversy about whether or not to wear white to a wedding. These people are deciding between quilted an extra-absorbent. It’s an contest sponsored by Charmin (as in “don’t squeeze the”) where dress designers create a wedding gown out of toilette paper. Why? Who knows? They’ve been doing it for 11 years.

A model walks the runway wearing ‘Garden Party’ a design by Carol Touchstone during the 11th annual toilet paper wedding dress contest at Kleinfled’s Bridal Boutique in New York June 17, 2015. [Reuters/Brendan McDermid]
 The winner was Donna Pope Vincler. Her gown is pictured here.

A woman wearing a white gown with a veil and tophat
The winning dress in Charmin’s 11th annual toilette paper wedding dress contest.

Alright, yes, it’s very fetching. Not many people can pull off wearing toilette paper like that. Most people just use it as an occasional shoe accessory. Of course, this is probably no weirder than the annual duct tape tuxedo contest, where students can win scholarship for showing pictures of prom wear they’ve created with duct tape. Though, if I have to pick my skill for the zombie apocalypse, I think I’d rather be a duct-tape wizard than a toilette paper princess.

Oh, well! It’s art! Have you ever made something weird like this? Tell us about it! Maybe we’ll feature your strange creation.

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GOOD-INTENTIONED GRAFFITI GOES WRONG

A good intentioned touch-up turned out not-so great.

What started out as a good-intentioned touch-up of a 100 year old painting inside a church near Zaragoza, Spain turned out to be, to put it nicely, quite the poorly done “restoration” of the work of art feature Jesus himself.

Entertainment on Today writes:

Would you think to match your home-grown painting skills against a classical artist? Probably not, but that’s just what a well-intentioned woman in her 80s did recently in Spain.

The three photos above tell the tale. The image on the left is the original work, a century-old oil painting of Christ called “Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)” that was painted on a column inside a church near Zaragoza, Spain, by artist Elias Garcia Martinez.

Over the years, the work began to deteriorate, as shown in the second image. According to the Centre de Estudios Borjanos, the unnamed amateur artist (without permission from the church, needless to say) thought she could improve the work and set to work with paints and brushes. The third picture is the result.

The BBC reports that the woman realized her mistake and contacted Juan Maria Ojeda, a city council member in charge of cultural affairs for the area. “I think she had good intentions,” Ojeda told the BBC.

A team of art restoration experts is reportedly examining the painting, will quiz the woman on what materials she used in her attempt, and will figure out how best to proceed.

Read more at todayentertainment.today.com