Appologies

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday. I was moving out of my apartment and had limited to no internet connection available all day. And I was super busy. I'm super busy today too so I will post a big blog later tonight or tomorrow depending on how tired I am when I get home from work.

Later
Bex

Film

Above four pieces of art by Alex Grey

I know this is half-assed but today has been a rush. I'm in the process of moving so hold tight things will get more interesting later. For now I will leave you with a link to some cool youtube videos.

A film all about Joel-Peter Witkin (one of my favorite weird photographers) and his work. It's in segments but it's awesome!
Vile Bodies Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19-SmPWuq4
Vile Bodies Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO7_HGb_CtQ
The Raft of George Bush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JARVUmzI1qU


Now just for some fun ones

A History of Evil

Vagina The Dance

Alex Grey in COsM Trailer

Just Pics

Ferdinand Cheval Palace, France

Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City Missouri USA

Stone House, Guimaraes Potugal

Experience Music Project, Seattle Washington USA

The Crooked House, Sopot Poland

Museum of Contemporary Art, Niteori Brazil

Gangster's Wood House, Arkhangelsk Russia

The Story Book House, Seattle

Bubble House, France

More Websites to visit to see more cool and weird Architecture here:

80 Strange and Fantastic Buildings: http://www.instantshift.com/2009/02/19/80-strange-and-fantastic-buildings-architecture/

Funny Pictures of Weird buildings: http://architecture.about.com/od/weirdarchitecture/ig/Funny-Pictures/

Unusual life: http://unusuallife.com/

Mail Art

Above: Examples of various mail art

Mail art is exactly what you think it is. It's when you customize (with art such as drawing, painting, collage, ext.) a letter, postcard, or any other thing you can mail in the regular postal system way. By whatever means and mediums possible. You can create some really cool art on just 4x6 post cards and then send them out and get some even cooler art back. Mail art is a really fun way to exchange art and a real awesome way to make new friends too. And it's super awesome to send mail art back and forth between pen-pals.

A few sites all about mail art:

A German based site (in english too!): http://www.mail-art.de/

Electronic Museum of Mail Art: http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/emma/

Mail Art Postcard Exhibition: http://digitalmailart.blogspot.com/

Kirlian Photography

Above: Photographs using Kirlian technique

Weither you believe in spiritual energy, charkas, auras, a soul or nothing at all. These Photos and Photography techniques are just weird and awesome!

To start off with we'll look a little bit in to Kirlian photography. The Kirlian technique is named after it's accidental discoveror/inventor Semyon Kirlian in 1939.

He discovered that "if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a source of high voltage, small corona dischrges (created by the strong electric feilds at the edges of the object) create an image on the photographic plate."

Kirlian technique is so weird and cool because it is a contact photography technique meaning the object has to come in contact with the film or film paper. The image appears when "the subject is in direct contact with a film placed upon a metal plate charged with high voltage, high frequency electricity."

This later lead his rediscoveries of these listed techniques of photography: "electrography," "electrophotography," and "corona discharge photography".


Now Kirlin believed that he had photographed what we know as the life energy that is in everything, which some people call aura or soul. But others think that his technique only photographed the electric field or the emf that all things have. This is still a contorversial argument.

even though Kirlian photography was a precoursor to aura photography it is very different.
"Kirlian photography is completely different from aura photography, in which a colorful image is produced of a person's face and upper torso by interpreting galvanic skin responses and adding color to the photograph using a printer. The images made with an Aura camera do not result from coronal discharge. In aura photography, no high voltage is involved as with the Kirlian technique, and no direct contact with the film is made."

Above: Photograph of a leaf using the Kirlian technique

vs.

Below: Photograph of multiple human subjects using the Aura photography technique

A few cool websites:

Kirlian research site: http://www.kirlian.com/

Build your own Kirlian equipment: http://www.imagesco.com/articles/kirlian/kirlian-photography.html

A few cool videos about Kirlian photography:

Kirlian Photography Explination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDOi1BLoN3U

Kirlian Imaging Reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nze9I3L4vrE

Cats and Painting

The Crazy Cat lady a symbol of dimensia and lunacy. But there are many people who enjoy their cats and enjoy and find pleasure in cat related art.

First let me introduce you too a really cool Artist named Louis Wain. Most of his art is just cats. Now first and foremost I must tell you of his life so you my better understand his art and why it seems to get crazier and crazier. Less and less life like.

Cat Drawings By Louis Wain

More Cat Drawings by Louis Wain

Louis Wain was an English Artist who struggled with what we now know as schizophrenia or possiably Asperger Syndrome. He was born in 1860 with a cleft lip and didn't start school until he was 10 years old. He studied at the West London School of Art later becoming a teacher there for short while. He married at the age of 23. His first publish cat drawing was Anthropomorhised. He traveld to NY in 1907 and his art didn't do to well. And soon after his mother died he began to suffer harshly from increasing episodes of schizophrenia or Asperger Syndrome. Some people have speculted his pshycosis was an effect from toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be contracted by cat fical matter. After a period of time his cats became more and more abstract as his schizophrenia or Asperger Syndrome became more and more apparent. Soon he was hospitalized in various mental facilities and discovered there as an artist and widely publicized. He then later died in 1939.

Now I will introduce you to a new art form called painting on cats. I'll just give you a few example pictures. This was Introduced to me in a book called Why Paint Cats. And I looked up the website If you are interested. www.whypaintcats.com

Book Cover of "Why Paint Cats"

Photo of painted Cat

And Lastly but not Least. Cats painting. A video.

Why cat's paint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwrVcR8MZZI

In the beginning...

Life has to start somewhere and today I bring forth unto this cyber-space a place where what is weird isn't, and what is normal is no longer important. Because the weird, odd, bizzaro, and so forth is so much more delightful than the mundane normal.

If there are suggestions for what should be featured on this blog, please suggest them.

I will feature different catagories each week. as example one week maybe weird art and the next maybe weird music and then next maybe weird science. If something is found that is weird enough to be mentioned on a week that doesn't fit it's catagory it will be featured that week.

This is an experiment. Is the world really as normal as we perceive?

-BEX