Art
The Ghost Parking Lot of Hamden, Connecticut
The "Ghost Parking Lot" was the 1978 creation of artist/architect James Wines. It consisted of twenty cars, placed in a mall parking lot, then buried to varying degrees, and finally covered with tarmac.
image source: sitenewyork.com
Torrance Daily Breeze - June 1, 1978
Wines explained: "this fusion of typically mobile artifacts with their environment takes advantage of people’s subliminal connections with the rituals of shopping center merchandising and the fetishism of American car culture."
But over the years the tarmac peeled off the cars and no repairs were made. So in 2003 the city decided to remove the cars. They were replaced by a Starbucks drive-thru. Wines commented, "If (the sculpture) was in a museum, it would've been preserved."
More info: sitenewyork.com
Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 08, 2024 -
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Category: Art, 1970s, Cars
Extended Credentials
Identity theft as art. Jay Lee Jaroslav created 31 fictitious identities, backed up by official documentation such as birth certificates and social security numbers. He used the info of individuals who had died as infants as the basis for constructing these identities. To make this all seem more art-like, he turned the 31 applications for birth certificates into paintings.He never used these identities to do anything illegal. His point seemed to be to demonstrate that it could be done.
More info: jayleejaroslav.wordpress.com
Umbrella - May 1979
Jaroslav's birth-certificate application paintings on display
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 22, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Identity Mistakes, Thefts and Mix-ups
The art collection of the British Rail Pension Fund
Fine art and British Rail may not seem like they have much in common, but for several decades British Rail, through its pension fund, was a major player in the world of fine art. From theNY Times (Apr 5, 1989):
The pension fund began selling its art in 1986, and sold the last of it in 2003.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 1996 that the pension fund made a return of 13.1% per year on its art. Which doesn't seem bad at all. However, its stock portfolio, during the same period, returned 22% a year.
If you're looking for a coffee-table curiosity, there are several books dedicated to the artwork owned by the British Rail pension fund.
More info: "When a railway fund started buying paintings"
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 20, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Money, Collectors
Subversive Coca-Cola Bottles
In 1965, thousands of sealed Coca-Cola bottles containing "subversive bulletins" were found floating off the coast of the Northern Celebes.
Miami Herald - July 30, 1965
I can't find any information about who was responsible for this strange act of subversion. But it recalls a later subversive use of Coca-Cola bottles by the Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles.
It was during the 1970s when used glass bottles would be returned and refilled. Meireles would modify the bottles before returning them by adding white text on the side showing messages such as "Yankees Go Home" or instructions for turning the bottle into a Molotov cocktail.
More info: Beach Branding and Packaging Design
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 07, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 1960s, 1970s
New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers
Jeff Koons's 1987 "sculpture" is titled "New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5-Gallon Displaced Quadradecker." It consists of a stack of six shampoo polishers and one wet/dry vacuum.I wonder if the work was inspired in any way by the persistent weird news theme of 'art mistaken as trash.' Instead of art that resembles trash, Koons imagined cleaning supplies as art.
Yeah, I'm probably overthinking this.
New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5-Gallon Displaced Quadradecker
image source: wikiart
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 12, 2024 -
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Category: Art, 1980s
Follies of the Madmen #602
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 09, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Domestic, Hygiene, Advertising, Historical Figure, 1960s
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 57
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 01, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Avant Garde, Statues and Monuments, 1940s, Women
The Necco Garden
This entry courtesy of Sherry Mowbray.The creator's Wikipedia page.
Source of text and photos.
Another source reveals:
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 31, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Avant Garde, Candy, Reader Recommendation, 1980s, North America
Aki Sasamoto: Delicate Cycle
The creator's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 25, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Performance Art, Hygiene, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Asia
Weird Masks by Damselfrau
The creator's home page.
An interview, plus more pics.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 17, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Costumes and Masks, Europe
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |