Category:
Art

Jan Akkerman

An album cover that would also work as the cover for a horror novel. (Reminds me specifically of that Clive Barker story, "The Body Politic," in which disembodied hands gain consciousness.)



Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 08, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Music

Jamy Verheylewegen, Underwater Artist

We've previously posted about Zarh H. Pritchard, who pioneered the art of painting underwater. A later practitioner of this subaquatic form of art was Jamy Verheylewegen who begain painting underwater in 1983.

Some info from the site of photographer Christian Voulgaropoulos (with help from Google Translate):

Settled for a few years in Hyères, in the South of France, Jamy devotes himself to his eminently original sport/art: underwater painting.
Harnessed like a professional diver; diving suit, suit and bottles of compressed air, He descends to a depth of about ten meters to spend more than an hour, installed near a "drop-off", to transcribe, using his colored tubes, the wonders of the sea.
He has a secret process, that of depositing colors based on pigments on a prepared canvas and this, in a definitive way. The easel is held to the ground by heavy weights, otherwise the wood it is made of will cause it to rise to the surface.

Source: voulgaropoulos.com



Source: Odd and Eccentric People (Time-Life Books)

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 04, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits

Jet Art

Jackson Pollock splashed paint onto a canvas. Prince Jurgen von Anhalt took this method to the next level by using the blast of an airplane's jet engine to spray paint onto a canvas.

More info: Smithsonian Magazine

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 14, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Art

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 49



Eugène Brands: De Tang - The Pincers signed and dated '8/51


The artist's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 08, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, 1950s

The influence of odors on creative thinking

There have been a variety of studies examining how psychoactive drugs affect behavior and creative output. But could smells also have a psychoactive effect? That was the question posed in a 1958 experiment conducted by scientist Leo H. Narodny — published in an obscure trade journal, The Perfumery & Essential Oil Record. Narodny wrote: "It may be possible, by inhaling certain odours, to influence creative imagination without endangering the whole brain by an excessive dosage of drugs."

He used a textile designer as his test subject. Every day, for two weeks, he had her draw a design while breathing unscented air. Then, after breathing in air saturated with an odorous essential oil (such as bergamot, vanilla, peppermint, or cedarwood), she drew a second design. Some of the results are below.







It was hard to draw conclusions based on such a small sample size, but Narodny felt that the designer tended to draw more abstract patterns when exposed to the essential oils.

Nadia Berenstein offers more details about the experiment on her "Flavor Added" blog.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 25, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Experiments, Psychology, Smells and Odors

Pushing a block of ice through Mexico City

In 1997, artist Francis Alÿs spent a day pushing a large block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it fully melted. Try that in Phoenix in the summer and you'd get about half a block before the ice would be gone.



In 2013, he kicked a flaming ball through the streets of Juarez.



According to a NY Times article about Alÿs, his working principle is "maximum effort, minimal result."

via Book of Joe

Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 20, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Art

Gnaw by Janine Antoni

Gnawed chocolate and lard as art. From the artist's website:

Gnaw comprises two 600-pound cubes – one of chocolate, the other of lard – and a three-paneled, mirrored cosmetic display case. Using her mouth as a tool, Antoni nibbled the corners of both cubes, leaving visible teeth marks in the material. The chocolate fragments, blended with spit, were melted down and cast into 27 heart-shaped packages for chocolates, while the lard residue was combined with wax and bright red pigment to create 135 tubes of lipstick.

She gnawed it in 1992.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 01, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Chocolate, 1990s

Plant Machete

A machete-wielding plant. From the website of David Bowen, its creator:

This installation enables a live plant to control a machete. plant machete has a control system that reads and utilizes the electrical noises found in a live philodendron. The system uses an open source micro-controller connected to the plant to read varying resistance signals across the plant’s leaves. Using custom software, these signals are mapped in real-time to the movements of the joints of the industrial robot holding a machete.

The Day of the Triffids would have been a gorier novel if the plants had machetes.





via WhatTheyTh!nk

Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 13, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Botany, Weapons

Page 4 of 62 pages ‹ First  < 2 3 4 5 6 >  Last ›




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
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
Monthly Archives
September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •