Artistic Humor

What’s the best medicine for a hectic week, being sick, and just an stressful month in general — besides a cocktail? Humor! I have a million and one things I could post but I can’t think of anything that would bring more of a smile than these funny yet clever, trompe l’oeil murals on the Visual Funhouse blog, which explores everything that has to do with optical illusions. You can get lost in this site, it’s so distracting and fun.

This one is a little “tongue and cheek” for the way I may be feeling right now.

Another fascinating thing is how artists use everyday objects to create something completely new and actually quite beautiful. I love the way Susie MacMurray has found a new use for latex gloves in sculptural form in her 2004 “A Mixture of Frailties” at The Museum of Arts & Design in New York City. Man, I’m thinking I should have saved all those painting gloves that I’ve used over the years.

Finally, this fashionable sculpture reminds me of a similar one made with “everyday” objects — if you can call mussel shells everyday. I was so intrigued with this piece that I saw this summer in Maine’s Portland Museum of Art, that I had to go back and find a photo of it in the gift shop. They didn’t have one, my luck, but even better, I purchased a wonderful book by Carol Bass on Maine Living that the salesperson just happened to remember included a picture of this and other fabulous sculptural art by Brian White. He says he’s “not an artist” but “just makes stuff.” Well besides being humble, he is quite the artist in my mind because he has found an unusual way to use an item that could be simply discarded or taken for granted and he has transformed it into an beautiful new creation.

What’s that phrase, one man’s trash is another [artist’s] treasure? Artists have a hard time throwing things away because keepsakes hold memories. We look for ways to not let things go to waste. I could have tossed my grandmother’s beaded top that I even remember wearing, but I just couldn’t do that. I thought “there must be another way I can still enjoy this.” I made it into a pillow many years ago. The beads are slowly coming off because the threads in the silk are disintegrating.

At least I know I can enjoy it while it lasts and with every bead that comes off, I can save it for another use. 🙂

Happy Weekend!