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Oh me! Oh my!
Oh me! Oh my!
What a lot
of funny things go by
…during hunting season. Carl Turner created mounted heads of Dr. Seuss’s creatures, including this Baffler Bird.
Link -via Super Punch
Not just “a” raven, but “the” raven that inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write the poem The Raven, is on display now at the Free Library of Philadelphia as part of their Dickens collection. The bird, named Grip, was author Charles Dickens’ pet, and was enshrined in more than one classic work of literature.
The raven appeared as a minor character in Dickens’ book Barnaby Rudge, which Poe reviewed and criticised for the bird’s small role.
Four years later, in 1845, he penned his immortal and haunting poem The Raven.
It told of a talking raven visiting a distraught man whose lover had just died, arriving ‘as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door’. The paragraphs then trace the man’s slow descent into madness.
The carefully preserved and stuffed raven is one of the more unusual items in the Philadelphia library’s valuable Dickens collection.
Link -via The Daily What
The Free Library of Philadelphia is celebrating Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday all year long. Link
The Buena Vista Museum in Bakersfield, California, was the scene of a burglary Wednesday morning. A window was broken and two stuffed animals -a leopard and a dingo- were missing. Two blocks away, police found 55-year-old Henry Silvers, who had a stuffed dingo with him.
“I was just bored and decided I wanted to be a cat burglar,” Slivers told 23ABC in a jailhouse interview. “So I kicked in the window and tried to steal the lion but it was too heavy, so I stole the cat.”
“I took the leopard to my hotel. I then decided I wanted the dingo so I went back and took it. I took it to Jack In The Box because I wanted to have breakfast with it.”
23ABC asked Slivers what he was planning on doing with the dingo and he replied, “I was going to take it around town with me.”
Slivers told 23ABC he hadn’t taken his medicine for over a week.
Police found the other animal, an African leopard, in Silvers’ hotel room. Link -via Arbroath
Artist and Taxidermist Enrique Gomez de Molina creates hybrid animals by combining parts from different species into one new, and quite spectacular looking, creature that unfortunately may contain endangered species. Here’s the story:
According to the report, he is charged with possessing the skins of a Java kingfisher, collared kingfisher, bird of paradise, and juvenile hawk-eagle as well as the carcasses of a slow loris and a mouse deer, all from Indonesia.
The artist had not obtained the required permits to import the animal parts, and police claim De Molina knew what he was doing was illegal as he asked the people he bought them from to wrap them in carbon paper, according to the MN Times.
The artist claims that he aimed to raise awareness with his work to the danger faced by a range of species…
His creations are interesting, but knowingly using endangered species is just plain wrong, and a terrible way to supposedly “raise awareness …to the danger faced by” these animals.
Stuffed and mounted animals sing “Back in the Day” by The Erratic Man. Besides the video, there’s a choir of singing animals that you can add your pet to! Link -Thanks, James!
Austrian artist Klaus Pichler became intrigued by a stuffed antelope that he saw through a window at Vienna’s Museum of Natural History one night. He later toured the museum’s taxidermy division and received permission to re-arrange and photograph the displays. Many of his pictures suggest that the animals are interacting with each other or the humans in the museum. If you opened an elevator and found a bear inside, would you share the ride or take the stairs?
Link -via Flavowire | Artist’s Website | Photo by the artist
If you like taxidermy artwork, but hate the idea of real dead animals being used for their creation, then you’ll love the wonderful crochet taxidermy animals of artist Shauna Richardson. Of course, if your favorite aspect of taxidermy is the dead animals, then you probably won’t be a fan.
A Tokyo art collective known as ChimPom recycles exterminated rats as art objects. These rats have been painted and posed as the Pokémon character Pickachu. Is this weird or what? See more pictures at Smart Stop. Link -Thanks, Dan!
If you already have the parts and you’ve always wanted a real life Bebop doll, then why not go ahead and convert your taxidermied boar head like Darick Maasen did?
Link Via Geeks Are Sexy
Peter Gronquist’s new show “The Evolution Will Be Fabulous” at Gallery in 1988 in Los Angeles features horned animals with fearsome golden antlers. Among them are golden uni-jackalopes. I know, jackalopes are supposed to be oh so cute. But here in Texas they get into everything, tear property apart, and are nothing but a nuisance.
Link -via Nerdcore | Photo: Artist’s Website
The art of taxidermy has seen a resurgence in the past decade, after falling out of favor some fifty years ago. Lisa Hix of Collector’s Weekly studied the phenomenon, and talked to quite a few new-wave taxidermists, including Robert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists.
Marbury, now based in Baltimore, says he believes Internet culture revived interest in taxidermy, and not just because of eBay.
“The Internet’s become a cabinet of curiosities,” Marbury says. “You can search to your heart’s content and find really bizarre stuff, filling your computer with JPEGs and GIFs. In many ways, it parallels the traditional cabinet of curiosities, where you have these explorers going out and grabbing anything they could for their Wunderkammers (wonder rooms) in their houses or for museums. In a sense, we’re all walking around with that on our phones now. If you want to collect it, you can find it. I think it desensitizes us a little bit.”
His theory goes something like this: In the early 2000s, people started spending so much of their time in their heads, staring at computer screens, that they felt compelled to collect real, tactile objects that brought them back into the physical world—such as animals that were once alive, with soft fur or feathers, leathery hides or scaly skin, smooth horns and teeth, and even traces of decay that make a connection to the soul of nature and a long-gone past.
Learn what’s different about taxidermy this time around, and find plenty of links to online taxidermy collections and resources, at Collector’s Weekly. Link
It takes something special to make local TV ads stand out, and Ojai Valley Taxidermy has accomplished that. Chuck Testa doesn’t mince words -he specializes in making dead animals appear lifelike. Even when they’re in bed with you. If you have the stomach for taxidermy work, you can also check out Chuck’s Tuesday Tips on YouTube. This ad was produced by Rhett and Link. -via The Daily What
All gussied up and nowhere to go, these morbid curiosities are the product of Dutch artist Cedric Laquieze, who uses the skeletons of cats and dogs and covers them with fake flowers to create a startlingly beautiful effect. Now your deceased pet can serve as the centerpiece for your next family get together!
Link -via DesignTAXI
There’s something amazing that can happen when you combine animal body parts and metal pieces to create hybrid creations. WebUrbanist has a great collection of 36 mechanical creations from 11 different artists. The gallery is great, particularly in the variety of the creations from artist to artist.
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Taxidermist Andrew Lancaster says “Some people call me sick and some think it’s pretty good.” The New Zealand resident collects small dead animals, preserves them, and uses their body parts to form imaginary creatures. So just in case you were worried: the above animal doesn’t actually exist. News Story and Facebook Page -via Dave Barry | Photo: Andrew Lancaster
Photo: Tessa Angus
What do you do if you've got your hands on thousands of mouse skulls
(rescued from owl excrements vomit, no less)? Well, taxidermy artist Alastair
Mackie has got the elegant solution. Izzy Elstob of Don't Panic writes:
Downstairs again, Mackie uses the repetition of form to create the series Untitled (Sphere). These are four perfect spheres within thick-set display bell jars, apparently floating upon their plinths. I forgot to mention that these perfect spheres are meticulously composed of mouse skulls. I forgot to mention that these mouse skulls are meticulously extracted from owl shit. What you have is a skeletal ball of precise dimensions, the layers of the ball packed with equidistantly placed skulls of increasing or diminishing size dependent on whether the convex is moving towards or away from the poles.
Link - via Archie McPhee's Endless Geyser of Awesome
Darick Maasen made this taxidermed version of a Koopa Paratroopa from the Super Mario Bros. franchise. It’s the perfect display item for a man cave — far superior to a mere mounted deer head. Link -via Uniblog
Artist Iori Tomita produces theses colorful transparent specimens not by photo editing, but by transforming the animals themselves.
…Tomita first removes the scales and skin of fish that have been preserved in formaldehyde. Next he soaks the creatures in a stain that dyes the cartilage blue. Tomita uses a digestive enzyme called trypsin, along with a host of other chemicals, to break down the proteins and muscles, halting the process just at the moment they become transparent but before they lose their form. The bones are then stained with red dye, and the brilliant beast is preserved in a jar of glycerin. The extensive production takes five months to a year, but the result is an arresting look at the inner workings of underwater life.
See more of Tomita’s work at Wired magazine. Link -via Everlasting Blort
Crappy Taxidermy is a photo blog devoted to highlighting the worst works of taxidermy, such as this Santa Fe diesel locomotive. Someone bagged a 16-point buck. That’s pretty good!
Link via Doobybrain
German artist Iris Schieferstein made these shoes, dubbed “Vegas Girl” out of stag hooves and revolvers. She’s worked extensively in taxidermy.
Link | Artist’s Website | Photo by the artist (I think)
Collection curator Emma Hawkins shows us some items made from animals long ago with functions beyond display. On one hand, using animal remains to make consumer products is green in that the items are organic, biodegradable, and an example of recycling. Compare these items to the same things made of plastic or fiberglass. On the other hand, it’s morbid and may have contributed to the decline of certain species. What do you think? Is it OK to value a fur or something made of ivory as long as the animal died a hundred years ago? Link -via Nag on the Lake
You may be asking for trouble when you commission taxidermy work from someone who is unfamiliar with the species. That was just the case for King Frederick I of Sweden in 1731. The lion was a gift, but after it died, the pelt and bones were presented to a taxidermist who had never seen a lion. You see the result looks more like a cartoon character than the king of beasts. The stuffed lion is still on display at Gripsholm’s Castle. Ulrika Good tells us the story, with the help of Google Translate, and has more pictures. Link -via The Daily What
Update: Ulrika Good has posted an English version, which is better than the Google translation linked above.
Oddee has a roundup of the creepiest taxidermy creations ever. Shown here is the work of Jaun Cabana, who creates mythical aquatic creatures from parts of different animals. He’s just one of ten taxidermy artists linked in the list. Not for the squeamish; some images are NSFW. Link
Someone bought this necklace featuring a snake fetus in a vial, but the Etsy seller has more vials of creepy things for sale. The necklace is part of a list of 10 Shockingly Creepy Pieces of Taxidermy Jewelry. Bones, feathers, teeth, and other animal parts are available for you to wear. But would you want to? Link
Buy this and brag to your hunting buddies about it. deviantART user Melita Curphy made this rug that looks like a skinned supernatural creature.
Link via Geekologie
Previously by Melita Curphy: Demonic Stormtrooper Helmet
eBay user ni0vek offers this taxidermic squirrel changing into his superhero outfit. He sells other interesting items in his store, such as three moles playing poker.
Finally! After waiting all these years, I can use the bleating title sentence on Neatorama.
And yes, you can see it in action here: Link [YouTube clip]
British brewery BrewDog, noted for its quest to make the world’s strongest beer, is now selling bottles of beer in the prepared bodies of dead squirrels and stoats. Because, you know, that’s what people want. The product is called “The End of History”, and is 55% alcohol:
The name derives from the famous work of philosopher Francis Fukuyama, this is to beer what democracy is to history. Fukuyama defined history as the evolution of the political system and traced this through the ages until we got the Western Democratic paradigm. For Fukuyama this was the end point of man’s political evolution and consequently the end of history. The beer is the last high abv beer we are going to brew, the end point of our research into how far the can push the boundaries of extreme brewing, the end of beer.
Link via CrunchGear | Photo: BrewDog
This mounted Hello Kitty trophy is for sale from Etsy artist datamafia. It is one of 12 Bizarre Hello Kitty Products That Sign The Coming Apocalypse collected by our own Jill Harness at Inventor’s Spot. Link
Artist Ron Pippin creates sculptures of animals with mechanical augmentations, such as the above work entitled “Solar Deer”. In an interview, Pippin said:
My work is often related to ideas about the relationship of Science, Art, and Nature. My scientific aesthetic is primarily drawn from the 19th Century, when, I feel, science still had a relationship to beautiful forms.
Content warning: Pippin uses actual animal parts in many of his works.
Link via Make | Official Website | Interview | Photo: Ron Pippin
