Thomas Kuebler’s art form is striking and unique. He is one talented sculptor! I’d have to rate his work as far better than anything I’ve ever seen in a Madame Tussaud’s, that’s for sure. Above is Kuebler’s tribute to Simon “Schlitzie” Metz, a notable American sideshow performer, best known for his role in Tod Browning’s Freaks.

Here is my personal favorite sculpture by Kuebler, Siamese rednecks Cletus and Shorty:

There is a place beyond Razorback Hollow where the deep woods dirt roads lead to an isolated community of characters. One such fellow… er, fellows are Cletus and Shorty Greeley. It was believed that the brothers would not survive infancy, yet they grew to be quite powerful. Although intelligence is not among their assets, they seem to be quite self-sufficient and get along fine in the small community that has known and accepted them since birth.

Thomas Kuebler website

Via our friends at Nerdcore

Russian photograper Raoef Mamedov’s controversial re-imagining of Leonardo’s Last Supper with models who have Down syndrome.

Larger version here.

One Chromosome Too Few

Really cool laser cut dollar bill artworks by tattoo artist Scott Campbell.

See more images over at Toxel.

 
Opening this week at New York’s New Museum, Emory Douglas: Black Panther:

Some of Emory Douglas?

Photographer Richard Barnes spent ten years going behind the scenes in natural history museums documenting the artificial version of wild and the result is a stunning new monograph called Animal Logic.

Richard Barnes

Animal Logic

Douglas Walla and New York’s Kent Gallery announce a big Paul Laffoley show in Paris, to be held at the Palais de Tokyo as part of their Chasing Napoleon exhibit, from October 15, 2009 to January 17, 2010. If you happen to find yourself in Paris this winter, it’s going to be a must-see show.

When Paul moved a couple of years ago, several early works from the Sixties were found hidden in his storage space and make up the bulk of this show. The piece above, I’ve seen in person and—like all Laffoleys—it’s truly stunning, vibrant and electric.

Tara and I own two of Paul’s paintings that will be in the Paris show. We were sure sad to see them leave our home a few weeks ago. Now the walls seen so bare! (They’re huge, 6 by 6 ft).

Thanton III, 1989 (you can buy a fantastic poster of this painting here)

Alchemy, 1973

 
As a kid I spent roughly two hours a day getting bussed back and forth to middle school and when I wasn’t dodging apples, I had plenty of time to immerse myself in the then still-slim oeuvre of Stephen King.  Carrie, Salem’s Lot and The Shining all made somewhat more tolerable the stupidity of my fellow riders, and gave my own outsider-ish existence if not heroic contours, then something just as good: the potential for them.

I mean, I knew I wouldn’t be bumping into migrating vampires or telekinetic prom queens.  But say I did, and needed to save not just my ass, but the asses of everyone I loved, and even, what the hell, the asses of those apple-chuckers.  In terms of how to make that happen, King’s books offered up a pretty persuasive set of blueprints.

Maybe more than King’s novels themselves, though, I remember being absolutely mesmerized by their covers, and spending many long moments at the local library (a frequent King setting) simply gazing at them.  The artwork of those early hardcovers did a fantastic job of whittling core themes down into imagery that was as simple as it was evocative (see above).

If you’d already read the book, with just a glance at its cover, you could relive it all over again.  And say you hadn’t read the book, the covers made you want to, like, immediately.

Well, fans of that early artwork can now skip the library and gaze at the more than 2,000 King covers gathered over at StephenKingShop.  They’re arranged by title, and I find it particularly interesting (and saddening) that, with the advancement of years—and books—the elegance of the cover art grows less and less striking.  And that’s especially true for the paperbacks.  Don’t get me started on those “Signet” ‘90s!

Via Cabinet: All The Stephen King Covers In The World

Iain Crawford Photographer

Kinda makes me feel like river dancin’.

(via Why, That’s Delightful! )

Handimal artist Guido Daniele:

Since 1986 Guido Daniele has been working and improving his personal usage of airbrush: he paints back-stages in different sizes (the biggest ones can be 400 square metres) for artistic and advertising pictures, tv commercials and tv programmes. He also creates trompe l’oeil, both in private houses and public buildings.

In 1990 he added a new artistic experience to his previous ones: using the body painting technique he creates and paints models bodies for different situations such as advertising pictures and commercials, fashion events and exhibitions.

(via C33)