My friend Don has been helping out at the house tons. Framing new walls, adding in some joist supports in the cellar, planning out the plumbing, and more to come, I’m sure. I can’t express my appreciation of all his time and work enough. But I thought I could send some traffic his way. Beyond being an awesome friend, he also creates some amazing pieces of art through bodycasting. The ladytheorist commissioned the piece above as a gift for me when I finally graduated. Go check out some of the work he has at KC Bodycasting. Be aware that some of the galleries would probably be considered NSFW as they do contain works of art depicting the naked body.

File under bizarre. We went to Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Museum on March 22 (traveling for Easter weekend). On the top floor is the Unmuseum, a child themed, interactive display to entertain the kiddies (and the very young at heart, which happened to include our entire party).

The gem of the Unmuseum was Speed’s Place, a video art installation featuring a small room with an old movie projector and a bunch of antiques scattered about to create the feeling of some old timer’s work room (created by Michael C. McMillen). The projector played a fascinating video loop, but seemed odd installed in the kid’s floor of a museum. The video featured footage from World War II, old movie clips, skulls, distorted, horrifying faces and short, enigmatic quotes between scenes.

Speed’s Place (pic by thetheorist).

One asked:

“Why does the working man die for corporate gain?” Ed Note – That isn’t a perfect quote, it went by before I could write it down and didn’t repeat again while I was sitting there watching it.

A trailer for the installation at lalouver.com, had this saying between scenes:

“I dreamed I had a three-way in Cincinnati.”

The entire installation was more horror movie than museum. The charm of the piece, for me, was finding such a dark and surreal piece of art on the kid’s floor of a museum. It was like finding a secret room in a strange house (which is how it was designed to feel). I wondered if the museum folk just couldn’t figure out where else to put it.

I just can’t imagine the logic behind the placement of this piece. Hmmm, let’s see:

Images of the dead, check.
Anti-capitalism messages, check.
Creepy images of distored faces and insects, check.
Sexual innuendos, check.

Let’s put it in the kid’s museum!

Most kids (especially the smaller ones) would probably wander straight out of this room after glancing at the projector and the junk, while only somebody obsessed with the bizarre would actually sit down and be captivated by it. It strikes me as a piece just waiting for controversy when some prude discovers some of its more disturbing elements and throws a hissy-fit to museum management. Maybe that’s why I like it so much. It appeals to my naturally subversive nature.

Saturday night, we all headed out to Henry’s Coffee Shop at 8th and New Hampshire here in Lawrence to see Brandon Parkinson’s first public exhibition of his artwork. Brandon is a very old friend. He works in a huge variety of formats, so you can’t really peg him as any particular type of artist. My poor words can’t begin to describe his work, so I’ve included some pics of the pieces I particularly liked. His work will be on display all month (March 2008), so I highly suggest if you’re a local to head over to Henry’s and see it in person. Otherwise, click here to check out his work online (more pics here after the jump).

The Tower II by Brandon Parkinson.

Thought by Brandon Parkinson.

Genius by Brandon Parkinson.

Drunk Driver by Brandon Parkinson.