Traditional Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Art

 Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913) was Mexico’s most famous graphic artist. He illustrated books, novels, and the famous broadsides (news sheets) that were distributed throughout the country. Many of his drawings could be considered to be political cartoons. Known especially for his engravings of the “calaveras” or skeletons that cavort, eat and drink, ride bicycles and horses, are revolutionaries, street vendors, and everyday people.

His art is traditional for All Souls’ Day, the Day of the Dead or “Dia de los Muertos”.  The Day of the Dead actually consists of two days: November 1st for the remembrance of deceased infants and children and November 2nd for deceased adults.

Curious History: Extremely Disturbing Taxidermy

 Enrique Gomez De Molina is an artist from Miami who creates bizarre sculptures with the stuffed parts of dead animals. While taxidermy itself isn’t something new, what De Molina does is he mixes up parts from different animals to create a new one, a new species all together. The result is what some might call art, and others may find plain disturbing.

 For instance, one of the strangest beings created by De Molina is a combination of a squirrel and a crab. The head of a squirrel and the body of the crab. Another one has the heads of two swans placed on the body of a goat. 

Another one has the heads of two swans placed on the body of a goat.

  Another one has the heads of two swans placed on the body of a goat. The art is all fine, but the artist himself is facing the possibility of landing in jail for no less than 5 years. He may also have to pay $250,000 in fines. The reason – he illegally imported the body parts of endangered species, a crime that he has pleaded guilty to. He was arrested in November, 2011.

According to the police, De Molina did not obtain the permit required to import animal parts, skins and other remains. He apparently was aware that his actions were illegal. However, he went ahead and smuggled in the remains of animals from all over the world.

While these sculptures might look disturbing and even seem like cruelty against animals, De Molina says that his aim is to raise awareness regarding the dangers faced by a range of species. He wanted to depict the dangers of genetic engineering and human intervention. Meanwhile, he offers his pieces for sale on the Internet and through exhibitions. The prices go up to $80,000. His work was recently displayed at the Scope Art Fair in Miami. Two pieces were sold for a total of $100,000.

Curious History: Moneygami

Origami, obviously one of the coolest paper craft techniques, was recently taken to another level by Japanese graphic designer and origami expert Yosuke Hasegawa. Yosuke is representing a new art form called “moneygami” by taking different money bills from all around the world and folding them in the manner of origami, he has created an incredible collection of world leaders donning various hats.
Here you can see Abe Lincoln and Gandhi with baseball caps, Queen Elizabeth with turban and even Hussein with sombrero all made of a single dollar bill. According to the artist, he wanted “to make people happy with spending money” and has even created a free Moneygami app that teaches how to make Kid Lincoln out of a five dollar bill.

Curious History: Extreme Pumpkin Carving

 
American artist Ray Villafane has taken pumpkin carving to a whole new level. Using his background in fine art and his work in designing models for DC and Marvel comics, Ray turns pumpkins into gruesome Gothic gargoyles.

Curious History: A New "Thing" for the Addams Family

Addams Family’s Thing Recreated

Known as the Magnanimous and Beneficent Doctor Warthan, he claims to “disseminate the propaganda of SteamPunk Art.” He built his Thing for an Addams Family themed exhibition at the Wootini Gallery in Carrboro, North Carolina.