I love TED talks!

This is one of my favorites. It’s conceptually a brilliant performance art piece. It also appeals to the juvenile prankster part of my brain.

How do you stage an international art show with work from 100 different artists? If you’re Shea Hembrey, you invent all of the artists and artwork yourself — from large-scale outdoor installations to tiny paintings drawn with a single-haired brush. Watch this funny, mind-bending talk to see the explosion of creativity and diversity of skills a single artist is capable of.

See the video below.

TED

If UNUSUAL is what you’re looking for, step right this way…

Our friend, Steve, is a great guy who has a thing about collecting unusual treasures to surround him in his home. The collection is incredible, astonishing, visually overwhelming, and sometimes disarming in nature. We’ve posted several times in the past about Steve’s passion for finding items which are unique, yet compliment other items in his multi-layered mix of visual spectacle. Today’s post is a video filmed by Unusual Life’s Marlow Harris. To say his home is a museum of wondrous treasures is an understatement. Marlow’s new video captures of the true essence of Steve’s incredibly strange home. Enjoy!

Steve invites you to take a tour of his Weird House in Seattle

Here are links to our previous posts featuring Steve and his home with many more photos and videos…

Steve’s Strange House ! – from August 2009

Comics, lawsuits, science fiction and a very unusual home from 4/07

Extreme Home Tour – November 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today’s post is about a boat named ‘Love Love‘

French artist Julien Berthier has designed a fully functional boat to look
as if it is sinking. The 21ft yacht was cut in half with a new keel
and motor added so it remains in the sinking position while being fully
functional. He describes it as “the permanent and mobile image of a
wrecked ship that has become a functional and safe leisure object.”

Berthier has taken the boat (or should I say half-a-boat) across the
English Channel to London and has toured it around Europe , getting plenty
of offers of assistance from unwitting good Samaritans, who would
presumably be either very annoyed or rather bemused by the contraption.

The designer and artist designed and built the floating installation in
2007. He named his creation Love Love.

A Tip-O-the-Hat to Ms Kelly Lyles for the heads-up on ‘Love Love’

Mapping during 600 years anniversary of the astrological tower clock situated at Old Town Square in center of Prague.

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Shepard Fairey  •  May Day

Recap – Opening in NYC at Deitch Projects – May 1st, 2010

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•  Click here to see the whole story, with lots of event photos and videos  •

Shepard Fairey’s current show at the Deitch Projects will be the last exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch’s groundbeaking SoHo gallery.  After a decade of presenting art here, the doors will close on May 29th. Deitch has been appointed the directorship of L.A’s MoCA.  You should catch this show if you’re in NY before May 29th.

Shepard Fairey’s illustrious career is highlighted in this ambitious exhibition, a fitting New York finale for the Deitch Projects. An impressive body of work is shown here, prolific in intent, from the artist who’s iconic red, white, and blue Obama/Hope campaign has made Shepard Fairey a household name, and made his style a deliberate viral cultural brand upon the brain of society’s visual literacy. Pure genius!

The opening night of this event was an epic art mob scene. The lines to get in extended for blocks, stopping traffic on Wooster St. for hours.  Artists, collectors, fans, and excited hipsters were out in force in the hot and humid night looking to catch a glimpse of the magic that was in the air.   - JD

•  Click here to see the whole story, with lots of event photos and videos  •

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On April 29th, 2010, we at Unusual Life were thrilled to attend the gala opening of The Gay 90′s, the newest set of masterpieces by artist Mark Ryden. The show is at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York City. You can see the full show of 5 paintings, and 18 watercolors and drawing studies online at the Kasmin Gallery website, or in person at the gallery thru June 10th, 2010. 

Guests attending the opening were asked to dress in the Olde Tyme theme. Mark’s friends and supporters showed up from all over the country, ready to congratulate him on yet another remarkable body of work. The crowd was thick with artists, creatives, and smiling admirers.  

-  Click here for many fun photos from the opening celebration!  -

-  Click here for many fun photos from the opening celebration!  -

My brother Den David sent me a link to the new 7-8-9 from n2a. No 2 Alike. He recalls correctly that my first car was a 1959 Chevy, saphire blue and white like the tail end of this hybrid with the Chevy styling of a ’57 front, ’58 sides, and ’59 tail comprising the body, all on a C6 Corvette 440 – 1000 hp powerhouse, touting a top speed of 180 mph. Yes please!!!

Well folks, Jana has done it again and in honor of Elvis’ 75th birthday may I share with you “The Elvis Aaron Presley Cake”!

See more of Jana’s Fun Cakes here.

Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum of Sharon, Massachusetts have  remodeled their 1901 Craftsman style Victorian home with an unusual steampunk design aesthetic, and actually have a business where they will give your home it’s own Steampunk Home Design. 

Read the Steampunk Workshop’s wonderful account of their visit to Bruce and Melanie’s home for the detailed description of the artistic and functional updates to this makeover, plus many more detail photos. It looks so intriguing and comfortable that I’m all ready thinking of ways to seriously employ this aesthetic into parts of our 1914 home.

And a Tip-o-th-hat to Cory Doctorow at boingboing.net for the heads-up on this gem!

The title character of Ray Bradbury’s book The Illustrated Man is covered with moving, shifting tattoos. If you look at them, they will tell you a story.

New LED tattoos from the University of Pennsylvania could make the Illustrated Man real (minus the creepy stories, of course). Researchers there are developing silicon-and-silk implantable devices which sit under the skin like a tattoo. Already implanted into mice, these tattoos could carry LEDs, turning your skin into a screen.

Read lots more about this in the WIRED Gadget Lab and h+magazine

OK, I want my own trilobite vehicle. Who doesn’t? This is The Electrobite Olenoides, A Trilobite Vehicle which Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate of Form & Reform created from an electric wheelchair to get around at Burning Man 2009. Watch the Boing Boing Video below to check it out, and here’s a Flickr Set of the build process. Giddyup!

We’ve posted previously about the incredible performance art pieces by France’s Royal de Luxe street theatre company, and now they’ve outdone themselves once again with a stunning land and sea performance earlier this week. This is part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin wall. Check out the photos below, and the beautiful set of 35 photos just posted on The Big Picture. Please read the beautiful story associated with those pictures. Also check out the videos below and many more through the video links. Art and spectacle at it’s best. Pure magic!

Here’s the whole story on Buddha Shaped Pears.