Sexy Pencil

Now this is one I hadn't thought of before! Rosanna seduces us with her #2:

Brian Eno.

"Jeepster"

"Lifes a gas."

Marc Bolan. Lens next sculpt after Keef.

On a lighter note..Panda bear.

Just for kicks.

Visual Artists Who Committed Suicide

Alexander, Henry (ca. 1860-1894)
American painter

Drank carbolic acid.


Arbus, Diane (1923-1971)
American photographer

Took a lethal dose of barbiturates and slashed her wrists.


Gertrude Margaret Lowthian (1868-1926)
English architectural historian

Overdosed on sleeping pills in Baghdad.


Bonvin, Léon (1834-1866)
French watercolorist

Hanged himself from a tree in the forest of Meudon, after a Parisian dealer rejected his paintings.


Borromini, Francesco (1599-1667)
Italian architect

Threw himself on a ceremonial sword, then lingered for another 24 hours.


Bugatti, Rembrandt (1884-1916)
Italian sculptor and draftsman

Put on one of his finest suits and gassed himself.

Adolf Hitler.


Bupalos and Athenis (active ca. 540-ca. 537 BC)
Greek sculptors

Rumored to have been driven to suicide by the nasty, albeit poetic, written attacks of Hipponax (who apparently didn't like their sculpture of him).


Carrington, Dora (1893-1932)
English painter and decorative artist

Shot herself a few weeks after the death of her companion, Lytton Strachey.


Cassandre, Adolphe Mouron (1901-1968)
French painter, designer and typographer

Crevel, René (1900-1935)
French Dada and Surrealist poet

Gassed himself the day before the Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture met in Paris.


Czigány, Dezsö (1883-1937)
Hungarian painter

Committed suicide in a psychotic fit, but not before killing his family.


Daswanth (active ca. 1560; d 1584)
Indian miniature painter

Stabbed himself with a dagger.


Dayes, Edward (1763-1804)
English painter, draftsman and printmaker

Domínguez, Oscar (1906-1957)
Spanish painter and sculptor

Doort, Abraham van der (1575/80-1640)
Dutch wax-modeler, drawing-master and administrator

Left this world despondent over the thought that he might have misplaced one of Charles I's favorite miniatures.


Erhard, Johann Chirstoph (1795-1822)
German painter and printmaker

Fagan, Robert (1761-1816)
English painter, archaeologist and dealer

Jumped out of a window in Rome.


Frank, Jean-Michel (1895-1941)
French designer

Leapt to his death in New York City after having been there for one week. Purely coincidental.


Fries, Ernst (1801-1833)
German draftsman, painter and lithographer

Slit his wrist.


Gagneraux, Bénigne (1756-1795)
French painter and engraver

"Fell" out of a window in Florence.


Gerstl, Richard (1883-1908)
Austrian painter and draftsman

Disemboweled himself with a butcher knife after a brief romantic fling with the wife of the composer Arnold Schoenberg.


Gertler, Mark (1891-1939)
English painter

Tightly sealed up a room and turned on the gas ring.


Gorky, Arshile (1904-1948)
Armenian-born American painter

His studio had burned, his wife had left him, his health was bad and he had no money. He hanged himself.


Greco, Alberto (1915-1965)
Argentine painter, sculptor and performance artist

Overdosed on barbiturates, and left notes about how it felt (for as long as he could, anyway).


Gros, Baron Jean-Antoine (1771-1835)
French painter

Drowned himself in the Seine


Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786-1846)
English painter, teacher and writer

Shot himself, then cut his throat.


Hébuterne, Jeanne (1898-1920)
French painter

Pregnant with their second child, she leapt from a third-story window two days after her partner, Amedeo Modigliani, died of tuberculosis.


Johnson, Ray (1927-1995)
American painter, collagist and performance artist

Committed "Rayocide" one Friday the 13th by jumping off a Sag Harbor bridge and backstroking away.


Kahlo, Frida (1907-1954)
Mexican painter

We're fairly certain she overdosed on painkillers, though the coroner's report read, "pulmonary embolism."


Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig (1880-1938)
German painter, printmaker and sculptor

Shot himself after the combination of illness and the termination of his career by the National Socialist Party proved too much.


Kricke, Norbert (1922-1984)
German sculptor

Kruyder, Herman (1881-1935)
Dutch painter and draftsman

Committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital.


Kurzweil, Max (1867-1916)
Austrian painter and printmaker

On leave from his position as war artist in Istria, he did it in Vienna.


Lefèvre, Robert-Jacques-François (1755-1830)
French painter

Lehmbruck, Wilhelm (1881-1919)
German sculptor, painter and printmaker

Lemoyne, François (1688-1737)
French painter and draftsman

Lo Savio, Francesco (1935-1963)
Italian painter and sculptor

Lombardi, Mark (1951-2000)
American draftsman

Hanged himself in his Williamsburg, New York studio.


Malaval, Robert (1937-1980)
French painter and sculptor

Shot himself in the head.


Maurer, Alfred (1868-1932)
American painter

Hanged himself in the doorway of his father's bedroom.


Mayakovsky, Vladimir (1893-1930)
Russian poet, playwright and artist

Shot himself.


Mayer, Constance (1775-1821)
French painter

Cut her throat with the razor of painter Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, who'd been her teacher and then her lover but was not, apparently, going to be her husband.


Min Yŏng-hwan (1861-1905)
Korean calligrapher and painter

Was so strongly opposed to living under the Protection Treaty being enforced by Japan, that he decided not to.


Minton, John (1917-1957)
English painter and illustrator

Took an overdose of Tuinal.


Nero (AD 37-68)
Roman art patron and, yes, emperor

Decided stabbing himself in the neck was preferable to being flogged to death.


Pascin, Jules (1885-1930)
American painter, draftsman and printmaker

Hanged himself in his Paris studio, possibly depressed over the reviews of his current show.


Pellizza da Volpedo, Giuseppe (1868-1907)
Italian painter

Hanged himself after the deaths of his wife and son.


Réquichot, Bernard (1929-1961)
French painter, collagist and writer

Robert, Louis-Léopold (1794-1835)
Swiss painter

Killed himself in Venice, in front of his easel, on the 10th anniversary of his brother's suicide.


Rothko, Mark (1903-1970)
American painter

Slit his wrists in his New York studio.


Sage, Kay (1898-1963)
American painter and poet

Seymour, Robert (1800-1836)
English printmaker and painter

Shot himself in the garden at his home in Islington.


Soares dos Reis, António (1847-1889)
Portuguese sculptor, engraver and teacher

Soroka, Grigory (1823-1864)
Russian painter and draftsman

Staël, Nicolas de (1914-1955)
French painter

Jumped out of his studio window in Antibes.


Stauffer-Bern, Karl (1857-1891)
Swiss printmaker, painter, sculptor and poet

Tilson, Henry (?1659-1695)
English painter and draftsman

Shot himself through the heart with a pistol over the unrequited love of a wealthy patroness.


van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)
Dutch painter

Died, two days afterwards, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.


Vaughan, Keith (1912-1977)
English painter

Chose to overdose, rather than live with bowel cancer, kidney disease and depression.


Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841)
Japanese painter

Committed an honorable suicide after a run in with the Tokugawa shogunate (over its isolationist policies) led to his being under house arrest.


Witkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy (1895-1939)
Polish writer, art theorist, painter and photographer

When the Second Army invaded Poland, he tied himself to his lover, fed her poison and slit his wrists. She regained consciousness. Him - no.


Witte, Emanuel de (1617-1693)
Dutch painter

Said to have drowned himself, after his body was discovered in a frozen canal.


Wood, Christopher (1901-1930)
English painter

Stepped in front of a train.


Xue Ji (AD 649-713)
Chinese calligrapher and scholar-official

Forced to commit suicide after somehow becoming embroiled in a plot to poison the new emperor.

There is art waiting to be admired and then there is art forcing us to be inspired.

My favorite song

Need I say more?

Efterklang "Modern Drift" 4AD

Being a lover of the label 4AD almost since it's inception in the late 70's and early early 80's, I used to collect everything they put out on vinyl. I was a HUGE fan of the in-house graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, so much so I used to kind of stalk him and eventually corresponded with him briefly. My interest in the label waned in the 90's and though I still like the label, I think it's lost it's way and the bands they sign are not nearly as powerful as they were in the good ol' days. They've gone soft.

Now and again they put out something beautiful and I especially like this song:

Roman Kachanov (1921-1993). Russian stop-motion director.

The first time I saw this I was sitting at my desk at work and I was blown away. It's so friggin cute and amazingly done, from it's character design, story and the smoking mom. Check it out, I hope you like it as much as I do. Turns out Roman was part of Soyuzmultfilm which was a really cool animation studio in Russia.

Great Polish artist " Stanislav Szukalski."

AURORA MONSTERS Documentary - a must see!!

QUOTING from CORTLAND's email : 

I was too young to buy one of these models when I was a kid, but my brother had a couple and I LOVED THEM.

He had Frankenstein and Dracula. God I wish he still had them....

In the spirit of Halloween, there's a new documentary on DVD called AURORA MONSTERS - THE MODEL CRAZE THAT GRIPPED THE THE WORLD.

Below is some copy I stole from another site that explains some of it:

 

Those great models from the 1960s and 1970s that stole the hearts of a Monster Boom Generation! TV horror host Zacherly hosts. Artist James Bama and much more! Many make-up artists, illustrators, actors and film makers are included. Among the guests - Aurora cover artist, James Bama, actor and model sculptor Jeff Yagher, illustrator and model maker, Daniel Horne, from "Sideshow Collectibles" - Tom Gilliland, with Mat Falls, giving a wax sculpture demo, the artists of "Mad Geppetto", actor and collector, Daniel Roebuck, Frank Winspur - president of "Moebius Models", master model builder and painter Mike Rutherford, and a lot more. Visual and colorful.

You can buy a copy at Creepy Classics! I know I'm going to.....Totally excited to see it.......

Geek in the City's review of The Serial Killer Trivia Game

I'm posting them all! Geek in the City reviewed it as Game of the Month. Sorry if it seems redundant, but this game is like a deformed 6 year old kid to me. It was a lot of work and the reviews are coming back positive (click on the picture to read the whole review):

RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE'S review of THE SERIAL KILLER TRIVIA GAME

If most of you have not heard of the magazine before, no worries, neither had I. Until I did a little research, I found out that it's quickly replaced Fangoria as the 'top of the heap' in horror culture magazines. In other words it's the best of the genre. When we finally got the games from China and announced it's release, they quickly came to us and asked to review it - we gladly obliged. It's an honor. I think they generally review video games, but made an exception for us AND they gave us a 4 out of 5, which was higher than any other review on the spread - 4 out of 5 skull and crossbones!! They like us, the really do! Unfortunately they stuck us down in the corner and used and old picture of an early prototype, but oh well, it's still and honor that they took interest in us. Check out Rue Morgue's website if you like scary Halloweenie type stuff. It's a high-quality production and it's following is growing leaps and bounds due to it's wide distribution. Pretty soon they'll have it next to Vogue Magazine (or not)....    (click on the spread to zoom up on the review)

The Higgs Boson.

Physicists at CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – think that data from the as-yet-undiscovered Higgs particle could lead to understanding the origin and amount of dark matter. Although it emits no light, dark matter might account for the observed speed at which distant galaxies in our universe are seen to move.

                                                                Large Hadron Collider

Today, Celia Viermann,a student from Halberg Germany asks the scientists, “What exactly is the Higgs particle?”

EarthSky spoke to Dr. Leon Lederman, a Nobel laureate in physics. Dr. Lederman said the Higgs boson, as it’s called, is a hypothetical particle that physicists hope might one day help them explain the structure of the universe.

Leon Lederman: There may not be such a thing. But the speculation has a certain amount of scientific beauty, if you like, and interest.

If the Higgs particle does exist, Dr. Lederman said, it could contribute to scientific understanding of why all known particles – things like atoms – exist with a mass, as physical matter.

Leon Lederman: In other words, everything we want to understand about the world requires the model of the basic particles, and the laws of physics by which these particles carry out their task.

Scientists are searching for evidence of the Higgs’ existence with the help of extremely powerful particle accelerators.

Leon Lederman: Many things about the world we do know, and the Higgs would fit smoothly into that world. That’s why the probability is that the Higgs will be found. But it’s certainly not a certainty.

EarthSky asked Dr. Lederman why it’s so important to find the Higgs particle.

Leon Lederman: Our job is to understand how the world works in its most primitive fashion. When we have a hypothesis that everything is made of atoms, and atoms are made of quarks and leptons, that’s the basic structure from which we will obtain our knowledge of the universe: Its origins, how it evolved, and particularly how it will age. A good theory of the universe will predict how the universe will evolve. It was the evolution of the universe that called into question our picture of gravity. There’s something called the theory of relativity, which is an accounting for how gravity tugs on different parts of the universe and gives rise to, for example, our solar system. In other words, everything we want to understand about the world has to do with a model of the basic particles and the laws of physics by which these particles carry out their tasks. The Higgs idea, if it were proven correct by experiment, would simplify our picture of how the world works. That’s our job, to make a picture of the universe that is so simple, that it could be inscribed on t-shirt of average size.

Dr. Lederman described the current picture of particle physics.

Leon Lederman: We know that all of matter – everything we have around us, chairs, trees, skies, moon, planets – all of this matter everywhere is embedded in an assumed field. Let’s call it the Higgs field. In the presence of that field, the matter we talked about can always be broken into molecules are made of atoms. The atoms are made of nuclei and surrounded by electrons in orbital fields, which create the atom. We can say deeper in the nucleus, we have explored its structure, and its structure is made of things called quarks. This whole picture we have is very complicated. When we try to draw a plan of how the world is composed and we start from the bottom up, we start by listing 6 different kinds of quarks. There are another set sort of particle called leptons. We’re getting the idea that everything in the world is made up of these fundamental particles.

Dr. Lederman said the presence of the Higgs field helps these particles fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and explains why they have split apart, with different masses.

Another great future product from Culture Heroes Inc!

Ryans blast from the past.

Besides being a top notch illustrator, Ryan Hobson is a fine art painter! Check out these works from the mid 90's.

The Geek Bible

I just have to brag some more. I can't help it. I was honored to be asked to create some illustrations for the new Star Wars book "The Jedi Path". Not being a huge Star Wars fan, I didn't realize the hype that this project was getting. It was designed by my pal Rosanna Brockley and it came out really nice! Lucas Films and becker&mayer! are selling it exclusively through Amazon.com. So if you're a fan, pick one up before they run out.....seems like they're going quick.

TOTALLY AMAZING!

Culture Heroes' partner, Len Burge just happens to be one hell of a sculptor...Check out some of his new work. Totally incredible!!! We hope to create a sculpting kit in the near future, so you can at least dream of being as talented as him. We can all dream, can't we? 

If you haven't seen his 3D puzzles, see them here.

Another Review!

Here's another article from Serial Killer Magazine put out by the folks at Serial Killer Calendar also available at your local Barnes & Noble.

Our First Review!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the peeps at CULTURE HEROES, Inc!
Culture Heroes' controversial new board game, Serial Killer Trivia Game, had it's first review on Geek In The City.

It's also being reviewed in the new Double Feature Halloween Edition of Rue Morgue Magazine. The more I read about that magazine, the more I find that people LOVE it and they have a great distribution. You can pick up a copy at your local Barnes & Noble. It's an honor that they came to us to review it. That's all for this post. I'll be writing more on our other upcoming projects soon!
-r