The twelfth century Visigoth cathedral of Palencia, dedicated to San Antolรญn of Pamiers sustained damage from the catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the Iberian peninsula with
reconstruction efforts to the roof and cornices delayed until 1908, under the leadership of local architect Jerรณnimo Arroyo, who replaced one of the lost gargoyles anachronistically with the figure of a cassocked man lugging around a camera of the times. This was in homage to a documentarian called Luis Rodrรญquez Alonso, who were among the first to chronicle the region using the new medium. The rather austere gothic exterior betrays the rich interior treasures, including over twenty chapels, ornate retablos and a painting by El Greco of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, contains another easter egg, this time dating to a 1995 renovation to the achivolt above Puerta de los Reyes: at the apex, the two bas-relief creatures facing one another are not demons or dragons but rather xenomorphs from the then contemporary instalment of the Alien franchise.Saturday 11 December 2021
Tuesday 7 December 2021
6x6
temporal distortion: an xkcd comic that references every ambiguous birthday scenario
check out those gams: a pair of pageants with a narrower focus on beauty—via Nag on the Lake
menty-b: Macquarie Dictionary’s short-list for Word of the Year
qed: an overview of maths in film and television
hungry eyes: the canon of Western art as viewed through the lens of food
Sunday 5 December 2021
the cat will eat you
Referred via our peripatetic friend Everlasting Blรถrt, we quite enjoyed the introductiong to the extensive portfolio of Matt Semke whose collections of sketches and animations (framing exhibitions entirely in the GIF medium, at the risk of posting too many successive ones myself, as a way to limn the format’s possibilities and limitations) evoke this element of the Kafkaesque with sort of a contemplatively resigned yet disarming nature to them and a style possibly referencing that of La Planรจte sauvage. Much more to explore at the links above.
Wednesday 24 November 2021
nifty
As the Guardian reports, Collins Dictionary has selected the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Token as its word of the year (see previously here and here), tracking the stratospheric rise of the blockchain of registry of digital assets that lexically rose above the general din of the COVID crisis, pingdemic and hybrid-working as pandemic-related forerunners, and—regardless of what one thinks of the evaluation--defines a new market and speaks to a broad craze and means for artists to profit online. Other contenders included cheugy and regencycore—referring to cosplay in 1810s style garb.
Tuesday 23 November 2021
il bronzino
Passing away on this day in Florence, where he had spent his entire life, in 1572 (*1503), Agnolo di Cosimo, better known by his sobriquet for his dark complexion and red hair, was from his late thirties on engaged as a court painter for the grand ducal family of Tuscany, the Medicis—specifically for Cosimo I and Eleonora, which the Mannerist-trained painter portrayed here as Orpheus, musical virtuoso, around 1538. The style curried disfavour from the general art world (see previously) from the late-Romantic to early Modern eras, but the disciplined poses and idealised renderings have seen somewhat of a resurgence recently. Such impressions of poise and unchanging elegance made a lasting influence on aristocratic portraiture though not many others employed heroic nudity for public figures, patrons or otherwise. Many of his commissions were also allegories of classical mythology and biblical passages, including his 1533 depiction of the popular subject of Saint Sebastian—see previously.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐น, ๐จ, myth and monsters
Monday 8 November 2021
9x9
poppy watch: juxtaposed recruitment campaign for lorry drivers looks like a cheesy Whovian villain (previously)—via Super Punch
if past is precedent: a comic illustrating vaccine requirements in public schools—via Nag on the Lake
voleur de grand chemin: literary correspondence for Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
wurzelkindern: a delightfully illustrated 1909 children’s book about when the root children wake up—via Everlasting Blรถrt
greatest movie never made: storyboard, note for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune, to star Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson and Salvador Dalรญ, up for auction
nitt witt ridge: an eccentric castle on a hill—via Messy Messy Chic (lots more to see here)
could’ve been an email: a concise plan for shorted, more productive meetings from John Cleese in 1976
high-fidelity: a patent for a playback stylus that moved the needle rather than the record in the form of a VW Bulli
mop and smiff: the Saw-See annual, a nostalgic diversion from BBC1 uncovered
Thursday 4 November 2021
museo pio-clementino
Through the lens of Michelangelo failing in a competition to restore the iconic sculptural ensemble Laocoรถn and His Sons (previously) affords us another chance to examine the subject matter, a priest of either Poseidon or Apollo, who respectively was either guilty of the transgression or potential crossing the line in exposing the Trojan Horse for what it was or for breaking his vow of celibacy. Pope Julius II commissioned a contest to determine the best design proposal to restore a conspicuously absent arm for the central figure. Both Michelangelo and Raphael—related to the judge, the Vatican’s chief architect—lost to an artist called Jacopo Sansovino’s outstretched arm. During an excavation in 1906, the arm was recovered and positioned in accordance with Michelangelo’s original suggestion.
Saturday 30 October 2021
nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
A prolific and popular salon painter in his own time—though figural portraits of classical subjects fell out of fashion until a revival in the 1980s, William-Adolphe Bourguereau of La Rochelle born this day in 1825 (†1905) counts as his most famous work in his 1879 La Naissance de Vรฉnus. This painting does not actually depict the birth of the goddess by her transported to Cyprus as a fully mature figure in a sea shell—first gained attention and notoriety after winning the 1850 grand prize in the Prix de Rome, submitting two entries for that year’s competition, triumphant with a rather pedestrian depiction of the rescue of Zenobia, half-drowned, by a group of shepherds. The more evocative alternate submission was the pictured Dante and his guide Virgil (where have you brought me?) in an encounter from Canto XXX of the Divine Comedy in the Circle of the Imposters (Falsifiers—perjurers, counterfeiters, etc.) with an alchemist called Capocchio forever condemned to be gnashed by a Florentine knight named Gianni Schicchi de’ Cavalcanti who forged the will of a wealthy merchant to leave a horse for him, whose punishment seems a little extreme. Aside from being immortalised in the epic and this painting, Giacomo Puccini produced an eponymous light-hearted opera in 1918.
Tuesday 19 October 2021
7x7
anamorphosis: a sixteenth century optical illusion in a work by Hans Holbein the Younger
๐ง: the first episode on the Weirdness of Water, presented by the Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
uncharted: the region in Greece that was historically so inaccessible it was named Agrafa, literally off the maps—via Messy Messy Chica people’s archive of sinking and melting: artefacts documenting the climate crisis
odonym: a suite of applications to explore the toponymical decisions behind street names—see also
fiat geld: origins of the trillion dollar coin
spice like us: the geopolitics of nutmeg informed by its reputed efficacy against the plague
Saturday 9 October 2021
7x7
the boy on the bike: a trip down Golden Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset with a beloved bread advert directed by Ridley Scott with music by Dvoลรกk
dedication—devotion, turning all the night time into the day: more on the hypothesis (see previously) that the Dire Straits song can improve any movie endingthe hauntening: various AIs try their hand at spookifying, exorcising Victorian mansions—previously
outbreak: a timelapse of COVID-19 cases in the United States over the past eighteen months
just the punctation: what text without words reveals to authors about their style—via Waxy
abecedarium: a 1968 Alphabet (previously) of the Dada movement hosted by Hans Richter (caution, some rapid, flashing images)
raลกรญnovo embankment: revitalised Prague riverfront features vaulted arches for cafes and gallery spaces
Tuesday 5 October 2021
8x8
heir apparent: after over a century, Russia hosts a royal wedding for a member of the Romanoff family
9m²:a luxury apartment in Tokyo that makes very efficient use of space—at more than twice the size, my work-week flat feels rather sprawling and and ilunder-utilised
faux mcdoo: a fake McDonald’s in Los Angeles for filming purposes, via Messy Nessy Chic
tx-33: new lows attained in gerrymandering and voter-marginalisation
full circle: a retrospective exhibit of Judy Chicago
deuce court: a demonstration of medieval tennis
ะฒัะทะพะฒ: cast joins crew aboard ISS to film scenes of the first movie shot in microgravity
catagories: ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ท๐บ, ๐, ๐จ, ๐ฌ, ๐ฑ, ๐ญ, ๐ฅธ, Middle Ages, sport and games
Friday 1 October 2021
7x7
cultured: beautiful Petri dish art (see also) from Dasha Plesen
tax centinels: protesting college students conspired to create “penny famines” across the US in the late 1930srediffusion: the Thames Television archives—via Things magazine
fat bear bracket: follow the celebration of survival and success with Katmai’s nature preserve ursine residents—via Hyperalleric’s Required Reading
the thing on the fourble board: a 1948 episode of the radio programme Quiet, Please! is considered to be one of the scariest broadcasts ever
bisection: the spiralling figural sculpture of Isabel Miramontes
frustule: the rich diversity of diatoms illustrated in an 1890 volume
Tuesday 28 September 2021
7x7
pyroclastic flow: paintings of the 1776 eruption of Mount Vesuvius (previously)—via Everlasting Blรถrt
don jumpedo in the character of harlequin jumping down his own throat: an apology for the man in the bottle
twist and bend: superlative balloon art recreating iconic classics
eisenbahnbetriebsfeld: a model railway in Darmstadt used to train train traffic-controllers
store-brand: Kmarto table wine
licorice pizza: a trailer for a 1970s coming-of-age film set in California’s San Fernando Valley—via Waxy
social justice: artist Kerry James Marshall designs new stained glass windows for Washington’s National Cathedral to replace Confederate ones
catagories: ๐บ๐ธ, ๐จ, ๐ฌ, ๐, Middle Ages
Saturday 18 September 2021
citation needed
Though many go beyond pettiness and pedantry and grow rather partisan in championing one authoritative version over another competing editor, we enjoyed a selection from Web Curios of what’s been deemed the most trivial debates when it comes to framing, contextualising and disambiguating topics in the Wikipedia community of devoted feuding (see previously) and upholding free knowledge. Topics of no consequence include matters on canonicity or fandom, the nobility of micronations and appropriateness of redirect. Not a style-guide, this Wikipedia page (see a sortable version here) of protracted disputes is meant to be humorous and a look at the tenacity of academic convictions, no matter the height of the hill one decides to die on.
gastaloops
Via Swiss Miss, we quite enjoyed being introduced to the extensive, animated portfolio of graphic designer and motion artist Gasta whose GIFs cover a variety of themes, including a healthy dose of 80s and 90s arcade and adventure nostalgia as well as different projects, commissions and data visualisations. It was of course impossible to pick just one representative piece but we liked this mesmerising volley of Super Breakout! clone Arkanoid.
Tuesday 7 September 2021
wiki commons
The media repository for public-domain and free-use images (see also), text, audio and video that illustrate and inform all projects across the enterprise was launched on this day in 2004, championed by journalist and software developer Erik Mรถller. Though originally primarily developed as a way to reduce file redundancy across the platform, it has become a reference source and common good for contributors and users alike, garnering many enthuasiasts and even a photo of the year competition. The version of the logo to the side is composed of a mosaic of images to mark the milestone in November of 2006 when the site acquired its one-millionth media file. Currently there are over seventy million.
Friday 3 September 2021
gumbasia
Released on this day in 1955 and with jazz accompaniment by Mel Powell, this short—named in homage to Disney’s Fantasia, was Art Clokey’s first stop-motion animation in the medium (Claymation is something else and proprietary and believe it only applies narrowly to the studio that made the California Raisins), produced while attending the University of Southern California under cinematic studies professor Slavko Vorkapiฤ (see previously). The surreal short with abstract figures pulsing to the rhythm was filmed on a ping-pong table and informs the later franchises of Davey and Goliath and Gumby and Friends.
Tuesday 31 August 2021
a smattering of spots
Our thanks to Fancy Notions for referring us to this reel of cartoon commercials from the animators at Storyboard, Incorporated, the studio of John Hubley (*1914 - †1977, creator of Mister Magoo and under the employ of Disney painted backgrounds for Snow White, Fantasia and Bambi as well as director for the animated adaptation of Watership Down) with a cavalcade of 1950s advertising—no product endorsement intended or implied.
Saturday 28 August 2021
outside the lines
We very much appreciated the introduction to surrealist photographer Arthur Tress whose portfolio was informed by the pivotal year of 1964 in politics, segregation and civil rights via his series of antique colouring-book collages paired with complementary or juxtaposing found photography, likely sourced from the same flea markets. Tress’ sense for mismatch went on to aid him in delivering his commission for the US Environmental Protection Agency to document and publicise the social pressures and injustice underpinning lax ecological stewardship. More at Collectors’ Weekly at the link up top and at the artist’s website.
Wednesday 25 August 2021
cheeseboard
Via fellow internet caretaker and turophile, Nag on the Lake, we are directed towards this thorough, wholesome and circumspect guide of how to serve and store almost any sort of cheese from an expert cheesemonger. The pictured painting is called Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels (Stilleven met kazen, amandelen en krakelingen), created by Dutch artist Clara Peeters circa 1615.