A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Photography
From the Kusho series.
Having attempted a few times to photograph the motion of water in air I’m in awe of Shinichi Maruyama’s high-speed captures which make of the process a very refined and beautiful art. Japanese calligraphy and sumi-e painting are obvious precedents but the artist also refers us to Zen gardens in his Gardens series wherein flares of coloured liquid drift through abstract landscapes. See his website for more.
Poster by Will Bradley for Victor Bicycles (c. 1895).
• G. Wayne Clough, chief exective of the Smithsonian Institution, finally admits that he made a hasty decision in removing David Wojnarowicz’s video from the Hide/Seek exhibition of gay art. Related: “Finland’s cultural gifts to the world include Sibelius, the Moomins and an artist that the country has been less eager to celebrate.” The belated homecoming of Tom of Finland.
• The Fiend with Twenty Faces: Jonathan Clements examines the legacy of Edogawa Rampo (Hirai Taro), the Japanese master of mystery and imagination.
• RIP Susannah York. The Guardian posted a selection of clips including one from Robert Altman’s Images (1972).
• More mixtapes: Trish Keenan’s Mind Bending Motorway Mix and a selection for Quietus by Chris & Cosey.
• “Ruin photos speak to our desperate desire to have our world re-enchanted.”
Promo poster by Hapshash and the Coloured Coat for My White Bicycle by Tomorrow (1967).
• The Raging Peloton: Iain Sinclair on two wheels good, four wheels bad.
• The unknown Jorge Luis Borges: five new anthologies reviewed.
• The French house untouched for 100 years (and also here).
• Electrotypes on Drugs: old chemists’ labels.
• South China Sea Pishkun by Dinh Q. Lê.
• Bike (1967) by Pink Floyd | My White Bicycle (1967) by Tomorrow | Trip On An Orange Bicycle (1968) by Orange Bicycle.
Norwich Royal Arcade.
More arcades and more panoramas from that favourite haunt of mine, 360 Cities. The Norwich Royal Arcade is an Art Nouveau-styled affair by George Skipper which features the inevitable coffee shop among its offerings. The Milan Galleria, meanwhile, is probably the most ostentatious arcade in the world but its expensive fashion houses have to deal with a McDonald’s in their midst. 360 Cities regularly updates its views so this may become an ongoing series.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan.
Galerie de la Reine/Koninginnegallerij, Brussels.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The panoramas archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Arcades
The Arcade, Cleveland (c. 1901).
More arcade fetishism courtesy of the Library of Congress photo archives. The black-and-white prints can be downloaded in enormous high-res versions if you’re as compelled as I am to scrutinise the details.
St. Hubert’s gallery, Brussels.
Golden Fairy Specimen.
These have already been featured on many other sites but that shouldn’t exclude their presence here. The Wunderkammer concept seems to be a recurrent fascination on the web—see here and here and here, for example—possibly because the nature of the medium lends itself to the accumulation of curiosities. It’s a small step from collecting genuine curios to inventing those the world stubbornly refuses to provide, that’s what we see happening here and also at some of the earlier posts below. About the Colmore Fatagravures we’re told:
A Scottish adventurer, inventor, and photographer named Neville Colmore claimed to have constructed a device capable of “…parting the veil of Faery…”. The device, which he called the “Spectobarathrum”, produced beautiful photo graphic plates he called “fatagravures”, through a now lost process. The original “Spectobarathrum” along with all of the images he claimed to have made were believed destroyed in a fire. (More.)
French Harpy of Questionable Provenance.
In a similar vein, I’ve already mentioned that I’ve done some design and illustration for the Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, the sequel to the Lambshead Disease Guide which is forthcoming from HarperCollins. The new book is edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer and publication has been announced for June. Jeff unveiled the near-final cover design just before Christmas (not my work, I should note) and a preview of some of the contents, including one of my interior pages. More about this closer to publication.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The specimens of Alex CF
• Walmor Corrêa’s Memento Mori
• Harpya by Raoul Servais
• The art of Ron Pippin
• Custom creatures
• Jan Švankmajer: The Complete Short Films
• Cryptozoology
• The Museum of Fantastic Specimens