Arty objects of death

It’s not what you’re thinking… This giant chandelier called In the Eyes of Others was created by John Carey in 2009. The mixed media piece is made from plaster, steel, wire, cardboard boxes and newspaper – with not a bone in sight.

The Argentinian collective Mondongo is named after the word for traditional Argentinian tripe stew. Their curious collages combine everyday objects to create three dimensional artworks. This 2011 work called Calavera is made from Plasticine on board. 

Neo classical architecture has been chosen to represent the economic and cultural dominance of Europe and the USA over Argentina’s villa miseria or shanty towns.

These works are some of the more recent of 300 items from the collection of Richard Harris, currently on show at the Wellcome Collection’s Death: A Self-Portrait. Read more about this curiously fascinating exhibition in ShopCurious’s latest Curious Trends post – and have your say in our discussion on objects of death at The Dabbler. 

Will you?

Toying with arbitrage in contemporary art

Contemporary artists are increasingly using retro toys and recycled curiosities to make a statement, like Joe Black, whose work is shown here (photographed at Scream Gallery’s stand at the Moniker Art Fair last week).

Similar plastic toy soldiers are used to convey a different message, at fraction of the price (...though admittedly the scale is not the same - and the density of soldiers used is lower) in Love Not War by Dinah Dufton (bottom right), whose work can be seen at London's Affordable Art Fair.































Read more about bargain hunting in the art world in my latest post at The Dabbler.

And see more curious collages from the fair, along with work by street and graffiti artists in ShopCurious's Curious Trends posts today.

Will you?